BloodHorse Monday 3/31/2025

All right, welcome and a March 31st, 2025 post 400 point Derby

prep edition of The Blood Horse Monday.

My name's Lou Reebo hanging out with Sean Collins in the I

don't, the studio doesn't have a name yet.

It needs it needs a name at some point.

Sean. I, I just haven't named it Blood

Horse Monday. Is it the Blood Horse Monday

Studios? Is that where we're?

There you go. But a couple of preps this

weekend. Sean made the trip to Arkansas.

We'll talk about that one second, but of course we'll get

into the Florida Derby first. I Sean, I'm at the point, you

know, I, I do a little bit of writing and, you know,

reflecting on the Derby trail and those kinds of things and

I'm trying to figure out where it is that I land on these these

horses And if I've seen the Derby winner in 100 point prep

yet, right, these kinds of questions and we've seen the

last couple of years with a mage with a Mystic Dan, you don't

have to be a winner of a 100 point race to pick off the

Kentucky Derby. It's just that kind of race.

And so obviously a sovereignty runs second.

We ask those kinds of questions whenever someone runs second in

the Florida Derby with Mage, especially recently, but I

thought we saw some performances that at least didn't disqualify

anyone that was on the Derby trail.

I agree. Both in Florida and in Arkansas,

I thought really the top three finishers in both races ran

phenomenal races. We'll see.

I know Neo Equos in the Florida Derby, I'm not sure if he'll get

in points wise, but like he ran a sneaky good race.

Yes he did. I didn't lose any faith in

sovereignty the way he ran. Second, tapping, tapping St.

looked good, and same thing over at the horses in Arkansas.

All three looked good. Yeah, let's head down to Florida

for the 1st prep that we will be looking at here.

Here's Pete Aiello on the South of the Great.

For a move now is Luis Saez on Tappan St.

He strides into third on his back.

It's the favorite sovereignty who warms to the task within 5

lengths of the lead. They move by three quarters in

111 and 3. They're 1/4 of a mile from home.

It's still a sitting chilly Mike Smith on Mataquette Road.

Ziya's all over Radio Aquos and Tappan St. swung to their center

of the racetrack. They're an eighth of a mile from

home. Here comes Tappan St. surging

forward now to take the lead. Sovereignty runs at him from the

outside with a 16th to go. If you're looking for a shortcut

to Louisville, take a ride on Tappan St.

He wins the Florida Derby by a length and 1/2.

Few people pull lines like that over wins better than Pete

Aiello. Might be a few people.

I mean, no one does he's. Really good at just kind of

pulling those kind of. Yeah.

Can I ask like a really important question here tapping

street or tapan? Like what are we?

Is he messing with us? Does he know something we don't

know? Did I not just talk to Brad Cox

a week ago at this time and say tapping St. out loud and not get

corrected by Brad Cox? We talked to Elliot Walden.

Thank you about. Tapping St. and they didn't

correct us. I I don't know what to call him

now. How to get to this?

Is it Tap and is it Tapan? I think maybe we should

alternate every time we bring up his name.

We see the top 2IN that race finish out, by the way, and I

want to push back on one thing that you said earlier and I'll

do it in a second, but the top two finishers in this race

between tap and Japan, whatever St. the the the 9 horse and, and

look, we get sovereignty in here.

I don't think he ran any differently than what we

expected him to run, right. He's going to do this.

The the hope is if you're a sovereignty fan, the extra

furlong at Churchill Downs will be the difference.

That long, long stretch compared to that shorter stretch that we

see at Gulfstream Park will be the difference for a horse like

sovereignty. But there's nothing to dislike

about what Tappan St. did here. Nothing at all.

And if you're telling me that he would not get overtaken by a

sovereignty in the stretch, I would actually believe you.

If he gets better as we move forward, this is first time ever

going a mile in an eighth. He was up to the test watching

Neo Equus in this race. This is where I disagree with

you. Yeah, he he dug all he just all

the luck all the way to the rail there, right on that turn.

