BloodHorse Monday 3/16/26 | Riley Mott

All right, welcome in right before Saint Patrick's edition

of the program, Green and white behind us.

It is another edition, of course, of Blood Horse Monday.

His name is Sean. My name is Louis. 50 point preps

largely in the books. We'll have a couple overseas,

the Lexington, of course, a 30 pointer at the end of all this.

But boy, oh boy, there's a 20 pointer, 20 pointer at the end

there. How would I?

You know what, if I'm going to bring numbers around Derby in

front of Sean Collins, I need to be better about bringing numbers

in front of Sean Collins about Derby.

That is what it is. We will talk with Riley Mott.

Speaking of the Derby, Incredible.

The winner there in Virginia, Plenty to talk about as far as

the racing at Colonial, of course, will preview the

upcoming races both at Turfway Park and Fairgrounds ahead of

their big days. Man, getting to those hundred

point preps for sure. But before that, we'll talk with

Olivia Newman as well. Get the final, the final votes

on the OBS sale down there in Florida.

Our good friends down at OBS really appreciate them and all

the support of our program since our inception just over a year

ago. Sean, what makes you a little

incredible over the weekend horsey you've liked, yes, gets

off that Gulfstream Park surface.

And what's funny about all of it to me, Sean, is when you think

of tracks that lead into good performances in the Kentucky

Derby, Gulfstream's near the top, you come out of the Florida

Derby, you come out of the whatever part of their trail,

you got a shot in the Derby. For sure.

Santa Anita comes up as one of those tracks and we get like

Keeneland and we kind of don't know of horses are going to like

both dirt tracks. They seem to be a little bit

different that way. But then he goes to Colonial

Boy. Looks like the horse we saw in

the street sense. You love this horse, so I'm sure

you were quite happy because you were there, number one.

But #2 that you got to see this. You took it all in in person.

What was it like? Yes, it was.

It was a pretty fantastic win. I was very pleased with it.

Anyone who was watching a show back in October knows I was

pretty impressed with his performance in the Street Sense

Stakes. He was my #1 Derby horse coming

out of that. He has retaken that position

after this weekend. I just thought that he looked

incredible. There's a point in the top of

the stretch where I was like, all right, well, looks like

we're going to have like a six horse fight for the lead.

And then by the time that I finished having that thought, he

was two lengths ahead of everybody.

So I, I, I mean, Jaime Torres told me is the second he got off

the horse down at Gulfstream, he just wasn't getting a hold of

that surface. We saw him go right back into

the work tab. It didn't seem like there was

anything physical from that perspective analyzing it that

could have potentially led to it.

So I think that was just the truth.

He just didn't like Gulfstream when he was there for the Holy

Bowl and he he bounced back in a big way.

He seemed to love colonial. We know he likes Churchill

Downs, but this was this was the horse that we saw in the street

sense last year. And the thing that I like the

most about it was he wasn't as far back.

He was sitting closer behind the pace.

He was gotten, you know, kind of more last last time in the

street sense or two starts to go in the street sense.

He broke from the outside. This time he was in the more

more direct kickback. He was between horses.

He had to kind of fight his way out in the stretch.

And once he got into the clear, that same turn of foot that was

there in the street sense was was there despite sitting

closer, despite getting the kickback, despite being in

between horses at the top of the stretch, that same kick was

there. I don't have, I don't have any

concern about him going a mile and 1/4.

Jaime Torres also told me after this race on Saturday that he

thought that another part of the Holy Bowl might have just been,

in addition to not getting over the track, just First off the

layoff. He said sometimes this is a

horse that could take a while to get going.

Well, he's going now and he's going full steam ahead to the

Kentucky Derby here. It'll be interesting to hear

from Riley in a few moments when we have them on whether or not

they are going to just train up for the seven weeks.

Plenty of points. Yeah, going in, he's got plenty

of points. He's got 60 points.

That historically should be more than enough to get in.

Frankly, his next run would either be on three weeks rest or

three weeks rest running into the Derby.

Exactly. And so I, I, my sense is before

we talk to Riley, he's going to the Derby.

Yeah, that's right. You win the street sense, you

win this race. That is plenty of evidence that

you're ready for the Kentucky Derby as far as this point

system is concerned. And so I, I do think we'll see

him at Churchill next. That's his next Yes, I think.

So, yeah, so it'll be, it'll be nice to hear from Riley on that

perspective. But yes, I really, I really like

the performance this weekend. What do you think of it?

I have no idea to do what to do with one term prep races for the

Kentucky Derby. The only thing I would say now.

I would have more concern if we hadn't seen the Street Sense I.

Agree with you. Here's the other part is a mile

and an eighth is still a mile and an eighth.

So think back to 2020. Tis the law didn't lose the

Kentucky Derby because it was two turns.

He lost it because authentic was just better that day, right?

It wasn't anything that tis the law coming out of a mile and an

eighth in the Belmont over one turn couldn't do at Churchill

Downs. No, no, it's not bad at all.

He was fine. I I think that about incredible.

I don't know that he's at tis the law's level.

I want to be very clear, but I that part, I'm not worried about

the two turns as far as all of the things I'm forgetting the

breeding at this point. I'm sure you could, you could

help me out with that. But yeah, right.

OK. So yes, I mean, just just all of

the, you know, all of the the positives with him, I think is a

real, a real thing for him. And so, yeah, I, I'm very much

not worried about incredible moving forward as far as his

numbers and, and going two turns and going a mile on a 16th and

that kind of stuff. It is so fascinating to me

though. And if he didn't have the street

sense, this is the other part. So he's got the maiden win.

He's got the street sense of Churchill Downs clearly doesn't

mind the surface there. The Gulfstream Park thing

bothers me. I don't know why, Sean.

I don't know why it bothers me, but I'll I but it's all Riley

bothers me. So he's going to find out too.

But it is it is so interesting and I I'd love to know because

he's he's young in his career, less than 1000 starters at this

point. Here's Riley Mott.

She's an incredible thing to say outside.

Oh, not even 1000 stars, but I'll be free.

How much of work it is to get a horse to the gate at all?

Oh, and I'm like only 1000. And he's got 2 Great.

Ones he's got a. Horse going to the Kentucky

Derby. I guess that's good, but yes,

the the dust. Cup starter last year.

Like just the It's so fascinating.

This game is so complicated. Yeah.

That it incredible, like you said, Bolt Doro awesome again on

the mayor side. The just that just if we didn't

have those two wins at Churchill and all of his all of his best

performances were at like Ellis, how would you feel about

incredible? Oh yeah, I would.

I would be concerned, right? But like, but then he jumps up

and wins this race because, you know, we get Lucas winning this

race last year, none of us knew what to do with American

problems. Like none of us had any idea

what to do. But you're right.

We have that street sense that it really does feel different

with incredible like because of that I.

Think well and and the Holy Bowl was so bad that you have to you

have to think that that there was something something had to

'cause that performance. And it seems like it was the

track itself, him not liking it. Maybe it was the first start off

the layoff, but it just seemed like that was such an outlier

compared to everything else that he's done.

To see him immediately switch tracks and bounce back in the

way that he did is a huge plus in my mind where you can kind of

just throw throw the Holy Bowl away.

Now I know there will be probably be a lot of questions

as far as the quality of horses he beat in this race.

I think that will be good thing that probably probably most

people are going to point at as we head toward the Kentucky

Derby. But my my counter argument to

that is when you win the way that he did, it doesn't really

matter. The job is to win the race.

Yeah, he won the race. He did it with ease.

If you're questioning the quality of horses he'd be, it's

not like he beat him by a head. Now he he blew the doors off.

Do you know the great thing about horse racing compared to,

say, college football or something?

It's not a beauty contest. Yeah.

Do you know who won a bunch of close races, a lot of great

horses. Exactly.

Idiomatic a couple years ago never pulled away and she won a

bunch of great at stakes. And I would gladly own

Idiomatic. And I'm sure someone like Riley

Mott would gladly train someone like Idiomatic.

