BloodHorse at Derby 152 | April 27. 2026

All right, welcome in. It is the third edition of Blood

Horse at Kentucky Derby 152. Sean Collins, Lou, your beau

hanging out with you, of course, thanks to our friend Alex

Smallwood at Christie's Bluegrass, their Realty team

over there, presenting all of our coverage this week here.

But not just trackside, but trackside kitchen side.

Trackside kitchen side. I think I did that right,

actually. I know.

I think. That I think that was pretty.

Good, yeah. Shawn's mom is in there right

now. You never know who you're going

to run into at this place. Yeah, I mean, the track, the

track kitchen is always one of those special places, especially

right now we're, you know, training has ended and so

everybody kind of starts filtering in to get their

breakfast at the end. The thing I really like about

this track kitchen here at Churchill Downs as well, I'm

sure they probably do this at a lot of other tracks too, is

during the morning, they will kind of make some food, put it

on a truck and drive it around to the backstretch because it's

hard for, you know, exercise riders to grooms to be able to

leave the barn in the middle of the morning to go get something

to eat. And so the track kitchen, I've

been coming here for the last several years, I've had access

to the backstretch, especially at this time of year.

You never know who you're going to run into inside of there.

And so this is a really, really neat spot to hang out.

You'll see, as we're talking today, you'll see people

probably walking in and out behind us.

See if you see if you recognize anybody.

That's exactly what's. Going on in there.

Of course, if you are watching, if you go ahead, give us a like,

give us a subscribe. We'd love to have you as part of

our Blood Horse podcast family. That way.

A bunch of final works today for horses that will be competing on

Saturday in the Kentucky Derby. And some of that California

speed showed up in a big way today.

Some splits that I was not ready for.

Now we have seen a fast track on the dirt side of things here at

Churchill Downs, but boy, these times were incredibly fast.

Yeah. So let's just point out you're

watching this on Monday. So we are filming at right after

these works on Sunday at the moment.

So what we're saying today, these works happen on Sunday and

I believe we will have an opportunity 6 speed of the

runner up in the UAE Derby is breezing on Monday.

We're gonna go ahead and try to bring you some of that later in

the show as well, so you can get up to date on that.

But so, yeah, very, very fast times today.

I think that's the that was the shocking part of this morning.

I don't know. I mean, we always talk about

California speed, so I don't know if we could really be

shocked by it, but I mean, the tracks been playing fast ever

since the horses came in here. I think that definitely had

something to do with it. But sounds like the guys that

we've talked to does sound like it.

Just the horses were feeling good this morning as they were

going out there onto the racetrack.

Been a bunch of fast works this week, but boy, like I said, they

really spread up today, including, you'll hear from in a

few moments, the team from Intrepid.

Oh, but boy, one of the major contenders coming out San Felipe

winner second place in the Santa Anita Derby is Potente out of

the Bob Bafford barn. Bob going for yet another Derby

win here, 5 furlongs in 57.8 and six furlongs in 110.4.

I folks, if he's able to do that in the Derby, he's got a real

shot here. Because here's the thing about

Potente that I'm fascinated by it.

I brought this up earlier in this series.

They told us before his maiden race it was a six furlong spread

at Santa Anita. He just wants distance.

We don't even know if he's going to win here and he went out, he

did OK wins on debut. We know about we talked about

the three-year old conditions quite a bit.

Frankly, they they sent him straight to the San Felipe

rather than what we saw would justify, for example, it

allowance, a three-year old allowance.

He wins that race, runs down robust at the end.

From off the pace. From off of the pace he gets the

lead in the San Anita Derby. Didn't seem to work for him.

He's going to break from the 14 here, Sean.

I think it sets him up to be mid pack and do most of his good

running at the end unless he goes out at 57.

Yeah. What if we just saw something

completely changed because you talked a lot yesterday on on

this series about 6 speed being the speed here.

What if it's freaking Potente and it's Bob Baffert on the lead

in the Derby again? I mean, would we be shocked to

see Bob Baffert on the lead? That was the whole thing.

You know, everything that happened after the fact with

Medina Spirit. But the reason why I like Medina

Spirit going into that Kentucky Derby was because because he was

it seemed like one of those years where we weren't expecting

anyone to really kind of go for it on the lead.

And he ended up I liked him because I saw they intentionally

kind of kept him back. I thought off the pace when he

was running against Life is Good in the San Felipe.

So that way they wouldn't go at each other.

Life is Good obviously had to miss the Derby.

So then the San Anita Derby, they did that same thing and

Rock Your world that snuck away, right.

And so I figured, you know, Medina Spirits probably they're

probably going to send him the lead here because he wasn't

giving up second in those races. He was always fighting and

that's exactly what he did when he was out here for the Kentucky

Derby getting to the lead. So we know Bob, in the past, if

it's a year where it looks like there's not a lot of pace

competition, the plan is going to be to send one of your horses

out to the lead. Maybe that's the case here with

Patente and the way he worked today with showing that speed.

I mean, now, now I'm going to have to go back and look at the

Santa Anita Derby again to see what exactly got him beat there.

But I mean, so happy we're in a very good numbers in that race.

And so it's not like Potente was just like got to the lead and

tired. So, so happy just ran a

phenomenal race and so, I mean, I, I don't know what to think of

him now. You, you listened on the show

yesterday and when we were talking to Bupatsemar, it

sounded like they're OK with rating 6 speed.

If it happens like that, it doesn't sound like they're going

to try to take anything away from him.

But if he doesn't end up on the lead, So all of a sudden, all of

a sudden and especially we'll get to Intrepido in a moment

here too. The way he worked this morning

too, all of a sudden the the pace is looking a lot more, a

lot more questions about what this pace is going to turn into

that I did just a couple days ago.

I think something we do every single year as we think, oh,

everyone's a closer, everyone's going to try to set 23 and 4 and

47 and four. Kind of that never happens in

Kentucky Derby. It just never does.

It's. Just too much energy in the

there. Is absolutely too much energy in

the Kentucky Derby, certainly in that first turn.

I think a horse like Intrapido, who you just brought up, who

worked 1/2 mile in 45 flat and then galloped out in 57 and then

110 and .2, by the way, which is faster than Potentate, OK,

allegedly, OK, Intrepidal breaks from the three there is.