Tapestry didn't do that. This is only a second time

routing. I was very, very impressed.

Nothing to dislike about sovereignty in this one, though.

I think those two will be out. I'll go ahead and I'll be a

little bold here. Both of them in the top 4

betting favorites in the Kentucky Derby.

I could definitely see that. And with, you know, sovereignty,

he never looked like at any point he wasn't like closing.

It looks like they keep going like he he's still got that.

Yeah, he's he's still ran the exact same race.

It was just tapping St. was ahead of him, Tapping St. got

the jump on him and tapping St. didn't stop what he stopped at.

The race was an eighth of a mile longer.

We'll find out in a couple weeks, but I do think both of

them were really strong performances.

The interesting thing about this is I feel like just a lot of

people in their minds heading into this race already think of

sovereignty as that mile and a quarter horse.

I wonder which of these two ends up being lower odds in the

Kentucky. Derby I think it'll be

sovereignty. I think so too, because I think

a lot of people are going to look at that extra Furlong

sovereignty was still coming and they'll kind of go with him as

kind of the better or the more likely choice between him and

Tappan Street. But I feel like Tappan St. the

way that it looks like the Derby is setting up right now from a

pace scenario, I feel like he's going to be in the better spot.

And if he can replicate that, if he can go the extra 8th of a

mile, I really like his chances. On the first, yeah, there's

going to. It appears there's going to be

plenty of speed in this one for sure.

An interesting fact FACT about the Florida Derby was the one

horse of the three favorites that didn't switch jockeys ended

up winning the race. And that is?

True, And I know it's horse racing and not jockey racing, so

I'm going to give Sovereignty even a little bit more of a pass

because that was Manny Franco's first attempt with the horse.

Timing a deep closer like that is more difficult in my opinion

then what Mike Smith had to do by raiding on the front with

Madiket Rd. for example. Right.

Madiket Rd. just wasn't ready. It's OK that that part is fine.

You know, Equals was the better horse on Saturday.

It's not even a question. But with sovereignty, not

worried about it. I think once we get back to

normal connections, if Junior can ride and all those things,

he'll be just. Fine, yeah, if Junior can end up

being on him by the. Time or or Manny for a second

time because he'll know the horse a little bit better.

I he didn't it wasn't a bad ride by Manny Franco.

I want to be really clear about that, not at all, but rather

just trying to time that finish like that when you've been

riding at Aqueduct the whole time.

Never been on on that horse before.

It was still a very good 2nd. And you know, I I see a lot of

complaining right now in the general sports world about an

all one seeds final four, for example, we're getting a lot of

1 seeds in this Kentucky Derby. Yeah, we are.

That's you know what, that's awesome.

Just give me the 20 best horses we got that happen to be. 3 or 4

where you want. That to be correct just give me

all the best. Ones you have all the best ones.

I'm with you. So I would love to have a year

in the NCAA tournament where we could have all 16, but that'll

probably never happen. But in the Derby, you want all

the best horses there. I think we definitely saw the

best horses that were running this past Saturday qualify this

past. Saturday.

Are you surprised at all Saturday night?

First Saturday in May if either of those two horses is the

winner of the the Kentucky Derby?

Not at all. Not either.

OK, let's go to to Arkansas. Excuse me.

We leave Florida now. I had slightly W 2 Hot Springs

here. Our guy Matt Determan on the

call to Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. As they round the four turn it's

cornucopian speed King coming back to the group.

Here's Sandman threatening to run a big one and cold battle

speed King's done Cornucopian. The dirt has turned into

quicksand. He's done as they come to the

top of the stretch here, Cold Battle, Sandman going at it and

publisher trying to break his maiden in the Arkansas Derby.

Cold Battle has lost the lead to Sandman publisher the only

threat to beat him. Sandman, he's green drifting the

round here. It's Sandman in front by two.

Publisher is second. And Sandman, he's run his a race

and he gets a confidence booster heading to Kentucky.

Of course, our guy, our guy, literally our guy.