But I'm sure he's also very glad to be training.

Incredible. He's had nice enough to join us

here on the program is Riley Mott.

Mr. Mott. Mr. Riley, how are you, man?

You doing all right? Yeah, all good.

Appreciate you guys having me on.

Yeah, no problem. Always.

Yeah, these are the fun ones. Hey, your horse won a Derby

pram. Come on the show.

It makes it makes this job a little easier.

Rally. How you feeling?

Yeah, that would be great, huh? Yeah, no, definitely.

It's been a fun past couple days.

You know, we're had had colonial circled on our calendar ever

since the flop in the holy bull and just to, you know, come back

and redeem himself. So to say and and run as big as

he did, it was really gratifying.

All right, so you already brought it up.

I'm just going to go. Let's get this out of the way.

Let's just get it out of the way.

First things first is how did he come out of the race?

How's how's incredible doing? Yeah, super.

You know, you travelled from Colonial yesterday, late

morning, arrived early to Palm Meadows this morning.

You know, he walked the shed, had a bath, jogged up good.

Every everything looks well on him.

So yeah, just, you know, everything you could ask for up

to this point. All right, so you say everything

you get asked for the Holy Bowl, though.

Come on, Let's let's let's be real.

OK, That happens. Riley, what goes through your

mind? What's going through your mind

is that race is happening. And in the immediate aftermath,

I I don't, I know he was there. And Jaime's like, look, he just

didn't take to this track. Do you have to just let those

things go? Is it is it just part of the

training job? Yeah, you really do.

I mean, you have to have a a, you know, kind of a short term

memory when something like that happens.

You know, you want to, you want to learn all you can from such a

negative experience. But but as you said, you know, a

lot of anticipation leading into the Holy Bowl.

You know, a lot of people came to town to watch him run.

And, you know, we're just, we're going down the backside and he's

kind of losing contact with the field.

And, you know, I'm just sitting there just totally perplexed and

confused and, and, and concerned really, you know, like, you

know, he's a good horse to our standards and he, you know,

works like it. He had run like it.

So just to have such a strangely run race on his part was was was

concerning. But you know, very luckily came

out of that race super not a pimple on him.

And I think we were just kind of chalking it up to not liking the

surface. Although, you know, most, most

good horses, if they dislike a surface, they're still not going

to get beat 25 lengths. So, you know, I, I really needed

to see what he did at Colonial on Saturday.

So that in particular was, you know, really gratifying from my

standpoint. How much does that really ease

your mind? Because like, you can come out

of the race and, you know, Jaime's saying it didn't feel

like he's getting a hold of the surface.

You check him in the days after the race.

There's nothing physical with him.

So you can kind of build, build the excuse up in your mind that

it was that. But until you actually see him

come back at a different race track and run the race he did on

Saturday, you got to be wondering the whole time.

Like, is it actually that maybe he just didn't take the step

forward from 2:00 to 3:00? How much did yesterday or two

days ago really put your mind at ease?

It really did, you know, I was telling a couple buddies like I

really had kind of PTSD from the from the Holy Bowl.

So I mean, even just to, you know, in the first quarter mile

of of the Virginia Derby, just seeing the horse into the

bridle, you know, in the mix, right behind the pace, You know,

I just kind of, you know, exhaled a little bit because he

was actually, you know, involved.

So and, you know, as they turn for home, he's in contention.

And then, you know, when he came up the rail as he did and pulled

away, I mean, that was just, you know, just really, really

satisfying for me. Torres was talking with me after

the race about him being close up to closer up to the pace than

we had seen before. In the street sense.

He was way back. That maybe was due to, you know,

him coming out of the slow start, but we saw him start off

the Holy Bowl in the back of the pack as well.

Jaime was telling me that the plan originally for the street

sense had been to be a little bit more involved before that

break. How does it feel seeing him, you

know, be successful from far off the pace in the street sense,

but then now also showing the ability to sit right off the

pace? How much confidence does that

give you moving? Forward yeah, I mean, certainly,

you know, makes you think the horse can go to Plan B or C if

plan A doesn't work out. As you said, he broke, you know,

half a step slow and the street sense got hung a slightly wide

into the first turn. So we're, you know, sort of up

against it. And not only that, they said a

bit of a slow pace that day. So the fact he was able to close

strong was nice to see when he broke his maiden the start

before the street sense going A1 turn mile.

He actually, you know, sat right up in the pocket and it was a

bit of a similar trip to to as he had in the Virginia Derby.

So in the paddock with Jaime a couple days ago, I was just

like, you know, I envisioned this horse sitting a similar

trip in his maiden race here today as he did in his maiden

race. And he's like, I'm thinking the

same thing. So he he went with it.

He kind of squeezed the horse out of the gate, put him in

contention and and the horse really just kind of took took

Jaime wherever he wanted to go, took him to all the spots that

opened up for him. And I think he kind of smacked

him on the shoulder one time, you know, at the at the quarter

pole, but then he basically just hand rid him to the wire.

That's a good stuff for sure. Trader Rally Mott with us here

on Blood Horse Monday. Sean Consley, we're about

hanging out with you. Talk us through the decision

process after the Holy Bowl. Was there a moment where you

thought maybe we just got to blow this thing up and try

something else? What led to landing at Colonial

in the Virginia Derby in particular?

Well, the timing of it was ideal.

You know, we, we really thought having run several horses at

Colonial over the last year or two, you know, we thought it was

a surface that was akin to Churchill, which we know he

likes as he's 2 for two over it. So for me, really the surface

and the, the timing were, were the two major factors.

You know, I kind of had even forgot when we were mulling over

the options that it was a one turn mile and an eighth.

But but like, once we started talking about I was like, Oh

yeah, that's right. But that that didn't really

concern me, you know, as he broke his maiden at A1 turn

mile. So it's kind of run in a similar

fashion. So yeah, no.

So, you know, we are anticipating and hoping you love

the surface. And, you know, that's obviously

just a guess. You know, we're using our

crystal ball to, you know, make the best decision.

But it it was, you know, a great, great thing to see him,

you know, finish off the race the way he did.

Now it wouldn't lead up to the Kentucky Derby.

You're going to have a lot of media people like us ask you

about that one turn race leading into the Kentucky Derby.

Mostly me, yes. Yeah, unless you mostly me.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah.

But you know, it is a mile and an eighth, but you know, people,

people are going to pick apart everything and they're going to

ask you, you know, can he win him a two turn mile and a

quarter off A1 turn mile and an eighth race.

Obviously we saw him handle the two turns before.

So it's a little different than like when we were looking at

American Promise last year coming out of this race.

What what's going to be your your counter to that to that

question when people ask you about the.

Tell me what's up, Riley. Yeah, I, I, I mean, you just

kind of have to look at his form really.

I mean, I mean, you know, it's kind of apples to oranges

comparing, you know, him winning A1 turn maiden to A2 turn grade

3 as a 2 year old. But you know, he checks the box

that says he's won two turns at Churchill Downs.

You know, as far as people wondering about his fitness

level and, and, and things like that, I mean, you know, just he,

he's a very athletic and, and handy horse.

He doesn't carry a lot of extra unnecessary weight.

You know, he's pretty like lean muscled and, you know, just a

very athletic type, you know, so he, he, he, he gets a lot out of

his training. His breezes are, are very

strong. I mean, he, he does everything

very easily. I mean, not only does he like

breathe generally very well to the wire, but his gallop out and

double gallop out. And even as you know, triple

gallop out, you don't hear that term very often.

But you know, I think those latter parts of the the works

and the gallop outs are just ultra important and tell you a

lot of the story. So from what I see from him in

the morning in, in those workouts, in those gallop outs,

I mean he just goes and goes and goes and he, you know, just take

off like 14 seconds, you know, down the backside galloping out.

So, you know, he, he, he can get a lot out of his works.

He's had, you know, 2 races, which, you know, it's kind of an

unconventional spacing between races, you know, the seven

weeks. But you'll often see a lot of

these horses have two preps before the Derby.