He's gone. There is impetus for him to go.

You got to think he's going, especially after today, he's got

to be going. And I mean, well, we talked with

Alejandro from the team and you'll hear from that him in a

few moments it sounds like. I mean, he has not been the

horse that we saw in the American Pharaoh Stakes.

Not last year. But it sounds like he's just

really enjoying being here in Kentucky.

Could that just, could it just be a change of scenery for him?

Is he just going to feel weather?

Difference or something? Is he going to feel so good

right now at like leading into this race where he's going to

pull this thing off? I'm I liked him a lot getting

off the trailer when he got here, just the the presence that

he had the mindset that he seems to have really impressed me when

he got here last week. Seeing this work today, hearing

about how well he's settled and all of a sudden, but and you're

going to get huge odds on that horse and all of a sudden I'm

really, I was not I there was not a single point during the

prep series where I was ever looking at Intrepido in any of

those races, whether it be the Breeders Cup, whether it be when

he was coming back. I ignored him the entire prep

series. And now here I am, a week before

the Kentucky Derby. Fall in love with works.

Thinking that I'm might be playing Intrepido in the

Kentucky Derby at some level this year.

I don't know if I'm playing him to win, but I'm going to have

him somewhere because I I've really liked what I've seen from

him and he seems like the horse that is.

He just seems like he's really liking being here and I think

he's going to run huge off that. Now the question will be, did he

run too fast this morning? It's unfair question to get to

Saturday. He gets he gets six days.

I here's the thing every year, OK, let's just go to last year,

the 5th place finisher came out of a barn where the we the

trader told us all year he was going to the pad day mile

because he didn't want to go. Ted Furlongs finished in the top

five, and then a turf horse finished fourth.

Yeah, like the idea that Intrepido can't be part of the

early pace and just hold on and be in the top five is

ridiculous. Of course it.

Can. Exactly.

Of course it can, yeah. I mean, we've seen weirder

things happen. Way weird, yes.

But yeah, all of a sudden Intrepido's on my radar and I've

loved the way that he's looked out there.

And I mean, the time today, just the way that he went today, just

really, it really did kind of cement to me.

Like I've really I'm the next couple days I'm definitely gonna

be watching him a lot. Closer.

Well, you mentioned him. Let's talk with his his regular

exercise router. Alejandro, this was at barn 41.

The Chill Barn. That's what we're gonna call.

It the chill Southern California barn plus dazzling game for the

oaks and from Maryland, but otherwise the chill Southern

California. Yeah, it's got that feel to it

for sure. He's Alejandro with us earlier

this morning. All right, back at Barn 41 here

at Churchill Downs with Alejandro Galindo, who's with

Intrepido. You're the normal exercise rider

out there each morning for Intrepido the last couple days

here at Churchill, but you're not on him this morning when he

breezed, Hector Barrios was, but it seems like it was a pretty

good breeze. You guys had him in 46 and

change. Just what do you think of the

work? Well, I think he breezes really

well, like he do everything in the hands, like, you know, and

the track is pretty fast today because I see most of the

horses, they they breeze in fast.

So the good thing like he come in like nice and relax.

He's not blowing so hard like like getting so tired.

So I just, I, I going to say like he, he breathes really well

and he moved really well, like the jockey told me, like he

switched leaves and everything. He was focusing the war too.

So just crossing fingers now until the last day.

You've been on him in the mornings leading up to this, so

have you felt like he's gotten a real good hold of the track here

at Churchill Downs? Yes, absolutely.

He's been jogging, you know, and I taken a straight off backtrack

and he's been holding the track really well.

Like he moved pretty good, like actually here.

Like he loved it here. He loved it here.

Like he loved this area like just going grazing and just

walking like he loved this place.

Believe me, like I don't know is the weather or the grass.

It's the bluegrass, right? Come on, it's the.

Bluegrass, yeah, No, he he looked, I want to say a lot

better, like more shiny, like his coke and everything he

looked he put more weight. So things are getting like

better and better. So I hope to the end of the day

of the race things are better too, so.

You've been around him for a while.

He's a Grade 1 winner in that American Pharaoh in the fall.

How is he developed to this point?

As you mentioned, it is he's just is it that maturity, that

bigger, stronger thing about him?

He get a little more bigger, you know, but it was sometimes like

he kind of like a, you know, like it was a time kind of like

a just stay there. But since few people know him

and they see him here, like they said, he's looking much better

now. He's looking much better.

His color, his body, he's doing good, he's doing really good,

and he's doing nothing to say nothing bad to say about him.

I hope things continue like that.

When he got here last week, I was back here with you and you

brought him out to graze. You mentioned how much he likes

the grass. The thing that really struck me

about him was how often he would just like, stand.

To look up just. Hold his head up there, look

around and just kind of just take a moment to take in the

scenery out here. He seems like a very observant

horse. Is that the case?

Yeah, yeah. If you say he was just taking a

couple bags of the grass and then pull his head off and

watching everything, observing like just like that, just like

just coming by hand. He was just like watching and

you know, and then continue eating couple more times and

then continue observing everything, you know, and that's

the joke. He said like he was kind of like

he was breathing really good, though.

His ears are like, you know, pay attention to everything and you

know, but that's, that's him. That's him.

My favorite part of when that more or that day, I guess it was

the afternoon when he was out here, was there was some kid on

a bike that was going by. I don't know if you remember

this. There's a kid on a bike going by

and he just goes, oh, blank a horse.

And he, intrepid, looks at him and just stares him down the

entire time that he goes by. He was kind of like eating and

then he see the kid. Well, he listened to kid and he

go like observing on the, you know, he can see it.

But yeah, it was funny that moment.

Like he talked to me or something like that or he knows

me. He's like, what's that guy?

Say it about me? What?

He's like, well, that's the thing, like the kid speak, you

know, I speak to him in English and I speak Spanish to him.

So like, yeah, what's going on here?

But you're in America, right? You ride this horse every day.

What's it like being here, man? What's it like being, you know,

just a less than a week out now for the Kentucky Derby?

You know, it is a great opportunity for me and all the

team, you know, and most of the people they want to come in and

hear a lot because not many people have this chance to be

here in the Derby, right? Like I want to say for a 1000,

maybe one people coming here so like you can imagine how many

people just want to come here and just watching the Derby.