Matt Dinnerman. We really love Matt down there

at at at Oakland Park, boy. OK, so you're not you're not a

dad yet, Sean. I don't know if that's something

you ever want to do with your life.

If you want to be bald and look like me, I definitely suggest

it. So the is that a requirement?

It is a requirement. Sorry, Don, you get to you get

to keep the beard and you've got a better beard than me.

So yeah, at least you got that going.

But that horse, when he's dancing in the in the stretch,

when he does that little, that little dip to the right, your

kids once in a while you'll catch them playing or riding a

bike or doing something and they have to self correct all of a

sudden in a moment, but they do it.

So like when your kids learning to ride a bike or maybe they're

shooting hoops, they're learning their their free throw stuff

with, with this horse, you're watching these three-year olds

get this kind of experience of these kinds of things.

It was just, I thought of my own kids when I watched him kind of

do the little sidestep in the stretch there.

But frankly, once he straightened out, that's that's

a great run. How many times are we going to

run second? How many times are we going to

run second? At some point, it's a point I'm

sure Frank would agree. You got to win these races at

some point, yeah. But you know, you looked at when

he made that move in the stretch, I think was it just he

got surprised kind of being in the lead.

He has had several races now where he has not gotten up to

the lead and he had no one else to pass pretty.

Early, well, no one to run next to, right?

A lot of horses do want to be pack animals.

They want to run alongside. He had nothing to do.

He's all by himself for sure. Yeah.

The part that I really liked about it is he didn't really

lose any ground when he did it and when he straightened out

like he maintained that margin. Over publisher.

Oh, boy. Yeah, look at this.

You can even see him move his own head right to the left.

Like, OK, I got to get back in that lane.

It's almost like he knew which lane to be in.

You know publisher kept trying but as they come to the wire

here that margins not getting any shorter between the two of

them. So that's what I really liked is

the fact that when he course corrected, he didn't really give

up any any of that margin that he had over Publisher.

If they'd gone another 8th of a mile, if they'd gone that mile

and a quarter, I don't think Publisher would have caught him.

I think Sandman would have been all right going with that.

So it was nice to see him finally breakthrough and win

this race. I know I mentioned to you

before, you know, there were a couple races last year as a 2

year old at Churchill where I had been hearing like he's this

really good horse, he's this really good horse and ended up

disappointing. I was kind of starting to jump

off his bandwagon a little bit. Now he finally broke through, he

finally got that win and at the right time, getting the Grade 1

going forward to the Derby now is probably one of the top

contenders. I thought that was.

One less baffert than we thought, potentially in the

Kentucky Derby's starting gate with Cornucopian's finish.

Is he a Pat de Mile horse to you, or would you wait till the

Preakness with him, you think? I would wait till the Preakness.

I don't think it was. I mean the way that.

I mean, that's absurd. I know I would have loved to see

Velasquez ease off of Speed King and just for them to kind of

relax it and seeing what would have happened.

I think Cornucopian will be fine going a mile and 3:16.

Especially in Pimlico. Yeah, I think that that would be

right up his alley. But at the same time, you know,

when you come off a race like that in a mile underneath, do

you just cut back to the mile for a Pat Day mile or go to a

different spot and stay out there in California just to kind

of get him back on the right track?

The other option is this isn't a mile and a half Belmont.

We're still at a mile and 1/4 at Saratoga.

You could go run that Pat Day mile and then skip to the

Belmont and and give your horses a very regular amount of time

off between races as far as Baffert's concerned.

So he's an interesting 1 speed king though, by the way,

massive, massive. They absolutely need to put that

horse in the Pat de mile. I I think he would be terrific.

I I. Want to see him in the

Preakness, OK with not a lot of pace competition.

I think he's one of those horses a lot of people are going to

jump off of him because of the last two races.

I still have a lot of faith in that horse.

I think if he gets into a race like the Preakness, there's not

a lot of pace in there. I think he could sneak away with

a race like that. But Cold Battle, we talking a

little bit about him before we got on here.

He ran third. I didn't.

Don't lose any faith in him going to the Kentucky Derby.