So I think that's not, you know, a foreign thing to a horse And,

you know, it'll be up to me to to try to train, train the

horse, you know, the way he needs to be trained leading into

that Derby off of, you know, some spacing between the race.

And, you know, hopefully we can keep the horse happy and healthy

in the meantime. So are we definitely saying that

he's he's going to train up into the Kentucky Derby here and

you're not going to look at something like the Bluegrass or

the Lexington or anything for him?

At this time, our plan is to to train up to the Kentucky Derby.

You know, he and I know the numbers didn't come back super

strong, you know, depending on what speed figure you look at.

But but you know, to the eye, he, he ran a big race.

You know, while he came back in good shape, you know, a guy

could look kind of foolish running him back in three weeks

and then him running poorly and and you know, this game is, you

know, hindsight's everything and and many different situations.

So, you know, while he now looks like he's doing fine, you know,

you could always run the horse back on short rest and and him

kind of throw another clunker. So as I said, you know, just

based on the horse as an individual, I feel extremely

comfortable training him up to up to the Derby with the spacing

we have. Sub 148 mile and an eighth is

just fine. That's a 2O that's essentially

A2O2 for long. So I'm not kidding.

No, I think I look, I speed figure is fine, whatever that

that's a. That's a 2O2, yeah.

That's, I mean that's Derby time and we're talking in mid March

and no whatever. And, and you got to look at the

weather, the colonial island, too.

It's snowing on Thursday. Snowflakes the size of Rhode

Island. Dude, it was insane.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we ran, we ran into two

other then on Thursday and that was like the peak of the, the

poor weather. And, and you know, Travis Stone,

like, you know, they broke from the gate down the backside and,

and not only him, but, and I don't think anyone else even

realized they had broke from the gate.

So, you know, for for them to experience that type of weather

and for the track to be, you know, as good as it was, you

know, 30-6 hours later, I mean, was pretty impressive, I

thought. So you mentioned earlier that he

has returned down to Florida to your base at Palm Meadows.

You're also usually based at Churchill Downs.

They start moving back into Churchill Downs tomorrow.

When can we expect him to make the journey back up to Kentucky?

So I, I, I think we're going to do the bulk of our training and

heavy lifting down here in Florida.

I mean, you know, the month of April down here in South Florida

is exceptional. We get a very consistent track

down here at Palm Meadows and you know, the horse, you know,

does very well down here and got him in a a very good routine,

familiar surroundings. And you know, in a perfect

world, we, as I said, do most of the works down here.

And then about two weeks out, ship him up to Churchill, let

him gallop over the track for a week and then and then have our

final workout over the Churchill surface.

And then, you know, God willing, we'll we'll get him to the Derby

Gate and in good shape. There you go.

I'm always amazed Riley, that any horse makes it to the

starting gate in our sport. But you know, I wanted to ask

you something, I've never asked a trainer to do this, but you

used a term earlier on that I'm not sure all of our audience

will know. You talked about a gallop out

and you you talked about a triple gallop out.

Can you you kind of explain what that is, what you're looking for

as a trainer, why that matters, etcetera for our audience?

Yeah. So, I mean, for example, if a

horse is working 1/2 mile, you know, a lot of horses can, you

know, breeze and, and 4849, you know, on paper it looks like a

good work. You know, in the program, you

know, the time to workouts that they post.

But I, I think when you, you know, gallop out 5/8, you know,

furlong after the wire and then, you know, 3/4 and then 7/8.

I mean that really gives you a, a good indication on a horse's

fitness level. There's, you know, every horse

is a bit different. You know, there's some that they

just kind of are very Workman like and do everything they need

to do after they pass the wire, they're kind of like, OK, I'm

done. So we'll just kind of throttle

down a bit. But then there's others that,

you know, they just you know, they'll run until you tell them

to stop. So they just kind of click,

click off, you know, good, good 8th of a miles after the wire.

And so I think in particular when you're preparing a young

horse and, and preparing them to race, you know, for the first

time, for example, you, you really pay attention to those

double gallop outs because they, they can really give you an

indicator on, on, you know, horses readiness and, and

overall fitness level. Last one for me, Riley, and

we've noticed it up here, especially at the late summer

with the Kentucky Downs meet so many people sort of building

their horses for the purses there, this colonial thing in

the spring. How do you find it?

And you know, how is it? You know what's it like shipping

in for for boutique beats like this?

It's really fun. I mean, there's a super

atmosphere. I'm partial to Colonial in the

state of Virginia. My, my wife's from about an hour

away from Colonial and in a place called Charlottesville.

So we, we had, you know, a ton of family and friends there on

Saturday. We ran in the Dominion Derby

last fall and with with world Beater and he won and we had a

large crowd for that. But I mean the track itself, you

know, colonials, it's a beautiful little spot, kind of a

diamond in the rough. And you know, it's a great place

to to train a horse. It's nice, you know, big

circumference track, you know, a mile and 1/4 I believe.

So that's, you know, good, good spot to to train a horse.

I would say turf course, obviously very good.

And, and, and they, they put on a very good show.

I they had, I believe like a record, you know, crowd record

attendance on the day. There is traffic going in and

out and you can just tell there is, you know, a lot of lot of

good atmosphere and vibes going on on Saturday.

You mentioned family there. Obviously you are the son of

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won the Kentucky Derby.

Got to let us know here if we have we set, have we set the

record for the longest into an interview?

You've gone without somebody mentioning.

That I wasn't planning out of Riley, by the way.

I was not planning. That was not.

I wasn't going to do it. Nope.

That's a shock. I'll be over.

But obviously you know you you are preparing for your first

Kentucky Derby hero with Incredible on your own, but you

have seen what the process is like through your dad's side.

What have you learned from him and how excited are you to now

get the first opportunity here on your own?

Well, that was a good question. I don't know.

See, I don't like that. Yeah.

You know, as you said, just kind of being around his stable and

growing up in it, you sort of have like a blueprint of, of how

you want to approach things. You know, everybody kind of has

a different theory on how to get a horse to a certain race or

whatever. But, you know, I think the main

thing is you, you, you just want to sort of stay out of the

horse's way. I, I, you know, I think there

are times when, you know, although I am the trainer, you

could almost insert yourself into the equation a little too

much, if that makes sense. Like, you know, maybe

overthinking things, making, you know, you know, decisions that

aren't necessarily following your gut, second guessing

yourself at times. So, you know, I, I, I think you

really, just, as I said, it's really important to follow your

gut. You know, don't get, you know,

emotionally too high or too low. Just kind of, you know, look at

the horse, make sure he's happy, make sure he's healthy.

And, you know, have a, have a plan.

Of course, I think that's very important, but you know, you

just don't want to do anything too silly, I guess.

Now, last year your dad won the Kentucky Derby for the second

time, but the first time he got to actually watch his horse

cross the wire in front. I'm sure you were you were close

by to him as that moment was happening.

Just what was it like seeing him have the experience of winning

the Derby? Yeah, that that was just like,

you know, such a cool out of body experience, you know, a

little different, obviously now that I'm like on my own and have

my own stable. So, you know, I was there

strictly as, you know, a son figure and that that was just

really cool. I mean, obviously my dad took a

lot of gratification in in in finishing first.

And not only was it special for him and and his team, but you

know, the good Dolphin team and and Junior Alvarado, which, you

know, the three of them have been an unbelievable team over

the last decade. I guess it seems like so, yeah,

that that was just not, not only for for my dad personally, but

just like everybody involved. It was just, you know, really an

amazing time. Now, Jaime Torres told me last

year after he won the Street Sense that you guys were kind of

having the running joke that you had better success together when

you both weren't present at the racetrack.

Because I think I think it was world beater won the great one

at Saratoga. And I think Jaime had missed his

flight or something. There was some some issue with

the planes where he didn't make it there.

And then when he won the street sense, incredible.

When he won the street sense, I believe you were already out in

California for the Breeders Cup at that time.

You guys were together for the Holy Bowl.

It didn't go well. Were you nervous that you guys

were going to be together at the Virginia Derby?