And I had the opportunity, you know, to come in here and gallow

this horse and enjoy the moment. You know, I'm just so happy and

just I'm so glad to be here. You know, it's a great chance

to, to, to, you know, to show we have good horse.

All right, well, thank you so much for taking the time with us

here, Alejandro. Best of luck to you and the team

with Intrepido for the Kentucky Derby.

What? Thank you.

Thank you, thank you. We need luck, everybody.

Needs luck. That's all right.

All right. Thanks to Alejandro and Team

Intrepido for joining us there. Jeff Mullins barn, of course,

part of that Southern California contingency that we have in 40

in Bard 41 this year, of course, where Nyquist was when he won.

You'll hear that from trainer Doug O'Neill.

Up next, Pavlovian in town, 5 furlongs, one O 3 or so was from

the gate here. You'll hear from trainer Doug

O'Neill in just a second about how he likes to have that kind

of work right before the Derby. You and I kind of went back and

forth a little bit earlier in this series about hey, we're not

used to this Baffert guy putting a horse in the gate right before

this guy Derby. But Derby O'Neill's won a couple

of these things too. Yes, He kind of knows what he's

doing here. Pavlovi.

It's an interesting one and we talk about this with with with

Doug in the interview. Just both starts of Eddie horse

at the Derby kind of throwback that way, frankly, but Doug's

kind of a throwback that way too.

The old he's. A throwback kind of trainer for

sure. He puts him.

He puts him in whether he thinks they've got a real shot or not.

He takes a chance at a lot like Dewayne Lucas with and we've

seen with Doug, I mean, that's worked out.

He's got robustness sitting on the AE list right now, clearly

because he took that shot in the San Felipe.

He was what, 60 something to 1 when he almost won the San

Felipe. He ran great.

I mean, and if he doesn't get to the Derby, he's going to be in

the Preakness. So a horse we definitely have to

pay attention to for sure. And so I mean, he's one of those

guys I think about Hot Rod Charlie.

We all know how good of a horse he ended up being, but he was 90

something to 1 going into the Breeders Cup Juvenile and he ran

a bang up second and they're to essential quality.

So I mean, you always got to look at the Doug O'Neill horses.

You never know when they're going to fire.

But I think we've learned in the last couple, I don't think

people believed in Pavlovian coming out of the Sunland Park

Derby because it was the Sunland Park Derby.

And then he came out and did what he did in the Louisiana

Derby and took emerging market all the way to the wire.

And so I think all of a sudden people are like, oh, I think

this is a horse that's figured you bring it out now and it's

going to be pretty good. And I mean you.

You came over to me today and the first thing you said to me

was how much you liked how Pavlov.

It bothers me how much I like Pavlova exactly.

It really does bother me. I like how he's built too.

I like how he's constituted. He really is.

He's a well built horse. I really like what he looks

like. The other part though is with,

you know, with, with the O'Neal connections, that stuff.

You're going to have a piece up coming on at bloodhorse.com

about the connections. Yes, a little bit of hey, we're

doing this again. Yeah, hard enough to get to the

Derby, but a second time, cool connection there as.

Well, and they're trying to win it for a third time together

now, Doug O'Neill partnering with Jay Paul Redham and the

team, obviously they had, I'll have another win in 2012,

Nyquist in 2016. Hevlovian is in Nyquist stall,

which you'll hear from Doug in a moment, his thoughts on whether

or not we're doing that intentionally.

But so it's yeah, it's it's cool to see.

Obviously it's always fun to kind of talk to people that have

never been in The Dirty. We talked to Riley Mott

yesterday. That was great.

That was fantastic. Exactly.

But it's also I think pretty cool to talk about the people

that have had success and think about all the times in this

game, the owners that have jumped trainer to trainer.

Cuz in this kind of high pace game, there's bound to be

scenarios where, yeah, you know, tempers boil over.

You have some arguments you see sometimes, like where trainers

and jockeys that always work together, like maybe they stop

working together for a year or two and then they're back

together again. And so, you know, you can see

where that happens. And I mean, Doug O'Neill and

Paul Reddam have been together for so many years now, and it's

never wavering. And they keep coming here to the

Derby with live horses that obviously they've won twice, but

they've had other horses that have run well in here as well.

And so it's just cool to see. The only part missing from their

team is Mario Gutierrez, who rode both of those Derby

winners. But I think they're hoping

Edwin's that guy, right? Edwin Maldonado, I mean.

I think they're hoping. We did not get a video interview

with him, but he and Louie and I talked with him right after he

got off of Robusta and his Breeze.

I mean, he's so excited to be here. 43 year old guy's been

riding 25 years and he told us. I'm happy that this came up in

my career now because I'm a lot better rider now than I was 25

years ago and so he's. It was a great, great moment of

self realization for him. I really.

Appreciate it. Yeah.

And he, he is, I think he seems to be the guy that's really

figured out. Pavlovian.

Too, no doubt about it. And so he's the guy you're going

to want on him here. I think that's absolutely

correct. And frankly, that is Doug

O'Neill style. If a if a jock, you'll hear him

talk about that as well. And I love, I love how Doug

O'Neill talks about horses. Let's go to him.

You don't need to hear any more from us outside the track

kitchen, Sean and Louis. Here's Doug O'Neill earlier at

Barn 41, all right here with Trader Doug O'Neill.

Lots of activity back here at Barn 41.

This is the California barn as far as I'm concerned.

Doug, just a little more laid back.

Is it because you all are adjusting to Eastern Time or is

this just kind of how it goes around here?

It's probably a timing thing. Yeah, it's like 2 in the morning

right now, I think in California.

So, but no, we love this is where we been in the past.

The great Nyquist was in the same saw, same barn here as as

Pavlovian. So we love it here.

Is that something that you try to do intentionally?

Because we're seeing like the Pumas and mages stall, Chief

Wallabies and Sovereignties right to party is in Mystic

dances. That's something you guys do

intentionally. 100% yeah. You can feel the vibe walking

in, that's all. You just feel good vibe.

So whether it's true or not, I don't know, but we feel it and

yeah, we'll take whatever we can get.

All right, so are you, you said Pavlovian, is that more correct

then? I think Pavlovian.

OK, Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.

All right. No.

I'm going. Well, usually.

I mean, that's really what we're doing here.

Something about that whole dog thing, right?