I still really like this. Horse and Alani Briley's

comments after the race, the the sheer candor and just openness

about how he's training and what he's trying and all those kinds

of things. That's the good stuff, man.

I appreciate when when trainers come on and they're just honest

about it. And you know, I've given Brian

Lynch a little bit of a tough time on this show because I

wonder with Owen Almighty if him mentioning the Pat Day Mile

tinged a bunch of us about the Derby rather than just whatever.

But I appreciate Brian Lynch just saying it, right?

That part too, right? Both things could be true.

So I appreciate Lonnie Riley saying, look, we tried something

different here in 3rd. We ain't doing that again.

We're going to do something different for the Kentucky

Derby. So I'm with you.

I don't, I don't think a single thing less of the top three in

Arkansas or the top two in Florida at all.

Yeah, I just don't. So I think.

All all five of those horses, I think I could see all five of

them putting it together running big on the 1st Saturday.

I totally agree and by the way, you will find many of those

horses at the OBS sale coming up here.

The seeds of success, they're planted in the spring.

Nowhere do buds of talent bloom more than at the OBS April sale

of two year olds in training. 9 graduates from OBS April have

won grade one races since 2024, including the champagne and

hopeful steaks. The most recent, of course,

Cavalieri winning the prestigious Beholder Mile.

The two year old source to the world is fertile ground for

victory. See who blossoms next at the OBS

Spring Sale April 15th through 18th.

And someone who has had plenty of good a success at the the OBS

sales is David Fisk. He is the racing manager for

Winchell Thoroughbreds and of course a part of the connections

with a his tastic. David, good afternoon news,

dear, How are you? Good afternoon to you guys.

So good to have you here on Blood Horse Monday.

We appreciate you making time. These backdrops, these guys look

at the look at the brick, the brick work there.

That beautiful much? Better than our back he's got.

Statues, I mean, we're. Living you guys.

You guys look like you're in a phone booth.

You don't see, let me just dial the phone real.

Quick, have you ever had to actually dial A phone?

Are you old enough to have dialed a phone?

No, I don't. OK, there you go.

OK, so you just. Yeah, Thank you.

Yeah, David's my guy. People that remember the 80s,

how about that? There you go.

Yeah. Well, look, off of 5th in the

Rebel, you make a decision to run tis task to get the

fairgrounds and look, congratulations by the way.

Oh, it's spectacular in that Louisiana Derby.

I'm sure you never get tired of those kinds of performances.

What way to do that decision making process though to ship

him to the fairgrounds? He'd been training at the

fairgrounds. In fact, Magnitude was his

workmate. And so we always, I thought

that, you know, I mean, he was a good horse.

I mean, he, he'd run well at Kentucky Downs last year, which

was a little bit of a surprise. Ran him back, you know, 10 days

apart, won two races at the meet.

In fact, somebody asked me the other day how many horses had

won $1,000,000 races on dirt and turf.

And I don't know, there can't be that many.

But he went up to Oaklawn because Magnitude was at the

fairgrounds and we wanted to split him up and Steve just

thought he trained better at the fairgrounds.

And so after Magnitude went to the sidelines, brought him back

to the fairgrounds. See how he trains, trained

fabulously. And you know, the proof was at

the Louisiana Derby. Well, I know this horse.

You know on the Derby trail he had a lot of seconds and thirds.

He was always showing up in every single race from the two

year old season going into the three-year old season.

How rewarding does it feel for you guys as a team when he

finally breaks through? He gets the win on a big stage

like the Louisiana Derby and gets set up so well for the

Kentucky Derby. Oh, I mean, there's a certain

amount of, you know, validation to your opinions going all the

way back to the Yearling sale. But like I said, you know, we we

had a lot of confidence that he had a race like that in him.

We just had to get the right circumstances.

David Fisco with us, he's the racing manager at Winchell

Thoroughbreds. This is Blood Horse Monday.

Hey Sean, I'm Louis. Thanks for hanging out with us

on a May, March 31st, it's on May.