And what was it like to finally get to celebrate investigative

journalism? Let's.

No. No, I I love how deep you're

digging into this. This is good.

No. So actually the Holy Bull was

the first race I even saddled the horse in like I I wasn't, I

wasn't present for any of his three, first three races.

So when he ran up the track as he did, I was like, all right, I

better just, you know, go to the Bahamas or something for the

next one. But yeah, no, you can be as

superstitious as you want. I'm not sure the horses really

realize it one way or the other. So put the tack on for for a a

win for Incredible finally. So I won't take the Kentucky

Derby off, I guess. All right, so we got one last

thing. We definitely have to ask Riley

about Carlos Morales a a a friend of both of ours.

We really think a lot of young Carlos Morales dominating.

I had taste three O 5 and you did a a bilingual interview with

him after the Virginia Derby. Young Riley and I, I, the only

question I have is this. So my wife wants my kids to

study Spanish in school and all I ever say to her, Riley is no,

no, if they're going to learn Spanish, they'll learn it in a

kitchen. They'll learn it, you know, out

in the world because so many of our fellow Americans are all

about this, right? So like that part, no problem.

Did you learn Spanish in school or did you learn it the right

way at the barn? Both actually.

So I, yeah, so I took, I started taking Spanish in 6th grade and

I took it all the, all the way through high school, took it all

the way through college. And so, you know, I learned to

like speak very formally and, and write very formally.

But it was only when I started working full time at the bar and

after college that, you know, you, you're basically, you know,

that's your first language essentially.

So that's when things really started clicking and you know,

you know, I, I got a good foundation in the classroom, but

became, I wouldn't call myself fluent, but.

But how valuable is it? How valuable is it for what you

do? It's got to be incredibly

valuable, frankly. It's paramount.

I mean, you know, I, I don't know what I would do if I didn't

know it. And, you know, not only as a

good, you know, to be in the barn and, and communicate with,

with everybody and let them know exactly how you want things

done, you know, with your staff and your, your riders and

everything. But, you know, I think it's

good, you know, just in general, you know, so you can, you know,

go experience other countries and get around.

I went to Argentina pretty recently and it was a total

breeze, just like walking around town chatting with people.

And yeah, so there's a lot of benefits to it.

And it's it's really not that hard to learn, to be honest.

Make it boom, Riley Bot. Let's go.

I'm all all right. Well, we will see you back in

Louisville, I'm sure in a few weeks.

Riley, best of luck with everything.

Safe trip, safe training, all the things for all of your your

horses there. Are you going to be up here on

Saturday by chance? You got a couple in a turf we're

going to be kicking around. Unfortunately not.

I'll probably be down here in Florida.

I saw the, I saw the forecast, so yeah, it.

Was 75 yesterday, Riley. It snowed on me today.

I don't like it. It's just it is what it is.

I have not looked at the forecast.

Yet so don't tell me, let me, let me, let me live out this

week not not expecting whatever it's going to be.

I'm I'm going to be thinking of you guys this weekend.

That's for. Sure.

We appreciate it very much. Well, I'm going to bet on both

of his horses if he's not going to be here, and that's

essentially. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's the angle. Let's try to.

Get winds here. It has nothing to do with the

weather. He's trying to get some more

wins. Oral compass set.

To WS, that's exactly right. Riley, we appreciate you.

Be well. I'm sure we'll catch up with you

down the line. All right, guys.

Been a pleasure. I appreciate it.

Thanks, Riley. Thank you.

Riley Mott with us. Incredible.

Of course, winner of the Virginia Derby this year.

Do you know what's in Charlottesville?

I'm going to put you in a terrible spot.

Guy who grew up went to College in the ACC.

I do not that's. The University of Virginia man,

come on now. What are the the grand campuses

of any public university in this country?

Not you're just super into. Basketball mindset right now?

You're not. Wrong. 3C This year, the

Virginia Cavaliers. They drew a tough two in Iowa

State, though. However, two things came out of

Charlottesville. Do you know what they are?

Riley Mott's wife. Number one.

So three things, I guess. The University of Virginia but

#2 #3, the most famous jam band since the Grateful Dead.

Dave Matthews Band. How about that?

There you go. There you go.

And that's for us old heads. Yeah, by the way, I like the

idea of us moving forward asking the the follow up like what is a

triple blah, blah, blah for I think that was.

Interesting. No, but I think if you listen to

this show or watch this show, however you hang out with us, by

the way, give us a review, give us the five stars, give us the

comments. We want to hear from you for

sure. If you watch this show and you

have these people on and we're able to take you behind the

screen, you know, behind the scenes with a Riley Mott, with a

Brad Cox, with others that we've had on this show, even a Nick

Casado last week in ownership. We should ask those kinds of

questions because even I'm like, what's a triple?

It'd be like? I had never heard that term

before. He just dropped it very

casually. And what I don't want us to do

is gloss over. I don't want this show to become

so deep in the weeds that even we can't find our way out.

Does that make sense? Yeah, we should.

This should be an approachable show.

And so I appreciate Riley slowing down to explain that to

us boneheads as we roll around here on Blood Horse Monday.

The training up to Derby thing, does it bother you or is it just

the nature of when he qualified? I think it's mostly just the

nature of when he qualified. Yeah, it's the nature of when he

qualified and honestly, I would be, I, I don't love the seven

weeks going into the race, but I would be more concerned if he

ran the race seven weeks, then ran the race 3 weeks later and

then was coming back four weeks later.

I would feel worse about that. You know, it's funny because you

know, Barbara was the horse that I got into the sport with.

He was kind of the big one that really brought me into the

sport. And when he won the Derby, the

big thing with him was, you know, he won the Holy Bowl on

February 4th, he won the Florida Derby on April 1st.

And then he was going into the Kentucky Derby and that was

like, Oh my God, horse can't do that.

Have that much rest between his final prep and the Derby, to

have only those two races in that time span.

And I think when he won the Derby, the amount of time

between the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby was the most,

I think it was the longest layoff going into the Derby

since Needles in 1956. So, so yeah, so like back then

in 2006, like that was a ridiculous thing that he was

doing that and that he was successful doing that.

Now, I mean, the final round 100 point prep races start six weeks

out and they end 4 weeks out. So now it's expected it's seven

weeks out. The way that horses are trained

now, the way that they are prepared for the races now.

I don't have any concerns with that.

I agree with you. Think about the Arkansas Derby

just a couple years ago. It was 3 weeks out and that's

five. Yeah, they just, they didn't

even go to a month. They just went 5.

You know, it's one thing if he's coming in seven weeks out and

you know, if everybody else still followed the old way of

running, you know, like 2 weeks before, 3 weeks before,

everybody's going to be in kind of the same boat Now.

There's not, there's very likely there's either going to be 1

horse that comes out of the Lexington is coming off of three

weeks rest or the the most amount of or the most recent

anyone that's run going to the Derby is going to be 4 weeks.

I don't think the four weeks to seven weeks is going to make

that huge of a difference, especially when he's already got

a lot of things in his corner like experience over the

racetrack and stuff like that. I think he'll be fine with the

seven weeks. I'll be live up there along with

Sean ahead of the races there at at Turfway Park this weekend.

You can find me on the horse racing happy hour Sean of course

doing our blood horse coverage up there as well.

But of course part of this as well.

Go on, what's? That I just wanted to before we

moved on from the Virginia Derby, I did want to mention

Riley talked about the experience of kind of the the

short little meet that they have there in.

Yeah, right. OK, fair enough.

I have to say I went to last year's Virginia Derby.

Huge turn out for the crowd. It was the first time they ever

done it. I was a little.

Wondering going into this year. It was like novelty last year

kind of thing. Yeah, sure.

Fair. Enough last year and.

What what it was, it was still a lot.

Yeah, it was. It was still awesome.

Yeah, I mean. They're into it there, man.

They are they had over I think it was it was over 9000 people,

I forget the exact number hundreds after the 9000, but it

was over 9000 people that were there.