The dog conditioning. The Pavlov.

Pavlov song. There you go.

That's right. Yeah, No, the Ding Dong and.

Barely made it out of high school, so I remember something

like that. Yeah, it's all.

Right. I think you're doing all right.

Yeah, we're doing. OK, he wins the Southern Derby.

Does Pavlovian, you decide to make the trip to New Orleans.

What went into that thought process?

You know, I think the Sunland Park Derby was deep waters and

we just thought we'd give it a chance.

And then he traveled well and he he got it done, like you said,

and beat a really good horse and express kid came out of it

great. And then we were just like, you

know, maybe he could be a Derby kind of horse and just figured

that Louisiana Derby was going to be a real strong test to see

if that was the case. And even though he didn't win,

he he ran out a winning race and and showed that he.

I got to tell you, we were doing an episode right after the Jeff

Ruby Stakes, which happened mere minutes before the race in in

Louisiana, and your team at Turfway Park was screaming down

that stretch, right? It was spectacular.

That's all I know. We got a great team, you know,

and honestly got it. Probably the feel like the

luckiest guy in the world with the the crew we've got.

And yeah, from Kentucky to California, we got a great crew

of people that have we've all been together for a long time.

So thank you. He's been a horse that has he

been a horse that's been kind of tricky to get going.

He's the most started horse in this race and like we were at

the Breeders Cup last year when he lost the rider coming out of

the gate and that one stake there.

So is it a matter of just kind of letting him figure things

out? And that's what's really turned

around the last couple races I. Think so, yeah.

You know, I think Edwin's been a huge addition, putting the

blinkers back on him and then giving Edwin a chance with them.

Edwin's such a good gate rider and it's really worked wonders

with his teaming up with Pavlovian.

So yeah, I, I think being battle tested, like he's saying having

ten starts, one of them losing the rider at the at the game,

he's kind of yeah, yeah, yeah, really, yeah, yeah, 9 1/2.

But he's just battle tested and again, he's got the travelling

down and yeah, we're excited. I think we got a big chance.

A ton of pride in California racing, obviously, and you know,

we remember the California Chrome story for sure.

Bring the cow bred back here for the Derby.

How important is that for you? It's really cool and Paul and

Zilla have been such a huge part of my career and and all the men

and women I work alongside us here at the Barnes career.

So just to have a home bred of theirs and, and and to, to say

that we've trained the sire Pavel and and and the mayor

Mandy's grace is pretty cool too.

So yeah, just very cool. Paul and Zilla Reddam have been

such a big part of horse racing and a big part of my life and,

and their fingerprints are all over puebloving.

So very cool. They, you guys won two Kentucky

Derbies already together. I'll have another in 2012 and

Nyquist as mentioned in 2016. What is it about your guys

relationship that works so well that you guys have been able to

keep at it for so long? And just how exciting is it to

be back at another Kentucky Derby with them?

It's super cool. And I think just their patience,

their support, they're willing to take a chance.

It's all stuff that you need to get lucky enough to to to be

where we're at. So yeah, I mean, it's one of

those, honestly, the Sun and Park Derby was really Paul

saying let's give him a chance. And we've had some luck in the

Sunland Park Derby in the past. And so, yeah, just really his

support, their support and willing to take a chance and

always do right by the horse is just a huge key to why.

We're here where where we're at. He breezed this morning over the

Churchill Downs track. How did he look out there?

He looked awesome to me at the time was that they gave was

slower than we got. We got a little bit quicker, but

it's a the gates positioned at a kind of a funky place there on

turn. But the main thing we just want

to do, it's been working for us in the past, getting a gate work

into him. The final work before his races

and Edwin was on him. He was super happy.

So just seeing Edwin happy visually, I was really happy

with the way he looked and then cooling out the bar and he

cooled out very quickly. So he's kind of checking all the

boxes now. We just got to keep him sound

injury free between now and the big dance.

Getting ready for Saturday for sure.

We just saw Robusta walk by after his work here this

morning. We were out there for the San

Felipe this year. I watched him do all the work at

that race. I imagine you're hoping if he

does draw in, you see that version of that horse again.

He's a nice horse. Yeah, I got to thank Mr. Kelly

and the whole Calumet team there.

He's a home bred as well and super, pretty way of going,

super athletic. Very unfortunate that Sandy

Derby stumbling and you know, it definitely cost him his best

effort, but he's doing well. And I talked to the racing

office here about a week ago and asked him where we were on the

list. I think we're #31 and he said I

would really, the way things are going, I would treat him like

he's going to get in. So that was talking to Mr. Kelly

and the Calumet crew. That's what the we decided to

put him on a plane and then bring him here and, and here we

are at #23 And we still got a week out so, but he had a

equally impressive work today. Same type of thing as Pavlovian

SO. Awesome from the gate.

Awesome from the gate. Yep, Yep, and Edwin worked him,

though he's not can't ride them both, but but he he was very

happy with him and and so he's he's doing well as well.

He is, as you mentioned #23 on the point board.

That means he's going to be on the outside of the gate if he

does get in. How do you see him being

successful in the Derby from that position if he does draw

in? Well, he's got good gate speed

as well, so I was in a 20 warts field like that.

We've gotten luckier being on the outside, so I think it's a

good thing to get a long run in the first turn, good clean break

and you can kind of gradually save ground going into the first

turn. So yeah, I don't think that

would be a problem at all, and we're hoping we get a chance.

And if he doesn't make it in the field, you got another great

option a little bit further E 2 weeks from now.

The Preakness would be the goal with him.

Yep, that that's the plan is is the Preakness.

So this was kind of a late plan as thinking that maybe we get

in, but if we don't get in, we'll see him in a few weeks in

Baltimore. You've been riding a lot with

MSL Haramreo since he's moved out West.

Would he be on robusta if he draws in?

Yes. OK.

What's that relationship been like, by the way?

Nothing wrong with training titles, jockey titles, all sorts

of things that say they need a part.

He's a great addition and Edwin's right around here, so I

don't want too. Many great things.

About Harammeo, because Edwin's great too.

Edwin's great too. I get.

It yeah, but you got a nice quality.

On this. Yeah.

Yeah. But I miss you.

I'll. I miss you.

I always butcher that first thing.

I just call him Heramil. That's probably the last thing I

do. Yeah.