I can't do that. Yeah, don't do that Louis.

Don't put that much work on a great pace set up like Sean

mentioned at the fairgrounds. That longer stretch, you think

that'll translate to the longer stretch in the Derby run as

well? Sure.

I mean, he's a horse that I think will run all day.

I mean, he's bred 2 by 3 to Tappet, the greatest Belmont

sire probably ever. And his sire won the Belmont.

I know the Belmont this year is a mile and a quarter.

You know, we used to joke that Tappet had not sired a Derby

winner because the Derby's just too short.

So, you know, in any other year, maybe we'd be using the Derby as

a prep for the Belmont. No, I think the way he's bred,

the way he runs, his demeanor, I think the longer stretch of

Churchill is certainly not a hindrance for him.

Now, you mentioned magnitude earlier, he won the Risen Star

so impressively he comes out of the race with an injury and has

to go on the sidelines. Just take us through the

emotions of having that happen with one of your top choices,

but then the team being able to bounce back now with Tis Tastic

and still be on the Kentucky Derby trail.

Well, it's devastating. You know, people always talk

about the highs and lows and horse racing and, and we've been

through a lot of those over the years, but to win the way he did

in the Rebel or I mean in the Risen Star, it was just

exciting. You know, Randy Moss thought it

was maybe the fastest any 3 year old had ever run at the

fairgrounds. And the IT wasn't just the

margin and it wasn't just he was our horse.

He was just exciting and you know, you, you think, oh boy,

we're on our way to Louisville. And then, you know, Tuesday

comes out of the stall and he's a little off and he's got a

little filling and and he's got a little chip and it's like,

well, time to regroup. But you know, having tis Tastic

in in the wings, I don't want to diminish his ability at all, but

you know, he he was working head and head with magnitude.

And then when magnitude went to the sideline, Tastic's workmate

turned out to be Clever again, who was very impressive winning

the list, the little listed stake at Oaklawn yesterday,

which I think they gave him a one O 1 buyer for.

So I think toward the end of the week we'll put the band back

together and Tastic and Clever again and Magnitude will all be

at Churchill. All right, Sean, there you go.

I know I'm gonna have a. Lot of work to do with my

camera. This week Dave Fisco, that's

from for the Witchell, for the Witchell Thoroughbreds group,

Testastic man. You've got a partnership on with

Coolmore with him, purchased him at the Keeneland September

yearly sale last year. How did that partnership come to

be and and what did you like when you saw him Testastic in

particular as a yearly? The partnership just kind of

organically evolved. When Ron and Mark Falcone bought

Kentucky Downs, they had to go to a lot of racing Commission

meetings. And Charlie O'Connor is or was a

member of the racing Commission. And you know, they struck up a

friendship. They just kept running into one

another all the time. And so when it came time to

retire Epicenter, once he survived his broken leg, the

Coolmore people made a a very good offer and a play for him.

And so he went over to Ashford Coolmore to stand at stud.

And then the next year Gunite went over there.

And then last year just seemed like a natural progression.

You know, two of the horses, tis Tastic and Clever again, are by

Coolmore Stallions, Tis the Law, an American pharaoh.

And we own both of them in partnerships with the with

Coolmore. So it was just kind of a natural

progression, like I said. Well, you mentioned the Kentucky

Downs relation there with Ron Winchell, Tis Tastic.

He won twice last year, Kentucky Downs, including a stakes race,

by the way, he beat Cole Battle in that stakes race.

So, yeah. So 22 Kentucky Derby horses

coming out of Kentucky Downs. What does that mean?

You know, to Ron, to the team down there, Kentucky Downs, you

don't usually think of that as the place that's going to

produce Derby horses. What does it mean?

To everybody down there to have a horse win the Louisiana Derby

and have two horses now in the Kentucky Derby.

I don't think the significance can be downplayed at all.

I mean, it's it's, it's huge. I know that for the last couple

of years, the publicity department of Kentucky Downs has

made quite a deal out of how many horses that had raced at

Kentucky Downs ran back in Breeders' Cup races.