And I mean that place was packed and it was it was a great

experience to be there. You could feel build the

excitement throughout the day. The crowd was into it.

You know, it was one of those when Travis Stone announced, you

know, the horses are in the gate for the Virginia Derby and a

cheer goes up and then the gate opens and a cheer goes up again

when the gate opens. It was it was just a fantastic

experience. So the both Virginia Derbies

over the last two years, I've never been to Colonial during

their actual meet so I'm still going to have to do that.

But at least going for the Virginia Derby meet.

Have to recommend it because it it's such a fun experience.

They do a great job with that event.

We are wondering which Brittany Russell runner will try to make

the Derby. It looks like it will be Taj

Mahal trying the Wood Memorial, which you will be at in a couple

of weeks. The last one there at Aqueduct,

the 101st running of the Wood Memorial.

Taj Mahal, obviously 2 for two in his career, last ran in a

stakes race at Laurel Park, essentially on their Preakness

Trail, but was so impressive that they're going to move him

up North. Balboa, the other one in

training there. I think we'll see him in the

Tessio trying to qualify for the Preakness.

And frankly, he'll be a favorite and Tessio and should be.

But it'll be interesting. Tosh Mahal.

And what's fascinating this year is they'll move him up to the

Wood Memorial to try to go to the Derby.

Guess where the Preakness is? If it doesn't work out, it's

right back at Laurel where he's 2 for two.

That's kind of interesting, right?

And so in a year where we're at Laurel for the Preakness, some

of those more local runners, I think are actually very

interesting candidates to hit the board or, I don't know, pull

the ultimate upsets, the old deputed testimony 1984 kind of

curse that we got going in Maryland.

But I I'm I'm fascinated by this move.

But if you just watched his last race, it's not a question that

he was easily the best in the miracle wood.

That one turn mile there, he gets to try the mile and an

eighth up there. We've seen the Remsen be

incredibly important. Last year's wood was run as fast

as Frosted's. I mean, who knows?

Who knows, maybe we'll get something interesting out of New

York City. But let's bring in Olivia now,

man. We'll do that after you hear

about the OBS March sale of two year olds in training.

That was last week, man Blood horses.

Olivia Newman was in Ocala for the sale.

She'll join us in just a moment. The OBS March recap is presented

by Gaines Way, home of the exciting first crop stallion

Drain the Clock making their impression on the track and the

sales ring at OBS. You can get yourself, your own

son or daughter of Grade 1 winner Drain the Clock, who

stands again for $10,000 in 2026.

Clock. Jackie's Warrior Drain the Clock

by a Head 1,000,001, One million one 1,100,000, Dividend 75700

Mike 700,000 Evidegue 70 Seventy 570,000.

Thank you. One point 1,570,000 a 700K in

the middle. They're not too bad for a

freshman sire. Olivia Newman, who joins us from

Blood Horse and bloodhorse.com. Of course, our sales editor over

there. Olivia, how are you?

Welcome back from Florida. It's snowing.

Yeah, it's. Definitely a change from when I

was there. I'm so sorry we did this to you,

but thank you for joining us today.

Hey, how was the, the environment, the excitement?

Boy, you know these sales, they, they have their own, they have

their own energy to them, don't they?

Yeah, it was really exciting. That energy was great.

You know, record OBS March sale. I think the first two year old

sale of the year can sometimes, you know, bring a little

apprehension for the consignors, you know, wondering if they're

going to get the return on the yearlings that they bought.

But so many were rewarded. So it was a really great sale.

Yeah. You, you mentioned that record

sale there and you know, we saw such a strong yearling market

last year and now seeing that kind of carry over to the 2 year

olds here, What, what, what, what were some of those records

that we saw fall here at OBS? Well, there's a record gross in

the that was previously passed, you know, in 2023.

It was a tie for the number of seven figure purchases at the

sale. There was Nyquist Philly that

sold for 2 million. Yeah, that was a lot.

Last year's OBS March sale, the record was Brandt, who brought

$3,000,000. You know, ended up winning the

Grade 1 Delmore Maturity and was enough finalists for the Eclipse

award. So it was a great sale.

That's really interesting. Yeah, $2,000,000 for a Philly

man. That's I, I always see these

numbers and I think goodness, gracious, hope, hope she turns

out great, man. But yeah, these Nyquist, these

Nyquist babies, man, they people love them.

Yeah, people really do love the Nyquist Phillies.

What can you what can you tell us about that $2,000,000 horse?

Well, first of Nyquist is such a kind of tried and true stallion.

You know, we had ten Grade 1 winners in 2025.

He's had eleven Grade 1 juveniles from six crops.

You know, he was a champion 2 year old himself, son of a

champion 2 year old and Uncle Moe.

So he really, I think it's a early kind of precocious horse

and that Philly she breathed furlong in nine and three, which

was the Co fastest time during the Undertack show and she was

consigned by Wavertree Stables. Karen has done so well with a

project at Nyquist. Boyd Racing purchased her and

they've really made a splash in the past year.

They have a part in Splendora who just won the Beholder Mile.

They bought a Philly out of Paradise Woods last year at the

Fasic Tipton Saratoga sale for 2.6 million.

So they're really developing a nice roster of Phillies.

Yeah, and we'll definitely probably see that then turn into

not just great Phillies on the racetrack, but, you know, a good

broodmare band after the fact on the cult side of things as well.

I believe it was hip 4/16 was our top selling cult here going

for going for 1.85 million. What can you tell us about him?

A son into mischief. Yeah, so son into mischief, you

know, seven time leading general Sire.

He was purchased for Frank Fletcher Donato Lani signed, you

know, on behalf of Frank and said the horse is just really

fast and kind of like a classic horse.

He breathes 9:00 and 4:00 during the under tax show and he's

going to go to a Hall of Fame trainer Belmont, who's had a lot

of luck with intermistor of Colts, you know, most recently,

you know, the 2025 horse the year sovereignty.

So, you know, hoping maybe this is their next door.

Yeah, can't go wrong with the. Seems like it works out once in

a while. Yeah.

The bar. Yeah, right.

Exactly. Yeah.

That that seems to be the hot hand into mischiefs and Bill

Monts Bar. You know, you know Olivia,

Olivia Newman with us from Blood Horse.

You know, the, the into mischiefs, the Nyquist, we're

used to hearing those names, any names near the top of, you know,

you know, either sales price or just sort of volume that you

were surprised to see. You know, I when I see

Cornish's, you know, people like Corniche for sure, but to see,

you know, sort of the sales prices attached to a Corniche

kind of caught me off guard a little bit.

Anyone stand out like that for you, Olivia?

I'm not sure they were so much of a surprise.

Maybe Nashville, you know, did really well.

He jumped up as a good two year old sire.

You know, his earlings were bought fairly cheap, but they

were really rewarded at the sale.

I think there's a first, a great group of first crop sires, you

know, Cornish, Nashville, Jackie's warrior during the

clock. It was really impressive.

All his horses at the under tax show.

So they're all ones to keep an eye on.

I was texting with Nick Casado after our show last week because

literally he won the big cap with with his with his horse and

he's a guy who grew up at San Anita, Olivia.

And then he drained the clock just blows up the obs sale.

And all I texted him was who's having a better three days than

you? I mean, goodness gracious.

Just a spectacular showing for drain the clock.

What was it about his his babies that people really took to in

this sale? Well, other than, you know,

being really fast, you know, a lot of people said they galloped

out well and during the clock was a sprinter.

But I think a lot of these horses look like they can go

longer distances too. You know, Pedro lands, he buys

for KS stables. He purchased two of them

including the top for 1.1 million and another one for

700,000. He just said they all look like

athletes. They're really excited they're

going to stay here in the United States.

But you also saw other like big heavy hitter names getting them.

You know, St. Elias Stables bought one for 570

and that was one of the ones that equaled the track record of

OBS for 1/4 mile racing in 20 and 1.

So I think everybody's trying to get their hands on a drain the

clock. And During the Clock Stands at

Gainesway was presenting this OBS recap for $10,000 this

season, so get in on that before it goes.