Whatever works. Oh.

DJ, you're winning graces. That's all it counts right now.

He reminds me of Rosario's always smiling.

Horses run for him. He's tremendous out of the gate.

A ride for 1/5, he'll ride A10 claimer like he rides $1,000,000

horse. So he's just a, like you say, a

great addition to Southern California, Very blessed to have

him whenever we can get him. He's hard to get now, everyone,

kind of. Wants you won that royal heroine

yesterday. Yeah, that was good.

And now he's just horses love him, they run for him.

Great out of the gate, great furniture, smart guy comes the

paddock prepared, you know, again, just checks all the boxes

of a top jockey. Here we go, Doug O'Neill.

He's got a bunch, as he always does.

There we go. Thanks for joining.

Us thanks again. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you guys. All right, thanks to Team

O'Neill, Doug O'Neill joining us there that I'm telling you the

vibes Immaculate around Barn 41. Just Immaculate.

I love it down there. It's awesome in that back

corner, it really is. It actually legitimately very

much is with the green space and the different things.

It's a just a different environment than some of the

other spots here at. Churchill Exactly.

That's and I mean, that's an area where we've seen a lot of

Derby winners, partially because that's where a lot of the

shippers go. But I'm sure that might have

something to do with it. Horses are happy back there, it

seems like. And so you got them right there

in barn 41 and barn 42 next to them, you got the Puma and so

happy. So that that's that's a good

spot to be in right now. That's not a bad if you could

get those five horses in a bet. I may have.

It's not a bad group to get a little a little value in there

for sure. Well, we talked with our Lamont

yesterday right after the draw. We joked with him that his

horses were the last two drawn in the 20 horse field.

Both of them worked this morning.

So he moved the works to this morning.

I think with some concern for the rain overnight on Friday,

just wanted to have. Maybe just make sure he's got a

fast track today. Boy did he get fast and

incredible. Was one of those 1/2 mile and 47

flat out in the five furlongs in 59.8 Incredibles.

If not the buzz horse this week, I think the wise guy horse this.

Week. You think so?

I think a lot of people like him and then guys like me are like,

yeah, but two turns. So I do wonder, I, I, I, I do

wonder if he's not becoming a bit of the wise guy horse.

And I don't think this work is going to do anything to tamp.

That well, I mean, if he's the wise guy horse, how wise does

that make me since I've been on the bandwagon since October?

Why is this so? Yeah, he's the only horse to

have a future wager on from back in November.

So I must be, I must be pretty wise here myself.

No, he he worked great this morning.

I got the chance to talk to Riley after the work for both

these horses. He was very pleased with both of

them. This was an incredible first

back at Churchill Downs. So he obviously was at Churchill

down until last year as a 2 year old, he won the Street Sense

states here, but he had been down in Florida since the

Virginia Derby and they'd wanted him to come up and do one final

work here at Churchill. And man, he, he likes the track.

I can tell you that for sure. I'm not concerned about the two

turn thing. I know he ran a mile on an

eighth around 1 turn in the Virginia Derby, but I mean he

handled 2 turns in the mile on the 16th St.

Sense last year with no problem. I really think the only the only

flaw that he's had up to this point was not liking Gulfstream.

Yeah. I think that's I think you can

throw the line through that one and if you throw the line

through that, he looks like one of the top contenders in this

race. He's been one of my top

contenders since since October, as I mentioned, since he won

that street since and he looked great today.

He really seemed to take to the track well once again that he

he's been reacquainted to it. Albus has been Albus has been

sneak. Everybody's looking at that wood

memorial and they're looking at the numbers not coming back that

great. He has looked fantastic out here

to my eye every morning. I've he always catches my

attention when he goes by every single time.

He just looks like a happy horse out there.

And he worked well today is why. I know the time wasn't as fast

as incredible, but I don't think they're really trying to go.

He's not that kind of work. Yeah, he was not trying to go

for anything too quick. And so he's a horse that a lot

of people, I mean, he's only had a couple of starts.

You know, he seems like he just put it together in his last two.

I mean, this is a horse that I think if he can take a step up,

he's going to need to take the step up from the old memorial.

But if he can, I wouldn't count him out in here for sure.

We'll see how this last week goes.

But I mean, he's been a horse that, since he's gotten here,

has been catching my attention every time he's gone out there

on the track. The actual buzz horse this week

is Chief Wallaby because of his works work today 49.2 so not as

fast as his previous work. But frankly if you talk to most

trainers, this is what they want.

They want the more intense 1-2 weeks out from the yeah I know

the more of a maintenance work today the Southern California

horses. Are kind of with the I just met,

I think we mentioned on the show a couple days ago that typically

it's usually the second last works that you see now you can

kind of judge a little bit more when it comes to time.

Not for the Southern California horses today, that's for sure.

But but, yeah, he is a horse that everybody's been talking

ever since he ran second, ever since he broke his maiden, but

then ran second in the fountain of youth.

He's the one that it seems like a lot of people are having

attention on. And you mentioned it earlier

that when we were talking off camera, he seems like he's

getting almost a little too much attention.

Yeah, but it's ironic because he's getting so much attention

from people talking about handicapping and he's getting no

attention like at the barn from like the media and the people

that are there because he's walking out with sovereignty

every day. And so it's a it's a weird

thing. It's like we all keep ignoring

him because sovereignty is right in front of him or right behind

him. But like everybody that's

talking about handicapping is paying attention to him, but

everybody who's there at the bar and getting video and pictures

is ignoring him. He's in a weird spot this year.

It's just it's one of those fun thing funny things of we don't

usually have the Derby witter here, especially not directly

actually alongside a Kentucky Derby contender.

So it's kind of funny that he's almost getting a little bit

neglected from that scenario because of sovereignty.

But at the same time, he's the one that's getting the most buzz

like in the handicapping discussions.

And so I don't know, I just, I just thought that I thought that

it's been a hilarious, it's been hilarious seeing that the last

couple days as he's walking out and everybody's like, oh, here

comes sovereignty right behind. And it's just been funny kind of

seeing how that's unfolded. Here, Sovereignty's a nice

reminder, too, that people do care about star power, because

when he. Called my God.

Back in the crowds here, the pointing starts like.

Everybody, everybody sees the yellow saddle towel there.