You know, that it just, it just enhances the credibility.

I mean, Kentucky Downs has been a lot around a long time.

You know, first it was dueling grounds and it's gone through a

lot of permutations. But since Ron and Mark, you

know, facilitated the purchase, you know, its profile has just

skyrocketed. And so, you know, having horses,

you know, Derby caliber horses come out of that meat, you know,

it's, it's, it's just huge. Lots of partnerships and work

with a guy named Steve Asmussen who we may have heard of or not.

Other than what is it, 10 million wins in North America?

Is that what it is, 1111 million?

Outside of the obvious winning record, what is it about working

with with with Steve that seems to work so well for your

operation? Well, I, I mean, I, there's a

reason why he's in the Hall of Fame, you know, I mean, he's,

he's, he's one of the best trainers ever.

He's maybe one of the smartest people I know.

He, you know, we just have a lot of confidence and trust in him

that's developed over the years. I mean, we sent our first horses

to him when he was still racing, when he's still training at

Birmingham. And I don't know, Bandera Downs

in Texas and that kind of thing. So I've got some pretty

interesting wind photos. I can imagine.

That's a Bandera reference on this show.

That's that's. Fantastic.

Well, just tell us a little bit about your relationship with the

wind chills. You've been working for them for

a long time. Just kind of take us back

through that. I've been working for them

forever. I I actually, I was working at

the Blood Horse when I got hired by the windshields, and that was

in July of 1980. So, so I've known Ron since he

was eight, which makes for, you know, kind of an interesting,

interesting work dynamic. But yeah, I've worked for him

practically my entire life. I always want to ask about the

great horses that have come through in operation and you

know where I'm going. One of my very, very favorites,

the largest wind bed I've ever placed.

His name is Gun Runner. Just the the journey with him,

watching him progress and get better as he got older.

You know, in an era David, where so many are off to sire at 3 and

and these kinds of things, we really got to know him.

We got to watch him grow up, run incredible races, watch Steve

Asmussen sunglasses hit the floor.

You know, all the good things that come with all of the wins

with him. Man, just two or three great

memories from him, if you will. Well, he was.

I mean, I always used to refer to him as the Thrill just

because, I mean, he was, he just gave you a lot of thrills and

probably four of the best dinners I've ever been to were

after gun runner races. Positive.

That's true. You know, they, they were just

like the two at Saratoga, the Breeders Cup and then the

Pegasus. We, we pretty much wrecked Joe's

stone crab that night down in Miami, but he was just, he was

just a phenomenal horse and, and a phenomenal signer now.

I just have to say one of my favorite gun runner moments was

the horseshoe getting stuck in the tail.

Yeah, Whitney, I loved that. That was one of my favorite

things. I always loved telling non horse

racing people about that story. I just say that was one of my

favorite things. But.

Steve still has the horseshoe. Does he?

You're going. To have to ask him to see that.

But. Other top horses.

We mentioned him earlier. Tap it, you know, you know, he

was a big, big one for you guys. He's obviously turned into a

sensational sire. You mentioned earlier he still

has not won the Kentucky Derby with one of his kids yet, even

though he's had incredible Belmont success.

He was the sire of Sandman, who just won the Arkansas Derby this

weekend. Is it safe to say that if

they're coming down the stretch, looks like Tis Tastic is not

going to get up for the win? You guys will be perfectly happy

and cheering if Sandman ends up getting that victory for Tappet.

Oh, yeah, I mean, I'm always all in on Team Tappet.

I mean, he is a probably the best stallion of the first

quarter of this century. He's done things that other

stallions only hope to do. He's changed a lot of lives.

I mean, if you go back and look, Gainesway did not have at that

point in time, they did not have a real deep stallion roster.

And, you know, Tappet's success raised their profile up, you

know, immensely. Plus it, it changed a lot of

lives. I mean, it changed my life.

It changed Ron's life. You know, he's just been the

gift that keeps on giving. So, you know, I, I can't say

enough about him. I ran out of superlatives and

adjectives for him. I don't know, 10 years ago.