Out because I remember when not this time was like 25 K or

something. Yeah, right.

Get it down during the clock. You know, when we when we were

talking to Nick on the show last week, you know, he his slam dunk

racing, the campaign during the clock throughout his racing

career, we were kind of talking about how he, he was one of

those names that we weren't really thinking about being at

this level until we saw the Under Tech show.

And as you mentioned, several of his run, several of his runners

really impressing there. He had the $1.1 million colt the

the New York bred that sell here at the sale that you mentioned.

And is he kind of maybe Louis just mentioned not this time one

of these horses that starting off at a lower price.

Can you see him really kind of taking off here based off of

what you heard from the buyers? Right, definitely.

And you know, a lot of consigners, you know, we're

obviously really impressed as well.

You know, Tristan Demerica of Demeric Sales who can sign that

quote, said he's been a really big drain the clock fan from day

one and really impressed, you know, with how they are

physically. And I think that's going to

carry, you know, on the track. You talk about record numbers,

Olivia and Olivia Newman with us from Blood Horse and our sales

team there. Andy, we're seeing record

numbers over and over. You talk about a record gross,

all those things. Do you expect that to continue

with how the, you know the taxes are certainly you know set up

currently the big beautiful bill?

We hear about that quite often when we hear about the sales and

the increasing sales prices. Do you think that we're we're

kind of in a spot, are we starting to peak or do you think

this is going to keep going up? I think it is going to carry and

you know, almost every sale I covered last year, I feel like I

write an article and it's here's another record sale.

You know, the yearly market was so strong and last year's Keen

One sale was the highest grossing thoroughbred auction

worldwide. I do think it's going to

continue. April is generally a really

strong sale anyway. It gives some of those courses,

you know, an extra 30 days to kind of blossom.

And like you said, the big beautiful bill.

I talked to quite a few people last week that mentioned the

benefits of that and bringing in more buyers who, you know, are

willing to invest. So I do think it's it's going to

carry. Now the the April sale coming up

next month, you know, it's kind of 22 similar sales

back-to-back. What can we expect to maybe be

different at this upcoming sale in April and what can we expect

to be the same? There is a little a little bit

longer under tack show and the catalog actually just came out I

think like 20 minutes ago and there's over 1000 horses

catalogued. This sale, you know,

historically has produced so many good runners.

She's so spicy. Went through the ring there.

Silent Tactic, who's on the Derby trail Niceos in a lot of

Grade 1 winners. I think we may have more 7

figure sales. OK.

But I I do think it's going to generally kind of stay the same.

There's competition for people to get race horses.

And Eric Mitchell, our bloodstock editor, did a deep

dive, you know, into that OBS March sale and, you know,

metrics were up, you know, everywhere, even in, you know,

private sales. So to me, I think that just

means your people are really trying to get a racehorse and

they may not have got one at March and and they're going to

be shopping at April. You can find that deep dive from

Eric Mitchell on bloodhorse.com. There you go.

All right. Well, Olivia, we appreciate it

very much. Safe travels and all the things.

I hope you took in some sun before you have to get back to

whatever the heck we're doing with the weather up here in

Kentucky. But it'll be nice to see you

next time we run into you. And thanks for your coverage of

the sale. We appreciate.

It yeah. Thank you guys.

No. Problem at all.

There you go, Olivia Newman joining us from Blood Horse.

See, this is this is where you and I failed.

We're sitting in a studio and it's like snowing outside and we

could be covering sales and be awesome and be in Florida, but

we're not awesome or we're not. Florida, we could have.

We could have stood outside for the show today and done it in

the snow. That's a terrible idea.

I. Don't want to hear you complain.

You had your California sun last week.

You. You had that.

I was shining, wasn't I? You were shining.

You got a Dome like this? Yeah, it's hard not to when when

you're when you don't have any hair to.

Block the shine. Yeah, there's no, there's no

blocking the shining hair. That's Louie Rebeaucho.

I'll take it out with you. Thanks to Olivia.

Thanks to Bradley for joining us here on the program today.

These are these are my favorite shows where we get to talk to

someone who's on the ground, racing, training, jockey,

whatever. And then we get to talk sales

and like what the trends are, what the next thing might be.

I love these shows, all these shows.

I just do. I love this time of year.

We're talking Derby preps, we're talking like who are the next

horses, who's the next sire? Like that kind of stuff.

Good stuff. Riley Mott's nice enough to slow

down. Explain to us like gallop outs,

that kind of stuff to Derby preps.

This weekend you and I will be at Turfway Park.

I think betting wise, the Turfway card more interesting.

But as far as Derby contenders or Oaks contenders, where do you

see more this weekend? You know, that's a really good

question. I've been on on the record on

this show a couple of times saying I'm not.

I've not been the biggest fan of the Louisiana races this year.

I haven't really thought they were the strongest outside of

Paladin. Obviously he came in and

handled. That let's be very clear about

this. You are talking about the Derby,

not the Oaks because you do like Bella Bella Rita, yes, right.

But this actually this follows because if you think about New

Orleans, we had Kevin Kilroy on a couple weeks ago ahead of

their the start of the real, you know, heavy races down that I

think was head of the risen star.

And essentially what what we we went through was, Hey, can you

talk about the Oaks history in New Orleans?

That's where the stars are. And by the way, that's who

cares? Like that's great.

Like the the fairgrounds Oaks matters every year.

It matters every year and it is very strange that the longest of

the Derby preps in North America is not one that is very

predictive of winning the race, right even.

And and you think of the six weeks in the modern game that we

talked about earlier as being something that trainers would

not mind, right? Obviously full gate for the for

the Louisiana Derby. So it ain't like they care.

Same for the Ruby. But if you had to pick a horse

to like finish top like 5 in the Derby, would you pick one out of

the out of the Louisiana Derby around the the Ruby?

I'm going to tell you I'm going Ruby.

I see my one problem with the Ruby is it does look like this

year we've got quite a few grass horses in.

This There are four horses not nominated at all for the Triple

Crown in the Ruby. Interesting.

Yeah. But like you look at, you know,

horses like Argos Stark Contrast and you got, you know, Turf

Star. Gee, I wonder what surface that

horse likes based off the name. It's like you see a couple of

the. One of the non nominated, you're

correct, Black Hornet is in here as well for Brendan Walsh, very

clearly a turf horse. Medici is not, but that's an

into mischief who ran in Pasadena like in the Pasadena,

excuse me, not in Pasadena next to Pasadena in Arcadia.

We drove through Pasadena a couple times, but no, but the

like I think some of these are like Mandela's bringing Medici

to Turfoy Park. Yes, I think that's to find out

if the horse at all likes this. Look, it's a lot of money, but

also I, I think it's just to find out like I think ownership

is looking at him going, wait, I can get a horse from the

Pasadena to the Derby. Yeah, let's do that, right.

And so I'm not saying that that's going to happen this

week. I want to be really clear, but

that's very clear the motivation.

Yeah, you know it's what, $777,000, the most exact purse

on the Derby trail, but so. What's better, the purse being

7777 or stakes being spelled STAAAKS?

Which one the the stakes being spelled that?

Way it's high level right? It's it's the troll.

Churchill Downs Incorporated You can do a funny thing next year

you need to make the purse 777-7777 just make it sevens all

the way across. Add an extra 777 to.

This well why not 888888 for a new octave factor?

That'll be next year. That's octave factor.

Well, that would be a good point.

Yeah, see, I'm making jokes about wagers that I'll never

play. You got to play that.

Yeah, at least try it one time because why not?

It's fun. Just pick one horse in all 8

spots and hope you get lucky. Hit the random button on the.

Machine. Playing. $1.00 wagers on every

race just to do that. I'm with you on that, but that's

just lottery ticket stuff. Is it live?

This weekend. Let's do that this week.

It is live this week. Yeah, it was live as of last

Friday, I think. There you go.