Who's this? Oh, my God, That sovereignty

totally changed. I had a guy.

Yeah, I had a guy the other day walk up.

He saw sovereignty usually stops.

And Chief Wallabies. See.

Look, I'm forgetting Chief Wallaby myself.

But he does that, he does the scan of the tracking.

Of the horses, Bill, Bill Mott's horses always, it's not just

them. All their horses come out and as

soon as they get on the track, they stop there and they stand

for like a minute or two and they just kind of let the horse

take a look around. And sovereignty was doing that a

few days ago. And there was somebody that

walked up. He was, he was on my right and

he saw sovereignty there and he saw the sovereignty stop.

And so he got all excited. He walked over, He was standing

right behind sovereignty getting a picture of him.

And then when sovereignty finally went off, he came back

and he told his buddy, I've never stood that close to a

Derby winner before. And it was, it was so cool.

And so, yeah, it's, it's awesome seeing him out there at the same

time every day. Riley told We told the story of

Riley yesterday about how Riley thinks Bill's just trying to

intimidate. Everybody.

We told that on yesterday's show might throw in sovereignty out

there at the same time, but it's cool to see.

But it's, it's one of those funny things that you don't

think about probably when you're watching on TV, but it's

something like when you're back here, it's, there's so much talk

about Chief Wallaby online, but when you're out here, it's

almost like he's getting neglected a little bit because

of that. It's just such a funny contrast

to see like so much talk about him, but then out here on the

racetrack, nobody's caring about him cuz sovereignty's right by.

It's just one of those unique things that we just haven't

really experienced before because we haven't had the Derby

winner here. Before even over the loudspeaker

it's Derby horses, Oaks horses and past Derby horses.

They have to say past Derby winners.

Yeah, past Derby winners. Summer.

I know, it's so cool. It's so cool.

All right, so we thanks. To Bill Mott, by the way, for

bringing sovereignty out here to be.

Part of this. Because he's going to go to

Saratoga after. They're like 2 miles a day,

Three miles a day he's getting. Great, he's getting.

Ready. By the way, that that part too.

He looks great. Yeah, that part matters too.

Pretty Stephen Foster handicapping here if you're

wondering how sovereignty he's doing coming out of it.

Looks great over the track here. Because Sabo Legato Junior

tweeted something yesterday and I retweeted it because I thought

it was funny. He and his dad, Gustavo Dugado

senior out there watching the Puma train yesterday.

And he said in his tweet, they're watching horses go by.

They're analyzing all their competition.

And then a horse goes by them and they go, who the hell is

that monster? And then they saw Sovereignty's

name tag on name on his saddle towel.

And he said. We both looked at each other

weirdly, relieved because they realized that monster they

weren't going to have to. Run against on the 1st.

Saturday of May. So if you're wondering how

sovereignty is doing and how he's looking out of that Oak

Lawn Handicap there, there's your, there's your task.

Right now you met Bhupat Simar after the draw on this series.

He's got 6 speed working Monday morning here at the track.

Brian Hernandez junior is a set to ride in the Derby himself.

Interested to see this work and what it looks like.

Yeah, very interested to see that this work.

We're going to be talking to the.

Obviously, we're filming this part on Monday morning or Sunday

morning, but we are going to cut in here, do an interview with

Declan Cannon, who was aboard for the work with 6 Speed on

Monday morning, and we'll go ahead and give you his thoughts

on the breeze here with Jackie. Declan Cannon, who's been the

exercise rider for 6 speed out here since he arrived at

Churchill Downs earlier this week.

Declan, you breezed him this morning.

Just how has he felt over the racetrack?

Felt awesome Sean, every day has been a little better and he's

he's settled into this surroundings here.

Very good and very happy with his work this morning.

Very smooth and just what I wanted and didn't try and get

aggressive with me and did it the right way.

He seemed like an interesting horse to try to ride last couple

mornings galloping. Is he usually a tough horse?

And he said he wasn't aggressive today, so was that a good sign

that he got got some work into him?

Yeah, look, he's just a feel good, high energy horse and he's

got a hood on which really helps.

And we use use a lot them a lot in Europe and they make a huge

difference. It just rounds out the noise a

little bit and keeps everything nice and calm.

But you know, that's that's what horses are supposed to be.

They're supposed to be full of life on the engine and he's

ready to go. How did you end up kind of

booking them out to be riding here in the mornings?

I know Brian Hernandez is going to ride him in the race, but how

do you how do you know kind of the team to where you're the one

on him in the mornings? Aboopa has been coming to

America for a long time, so he's a lot of friends here and I was

recommended to get on him to keep him safe for the week here.

So it was just word of mouth really.

And yeah. What is it about a horse

travelling from overseas? What, what are the key things

you're trying to teach him throughout this week ahead of

the Kentucky Derby? Just just keep things in routine

and keep it, keep it smooth. You know, the horses are,

they're used to flying, they're used to traveling, especially

this fella. So it's just keeping everything

in routine and and and not not doing anything out of out of the

ordinary. And I know you've got to run

here. You're going to do a

presentation about being a jockey at your son's school.

What is that like and how exciting is this time of year

where it kind of puts a little spotlight on you guys?

Yeah, look, it's a big, big week for the city.

And, you know, it's good to get the younger generation involved.

And, you know, the kids are going to do a little paint some

horseshoes. I'm going to bring in some silks

and goggles and saddles and you know, it's a big deal around

here. So it's it's good to do things

like that. You can do any recruiting try to

find find the next couple jockeys in that class.

Well, my kid might be, but there's some big kids.

Some of them are nearly as tall as me.

So yeah, I don't know if my kid wants to be a jockey.

I don't think so, but I won't. I won't push it on them.

Awesome. Well, thank you Declan for

taking the time with us here and my best of luck getting 6 feet

through the rest of the week. Thank you.

Thank you, Sean. All right, continuing along with

Blood Horse at the Derby, we got Bupat C Mart, a trainer of 6

speed back with us. We talked to you at the post

draw a couple days ago, your two episodes in a row here for us.

I guess you must like talking to us.

It must be that I'm definitely not getting paid for it.

I know we'll, we'll have to change that here.

What to give you if you end up getting 3 episodes in a row?

I think that might be the thing that pushes you, pushes you

toward that. Yeah, I might have to get a

contract with Blood Horse then. Yes, awesome.

Well, 6 speed went out there and he breathed this morning.

Just what did you think of his effort over the track?

Well, you know, it was just a maintenance work.

That's exactly what we wanted. We didn't want to go too fast or

too slow. He's a fed horse.

He just ran 5 weeks ago in the UAE Derby.

And you know, this was just a maintenance work.

That's exactly what we wanted. How have you seen him kind of

taking to the surface? He's looked like he's maybe a

horse that's a little hard to handle in the mornings.

He looked great out there today and Declan told us that he was

was very easy to kind of control today.

Is he a horse that's typically like that or is that just him

feeling good coming back or coming off the plane?

Well, he is a horse who's a good feeling horse.

You know, This is why he goes with a hood every morning.

So just to cancel that noise a little bit and just keep him

relaxed. If you wanted to go any faster,

we would have taken the hood off.

But with the hood on, he's a bit more tractable and you know,

five days from the race you don't want to go any faster than

this anyway. So we kept the hood on him and

Declan did a great job and this is exactly what he wanted.

When you bring a horse over here to the United States, what are

the key things that you're going to try to teach him during this

week in order to prepare him for what he's going to see on

Saturday? But first of all, you need a

very good horse. You know, you're coming here,

it's the Kentucky Derby. It's it's some of the best 3

year olds in the world on the dirt competing here.

There, there are no, there are no hiding spaces here.

You know, this is like the Olympics for three-year old

horses on the dirt. So you need to have a horse

who's a good traveller. You need to have a horse that

can soak it all in. When you have 150,000 people you

know cheering on, it's you know only.

Only it's not for the faint hearted.

Yeah, well, how do you kind of celebrate this week as it goes

on since you're over here for the Derby?

You've been in it once before with Summer is Tomorrow, but

kind of what are you hoping to enjoy from this week?

Well, it's, you know, it's, it's some of the best horses, you

know, out here, the the best trainers, great jockeys, owners,

you know, everybody's here. Derby's kind of it's, it's like

a festival almost. It's, it's everybody's,

everybody's in jovial mood where, you know, we're all

looking forward to who's going to be the best 3 year old on the

diet in the world. You're based in Dubai.

How does the Kentucky Derby kind of compare to something like the

Dubai World Cup? I mean, Dubai World Cup is, is,

is another amazing, great event. For me living in Dubai, Dubai

World Cup means a lot because we, we, we train on for the

World Cup and the races at the World Cup.

So every trainer is based in Dubai.

They, they dream to win in the World Cup.

So for us it's the Olympics of horse racing that is a Dubai

World Cup. But then obviously you have the

Kentucky Derby, which is one of the greatest races in the world,

and we're just lucky to be participating in both.

And 6 speed, he's going to be running a mile and 1/4 here in

the Kentucky Derby. If he runs well at that

distance, could see him in the Dubai World Cup potentially in

the future. How do you think he's going to

handle the distance? Well, we'll find out.

You know, nobody knows this till you try it.

We'll find out, I think. I think he should be able to.

He does have a lot of speed, but if he does want to come back to

a mile, I think he can be a very, very good miler.

He could be a great one level miler.

Is there any extra confidence in the fact that he's got an

American pedigree with Not This Time as the sire?

Does that give you any extra confidence that he can handle

the Derby? Absolutely, I mean he's got 2

great sires in his pedigree. He's by Not This Time and who I

don't need to do any advertising for Not This Time.

He's turning out to be one of the best sires in this country

and he is probably one of them. And then you got he's he's out

of a modality or a mayor. So you got 2 very very good

stylins in the pedigree and and and and dams are pretty good as

well. Jockey Brian Hernandez is going

to be on him. He told us at the post position

draw on our last episode about how that was recommended to you

by the owners. But now that you kind of had a

little bit of time to look at it, how do you think he's just

going to fit a fast horse like this and be able to get him to

relax? I mean, Brian is, you know,

Brian's what, what, what can I say about Brian?

He's won the Oaks and the Derby. You know, he is, he's one of the

top jockeys here in this country.

And you know, we're we're lucky to have him.

And everybody tells me that he's got great hands.

And every time I've seen him ride, you know, he's he's, he's

those jockeys who doesn't make much mistakes.

Is there anything you learned about the Derby with Summer is

Tomorrow a few years ago that has helped you maybe prepare 6

feet this time? Yeah, look, we all, we all learn

from experiences, you know, we all learn from our failures, our

experiences and things we did right.

So yeah, definitely second time around is, is is much smoother,

much better. Awesome.

Well, thank you, Bupat, for joining us again here on the

podcast. We'll see if we can get you on

tomorrow so that way we can send you a paycheck.

We'll see whether or not that happens.

Perfect. I'll send you my account

details. Awesome.

All right. Thank you and best of luck with

6P. Thank you very much.

Thank. You we're going to close with a

very cool video here and we're I don't want to say we're burying

the lead, but if you stuck around at this point, the

episode, you are going to be so, so pleased that you did.

You have met John Ennis on this show before, Trader Johns

Monday, Blood Horse Monday. And yeah, one of the guys that

I, I just really enjoy being around.

He really, he's just one of those guys that's very

comfortable in the sport, seems to really just enjoy that he

gets to do this at all. You and I very much feel that

way about getting to cover the sport.

Yeah. And so I think John, you know,

sort of fits with our our ethic as well.

He's got great white on the AE list as of right now.

Again, it's Sunday morning as we tape this. #21 So he's the next

one in but. But Sean, you, you, he's walking

Great White around and you have this idea.

Let's throw a mic on John, ask him about Great White.

I don't even want to say anything else, if you don't

mind. No, here was this.

Go straight to of Sean's great idea to throw a mic on Trader

John at us and talk about Great White.

Well, this is the good stuff folks.

Welcome in Blood Horse at Kentucky Derby 152 with Great

White and Trader John Ennis. Of course we are backside

outside of barn 41 where new landscaping being undertaken.

Quite the job by Great White here.

John A good morning. How are things going?

Going great. Yeah, he's trying to dig the

place up. He wants to roll by this free,

but I can't let him do that. Has he eaten Evergreed before?

This seems to be a thing that I'm not familiar with.

No, he's just he's, he's very nosy and he's very curious about

his surroundings, so he loves inquiring about everything.