You and I played the You're gonna rager at the racetrack

while you're working. Let's do every single, every

single race, I'm gonna go up and I'm just gonna hit the random

button, OK? Here's what we're gonna do No,

no, no, no. Here's what we're gonna do.

I like this a lot. Comment In the 13 races, which

one of us has more horses in the top eight?

In the races that we're allowed to bet 'cause I don't.

Are all the fields big enough? I can't tell them PPS right now,

but the we'll get into it later. But go ahead and comment in the

comment section. Who's going to have a better

Saturday at Turfway Park? As far as the Octa fecta thing,

Sean or me? I like that now I'm going to

have to study the form. Now I'm scared.

Now I'm not picking. See, I don't like this now.

I don't like this. See, you're going to show up.

You're not going to handicap. You're just going to punch

numbers and you're going to win. You're going to be my wife at

the track, which is is this poyo pico spicy chicken put?

Yeah, that way and it wins. It wins.

It's like 6 to one. It's like Julia let go, pick it

off a dirt Sprint. It's my wife every year.

It's unbelievable. She goes to the track like

twice. One one of my best.

Friends, she brings a book and she picks three winners.

It's embarrassing. It's I don't like it.

At that, one of my best, one of my best friends went to his

first Derby in 2022, and he was in the infield and his mom gave

him $100. And she said she told him just

go put $100 on whoever you want to.

It's like, all right, I'm going to put it on the longest shot.

And she's like, no, don't do that.

Why would you waste it? Puts the $100 on a horse named

Rich Strike wins the Kentucky Derby on that comes back next

year after starting to work at the Kentucky Derby museum.

So he had a little bit more experience, but he didn't really

do anything with handicapping hits.

The Pick 6 the next year on the Derby, It's it's.

People like that. I've heard about this guy, yeah.

People, people like Mike, I've heard about that, like your

wife, that they just happened to hit one.

Day go, go, go somewhere else. All right so the can't cancel

this program. All right so but the Ruby and

the Louisiana Derby let's start down South.

We'll go to the Louisiana Derby first.

Frankly, let's go. Who beats Bella Ballerina?

No one. Is she is she lock of the

weekend for you kind of stuff? Yes, I would say so.

Out of the out of the horse. I feel pretty confident in her.

I was a big fan of her win in the Golden Round last year and I

think now coming back second start of the year, I think

she'll be, you know, a little stronger than last time.

I like that she thought thought back in her last race.

One of your neighbors is a very good horse.

One wouldn't be, I would not be shocked if she turned the

tables. But I do think Bella Ballerina

is going to prove to be one of the top class Phillies in this

division. So I think she gets the job done

here and then we'll have some exciting conversations going

into the yokes about her zany Explorer and kind of where

they're all going to fit against each other.

I am fascinated by Newtown Pike in the spot and let me explain

why. So she was second charging late

in the Martha Washington at a mile and a 16th.

We're talking about a race here where she's going to get the

same amount of distance, but because of the layout of

fairgrounds, she gets a break from the two and then she gets

the long stretch. Here's why I'm interested.

She's a McKenzie. You're going to win the Oaks.

You got to run that stretch, right?

And and this is Lindsay Schultz. She's an interesting case.

Mostly Oaklawn, mostly fairgrounds is where she is.

And we see her kind of between those places this time of year,

especially. I'm fascinated by this Philly

McKenzie there trap shot on the damn side.

So a lot of question marks as far as what are we going to get

out of the damn side as far as pedigree.

But that McKenzie thing, because we're seeing so many of those

stretch run really well on a mile 16, that kind of thing.

Can she get the mile an eighth? I think actually the the the

Farragon folks is a really good stretch test test for her

because of the stretch there. I think it translates to

Churchill. And I think, frankly, that's why

the Fairgrounds Oaks is so good of a predictor of who runs well

in the Kentucky Oaks. Yeah.

So in the long stretch, we have a long stretch of Churchill,

that long stretch down there at fairgrounds, you know, that

definitely seems to be helpful. And we've seen all the success

coming out of fairgrounds in recent years, for sure.

I love Pavlovian, winner of the Sunland Derby, shipping from

California for this race. Doug O'Neill.

What a great attitude. I, I complimented Whitbeckman on

a show for running Ocelli in the, in the Like the American, I

promise kind of a this year in the Virginia Derby.

I love this kind of stuff. I love that they're bringing

this horse out here. He's a fascinating one.

Obviously the return of Chip Poncho, who just missed behind

Paladin. Is Chiponcho the favorite here?

I think he'll end up being and you know, I, I, I don't know

where he stacks up in the Derby conversation, but I, Steve

Asmussen just prompts to him every year he has that horse

that competes in all four of these races down there at

Fairgrounds. Usually most of the time they

end up getting into the Derby and running in it and this is

another one of those keeping him sound, keeping him competitive

in these races. He he didn't run as well in the

Lecompte as he did in the Gun Runner, but then he bounced back

and ran pretty strong in the Risen Star.

So just props to Steve Asmussen, props to Chip Honcho for being

that horse that's consistently being part of this trail.

Obviously Golden Tempo's another one who's been consistently been

part of this trail. Winner of the Lecompte.

We'll see if he can. That longer stretch will help

him out with his closing kick. This time was third of.

The Blakers on, they clearly want to be a little bit closer.

It'll. Be interesting to see if what

kind of changes that potentially will have with him.

But I would say probably one of those two maybe just from the

the experience of we know that they've had success down there.

We know that they've been part of this.

I would be, I'd be expecting probably one of those two to

take a lot of the money. I imagine Baffert is shipping

for the Louisiana Derby with Blacksmith alongside Pavlovian

because usually he sends at least two horses.

Interesting to see him send one. And so Blacksmith will make the

trip for Ron Giroux, who is riding in Santa Anita right now.

Was aboard this horse for his maiden break rate.

A mile will be aboard. I will tell you there's another

horse in here though, and Sean, I need your Derby knowledge to

help me out here. Emerging Market will break on

the outside. Son of Candy ride.

OK, only one race in his life, a mile 40 at Tampa, OK.

How many horses have won the Kentucky Derby in their third

career start? Is it 0?

Somebody did. OK, All right.

So I bring this up because I think I remember like 1882 or

something in my head now. That's Apollo.

Obviously we had the curse of Apollo for many, many years.

Was that 1882? Yeah, where he won the race

without racing as. A2 year old, right.

So obviously emerging market would have to do that.

Brakes is maiden the 7th of we've.

Seen just to try and mage break that in race. 2 years, so all.

Right now, the emerging market, though, let's put it.

Let's get it all out there. This horse to me screamed when

he broke his maiden Chad Brown Preakness horse.

OK, It really did. I just assumed they would, like,

run them in an allowance somewhere and then run them in a

stake like the Lexington or something, then bring them to

the Preakness. Right.

I'm not kidding. OK.

They they choose this spot instead, and they book Flavia

and Pratt again. Yeah, to me, they are not.

They are Clairevich. This is this KS.

She, you know, Olivia just talked about them to me.

This is the horse of the weekend as far as any of the preps.

What does emerging market do? Because we don't know much about

him. We do not know much about him.

Again, Candy Ride on the on the sire side, Empire Maker on the

damn side. That's a horse.

They can get the distance. It's a horse.

They debuted at a mile 70 or a mile 40.

Sorry, and I'm so used to mile 70.

Yeah. OK.

So as my mind has been working as you've been going through.

Sorry, yes. I want to say that it has not

been done winning the Derby in the third start, because I am

look, I'm justify obviously was in his fourth start.

He broke his maiden, won the allowance when the Santa Anita

Derby. I want to say Taba, he broke his

maiden, then won the Santa Anita Derby and I think he.

I was that only third race. I think the Derby was his third

race and I think I remember people talking about the fact

that he had never won or that a horse had never won in just

their third start. Now it is possible when you go

back to the 1800s, in the early 1900s, back in the time frame

where a lot for a lot of horses. Good on you.

He finished 12th and his third start in the Kentucky Derby.

Obviously that very good second in the Haskell before winning

the Pennsylvania. Derby.