John, you've got him on the AE list right now #21 it's a place

you've been before with Epic Ride a few years ago.

Just describe what the weight is like in this week, kind of

leading up to see if you're going to get into the race.

I think I'm going to enjoy it a little bit more this time.

Whatever happens, happens. He's also cross entered into Pat

a Miles, so he runs Saturday regardless whichever race it is.

And so yeah, just going to enjoy it and enjoy the week basically.

Does that just make it a little bit easier from a training

perspective, knowing he's going to race no matter what on

Saturday just kind of help you out.

It does because you're, you know, you put a lot of work into

this and bring him over here. So yeah, when you know you're

definitely in or a Saturday, it's, it's the pressure is kind

of off, you know? Exiting the Bluegrass, how did

he come out and how's he like to track here at Churchill?

His first day at galloping today, the writer said he loved

it over there. So much easier than the turban

centre to get across. He just galloped an easy mile.

But yeah, he he looks it, he loved it here.

He came out of bluegrass really, really good, never left a nose

and has trained well up to it. You ever trained a three-year

old this big? No, I don't think there's money.

He's pretty big and he's, you know, he's a may fall also.

So he's probably not finished filling out yet or maturing.

But he said he's a kind all horse really, so.

Once he does finish filling out, are you going to have to get him

a new stall or you're going to knock down a wall or something?

Yeah, see what he see, what he does Saturday.

You can pay for it, Yeah. Right, exactly.

How do you envision could be if he does draw into the Derby,

he's obviously going to be in the outside of the gate.

How can you envision his success happening at the Derby?

What does he need to kind of unfold for him?

Well, he needs to improve obviously a lot.

Well, I just, I'd like to see him.

I'm much happier now this week than I was going into week of

bluegrass with him. Physically I've kept him fresher

and done less speed work with him.

I we're going to just take our time in the Derby.

If he gets in there right mid pack somewhere like that and he

just, he can't be on the front door like he was the bluegrass.

He's he's a very green horse tail.

So we will kind of ride him in the middle of the field

somewhere and kind of see how we get on.

Well, try to John Dennis, we appreciate you.

Throw it on the bike with the great white.

They're literally reorganizing us here on the backside.

He's doing all his landscaping here.

But thank you, John, for taking the time with us there.

You. Go John had us trader of great

white on the AE list at the current time or in the pat day

Bob and. There he goes looking for

another Bush to eat. So redoing all the landscaping

here at Churchill Downs. Oh, there's still horses at the

end of the day. Thank God for that.

All right, thanks again to Trader John.

Had us in great white. What a great moment that was.

Really appreciate him playing along with us is essentially how

I'll put it up playing along with the the Blood Horse

knuckleheads. By the way, we're presented by

Alex Smallwood and Christie's Bluegrass.

Go check them out online and check them out on the banner

right below me right now. Wrapping up the show here.

A fun one, Sean. I can't believe we get to do

this for a living. What stood out other than

everything today? Barn 41, just rock it.

I love. I know.

Well, I mean, lucky for us, we live here in Kentucky.

So if you want to live here in Kentucky too, and make sure you

go check out Alex. I mean, Christy's there, but so

product. Yeah, look.

At that, we like you, Alan. Sorry, look at how I can bring

that around. But yeah, no, it's we mentioned

on the first episode of the show on Saturday about how, and we

mentioned it again on yesterday's show about how it's

taken time for the excitement to kind of build in because of the

lack of horses that we had. Everybody's here now, man.

It's it's, it's feeling like Derby back here right now.

It's just those kind of things that you do with John Ennis.

That's the kind of thing that really only happens around.

Derby. That's right.

And so it's just so cool to be here and be part of that.

Such a great atmosphere out here.

Hopefully you're either going to be out here joining us on the

1st Saturday in May or watching from home the Kentucky Derby.

But I mean, all pretty much at this point, almost all the works

I think are done. It's so, I mean, now it's just

let's get the horses to Saturday, which I think.

This episode, yeah. So a lot of a lot of the major

stress, I feel like now is over. You've gotten the final work

done from the horseman's perspective.

Obviously there's still going to be stress about getting them the

Saturday, but now is where you can kind of sit back, have a

little fun. You can enjoy being here for the

Kentucky Derby. So we're going to have a couple

more episodes here over the next couple of days.

We're going to be trying to talk to some of those owners and

connections about what it's like being here.

We're also going to have a couple other things that will a

couple other people will check in with her at the week as well.

And make sure you're following along on bloodhorse.com for all

of our great content that we have a lot of stories that are

coming up. Make sure you're checking out

Blood Horse Plus and the Blood Horse YouTube channel for a lot

of our great video work that's coming out.

We have Anna Kerwin doing our Three Things series right now

with kind of getting to know some of these horses a little

bit better. Those are always great videos.

That's how I learned Commandment is a very hungry horse.

So you're gonna want to make sure you check that out.

Also follow along all the Bloodhorse social media pages,

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, everything.

We're gonna have so much video content up there.

Also, make sure you check out a fair 12 to see these horses on a

daily basis as well. Check out my social media, BH

Underscore's Collins posting videos and stuff like that.

I posted today on Sunday, so go back and look at it when you're

watching this on Monday. I've got to walk with Renegade

all the way out to the race track today, his first day on

the track. And so right along, right along

side of it. So you wanna see 2 1/2 minutes

of Renegade walking from the barn of the race track, Make

sure you go check that out online.

But yeah, what horse is definitely the place to be at

this point of the year? All the great content that we're

gonna have both written video wise and here on the podcast as

well. Thank you for joining us.

Make sure you go ahead and like and subscribe when Derby's over.

If you're just finding us right now.

When Derby's over, we, we and I do this every Monday, every

Monday, every Monday. We're talking about horses.

We're talking to the connections of some of the horses that have

run well in the recent days. And so make sure you check us

out on there. But man, it's special.

We're, I know we're only three episodes into this, but it's

been really fun already and so far very special to be able to

have these kind of conversations we did.

Hear track speakers been the star today.

Like not close, but the backside track speakers been the star.

Safi Joseph Junior had a doughnut delivery today at the

stablegate that went out over the loudspeaker.

Did Sean get a doughnut or not? Find out next.

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 platforms. For the latest news, analysis

and insights, visit us at bloodhorse.com.

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