So I want to say when he was running in it that people were

saying that he no horse had ever done that before because I don't

remember there being like another horse attached to it

where he was the first horse since this one to try to do it.

I bring all of it up because this is this is different stuff.

It is just interesting to see Chad Brown go to this route.

But the other part of this is how often do we hear from

trainers? There's just No 3 year old

allowances. So that's why, for example,

Contente ends up in in the San Felipe because that's where

there's a route for three-year olds out in California.

I wonder if it's a little bit of this, but frankly.

I gotta think Chad Brown could find a race for this guy.

And so it's just interesting to me.

All of the numbers on this horse on his debut are off the off the

page awesome. And so the fact that they're

putting straight into this race tells me that either they agree

with you on the Louisiana path to the Derby, which might be

part of it, but also they they think they got something here.

And mile 3 sixteenths is no, no slouch of a second race.

Yeah, exactly. Big boy stuff.

And you know, he did run the mile in 40, so at Tampa.

So he did at least already have experience around 2 turns.

But but yeah, as far as my disclaimer and whether or not my

my claims are correct, you know, you do have 1800s in the 1900's,

the early part of them where the Derby was the first race of the

year for a lot of horses. So it is possible that maybe a

horse had run twice as a 2 year old and then came back in their

first start of the year. What was Leonidas?

Leonidas. Do you see what I've done to

him, people? Do you see this right now?

The struggle bust that Shawn Collins is now on the day before

Saint Patrick's Day when his people celebrate the the the the

chasing of serpents out of Ireland.

You're suffering away with the Leonidas background.

He ran once. So Leonidas ran once as a 2 year

old because I remember he didn't run a lot as a 2 year old.

We're talking about the 1883. He's a year after I want to say.

We are 143. Years.

We're 143 years into this and that's how unusual it is.

That's what I'm getting at. That's why I think this horse is

the wild card of wild cards. So I don't know what Chad

Brown's thinking other than my horse got a chance to win the

Louisiana Derby. At least get a good check.

That's what I know. And and get Derby points, 'cause

I mean a second place finisher. He probably gets what, a

$200,000 check and 50 points? He's probably in the Derby if he

wants to be. Yeah, what?

Are we doing here? So Leon Leonidas won 10 races as

a three-year old in a seven week time period.

How many? 10 races and all ten of his wins

as a three-year old came in stakes over a seven week time

period. Even Wade Lucas is like that

might be a. Little I want to.

That might be a little too. I want to say looking at I got

a. Second start up.

Or maybe, yeah, I got well. None of these races strike me as

one that would have been before the Derby.

Maybe the blue ribbon, but I got I got.

They don't have dates on these races so I'll have to go look.

If it was anyone, it would probably be him.

How many of those were like? How many of those were like a

mile and a? Half.

Well, that's the thing. The Derby was a mile and a half

then. Yeah.

So if that was his first or if that was his second or third

career start, he was doing that in a mile and a half coming out

of either one prep race or no prep races as since running once

as a 2 year old. But so I'm going to have to

double check on that. So maybe we'll have maybe we'll

remember to bring it up next week.

But if there was anyone, I would say it's probably Leonidas.

So by the way, we're in an era in horse racing where people

want to live in the negative. If you're on social media, they

want to live in the negative, they want to do those things.

Riley did something really good for us earlier in the show,

which was he brought up that Colonial is establishing new

traditions and that the people around there are into it, right.

And and so as we reassess how we do horse racing in this country,

in places like Colonial continue to pop up, it's a great thing I

bring that up in a very different way about the Jeff

Ruby Stakes. How many of the horses, and

please don't look, do you think in this field, OK, didn't start

on synthetic or turf coming into this, started on dirt coming

into this race. Oh, in their last race, yes.

Oh yeah, I haven't looked so this will be a pure guess.

And you're going to laugh at who it is so that.

Tells me it's one. OK, he didn't let me guess.

It's stop the car. Wow.

It's Stop the car, Stark contrast Turf, Argos turf, Brave

Force. Wasn't he entered in the

Battaglia and then scratched Brave Force?

Synthetic chaos agent synthetic maximum prime synthetic Medici

turf black Hornet turf 2 out heroes synthetic Baytown Draper

synthetic full effort synthetic turf star of course turf.

But what I'm getting at is we we we are in an era where we are

reorganizing and horse racing. The Ruby is now something that

all of these connections pointed to.

This is a three quarter $1,000,000 plus race in the in

March on a surface that if you have a turf horse, they aren't

running turf races for three-year olds right now.

At 3/4 of $1,000,000. They're just not.

Added bonus, you can be in the darn Kentucky Derby if you win

this thing. And if you decide not to, you

got a good prep for the American turf on the same day for a

greater 1. Million and a half in that

thing. Yep, Churchill just announced.

I'm just telling you this is a race, that this is how things

start to shift. And when Riley talks about, hey,

Virginia Derby timing made sense, surface made sense, these

things get inserted into our schedules and things move around

it. It is interesting to watch these

developments and how places have to adapt and everything else.

But the Ruby has turned into and a fascinating race as to who's

shooting toward it, who is pointing to this race because so

much money, that turf angle with the synthetic, etcetera.

But you could qualify for the Derby.

Yeah, I mean, you can still qualify for the Derby.

And that's what you're obviously seeing with Brendan Walsh here.

Will stop the car. It's just a fascinating mix of

all those things. Yes, it really is.

It's great. It is a look, Kentucky Downs

kind of feels this way to me too.

We kind of have Turfway in March and then we got Kentucky Downs

in the in the late summer and they sort of bookend everybody

kind of shooting for those things because you got, if you

got a kind of an in between horse, you can, you know, you

can kind of figure out the synthetic something like that.

It is fascinating to watch these things.

I'll be honest, I think a turf. Turf, turf, turf.

Horse is going to win the Ruby this weekend and we're probably

not going to get a great runner in the Kentucky Derby.

Out of tell that to animal Kingdom.

Out of these kinds of race or two fills or rich strike or

seize the grey. Those three those three had

experience on dirt before, but fair enough yeah Animal Kingdom

would would like to argue with you as far as the.

That was the old the old synthetic corset turfway.

It's not this one. I have reasons.

There you go. The lighter stuff, of course, up

there, Sean and I'll be up there.

I will probably do a little bit of recording after the day,

throw it on the next episode makes.

Sense I'd say so, and we'll probably also we'll have

something up on blood horses. Social media is the day of the

race. So if you want to hear us talk a

little bit more about the Jiff Ruby, once you know, you and I

have a chance to really kind of sit down and dive into this

field over the next couple days. If you want to hear our thoughts

and opinions, we'll probably have a video up on the blood

horse social channels on Saturday.

And apologies to everybody who had to listen to my mind start

churning through Derby and I. Disagree that is part of the

experience of this show is. You're impressed that after all

that, I somehow pulled out Leonidas out of my brain

somewhere? To be like that might have been

him. I don't know that impressed is

the word terrified, Scared for my personal safety, those kinds

I'm. Just going to let the mind churn

for a little bit and all the people could see the information

that was going through my mind as you were continuing to talk.

It it you? You had to think and it was not

easy for you and I'm glad that you were able to get through it.

Check out the magazine. Out of practice, I don't.

I don't give tours anymore. About you know what you had to

go deep in the in the old that. Would have been on the tour.

Information I would make I would make a joke about storage but

kids you don't know what storage is and so he's he's Sean Collins

everything's digital for him. You know what's not digital?

The magazine it comes to your house.

Go check it out at the QR code. But of course, you know what?

Everything is available digitally at bloodhorse.com.

Of course. Yes, the magazine tab Little.

Copy, but get that. Get that hard copy.

Yeah, the physical one's awesome.

And of course, the stallion registry comes alongside.

Just got to check the box. Use the QR code at the bottom

there. If you're watching us on YouTube

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We would certainly love them to find it alongside you.

He Sean. I'm Louie.

We're at the Jeff Ruby Stakes this weekend.

How does Sean take his stake? Find out on Monday.

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