I think that's probably the best superlative is the fact that

you've run out of superlative. Yeah, that's probably the best

superlative you can give someone.

Oh man, well you've never been married so you don't know like

you know, eventually your wife just comes out of bad things to

call you, you know, eventually. But he's David Fiske joined us

from Witchell Thoroughbreds. We really appreciate him joining

us here on Blood Horse Monday. Say safe trip, safe training,

all those things, safe trip to Louisville for all the stuff and

good luck on the 1st Saturday May.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

There you go All right, well, appreciate him jumping in.

It is a thing. All of us have these horses that

we love. I'll give like a a couple of off

the wall ones that I really love.

Palace malice was one of those horses that I just freaking

loved and for whatever else. But gun runner is, if not the

top of my favorite very recently.

Of course, 2 turn. Just you know what, you're going

to get awesome runners. I mean, he's way at the top of

the list for me, yeah. He's definitely one of the

better ones that we've seen in the last decade.

And I mean that was proven by the fact he got inducted in the

Hall of Fame. So that shows you right there

what and you know how good of a horse he was.

But yeah, I always enjoyed watching him.

I was a big fan of him when he was on the Derby trail early on

in this 3 year old season, winning all those races in

Louisiana. So to see him, you know, he

danced every single dance during that season.

He ran, you know, the Derby, he came back, he was in the

Haskell. The Travers Pennsylvania Derby

rents Breeders' Cup to Clark and then he comes back next year and

has such a dominant year as a four year old, caps it off with

that Pegasus World Cup win. It was just such a as he said.

It was a thrill to watch that horse.

It it's interesting too, because with a do you feel this way like

that, Asmussen just doesn't get credit for being where he is in

the sport for whatever reason. It's almost like he's too

successful. Oh yeah, Steve, it's Steve.

If he doesn't, a horse like Gun Runner is such a nice reminder

that I mean, he did an unbelievable job with that

horse. Obviously the talents are, I get

all of the oh, I understand all that, just managing that horse's

career. You mentioned all the races he

ran as 3 old and then he was better at 4:00 and 5:00.

It's just incredible. So, yeah, I, I, I love that

story and I, I, he was such a just such an honest effort every

time. Really, really.

I do appreciate his career and all those things, but man, they

are set up with some really interesting ones.

Tastic man. There's nothing to dislike about

that performance, right? And so like if, if he again, if

he can like that stretch and all those things, I think for sure

part of the part of the equation in, in the finish in in the

Kentucky Derby. For sure, yeah.

I definitely think he's got a really good shot going into the

Derby. You know, the connections,

they've been close a couple of times.

They've almost won the Derby a couple of times.

It would be great to see them finally breakthrough and get

that victory off a horse like this.

All right, well, he's Sean Collins.

I'm Blue Bro. This is Blood Horse Monday.

Let's go ahead. We'll do our weekly visit with

Frank Inks now. Bring him in here on the Blood

Horse feature, part of ours, of course.

Check out all of Blood Blood Horses stuff over

bloodhorse.com. You can find Frank over there as

well. And man, Frank, we got plenty of

stuff to talk about today, but I'm really excited because

something I hear about a lot, you know, doing, doing this show

and others from, from horse players is man, I wish I had

access to more information. And boy, you've got some really

cool information that's going to be available at bloodhorse.com.

Yeah, One thing we've done at Blood Horse is besides our own

expert writers and, and videographers and photographers,

so much expertise on the staff is we're always willing to to

work with others too, if if they have something to bring to the

equation. And for years, of course, Blood

Horse previews every graded stakes in North America.

And one thing that we've added when when we added the Blood

Horse Daily newsletter, we update those previews when they

go in the newsletter because so many races draw so early now in

the week, you know, there's a little bit of a gap there.

So we get those posted right away cuz people want to see the

fields and what have you. And then we update them some

when we add them to the daily, which is more typically on race

day or maybe the day before race day.

So that brings us to the thing that we've added for our Blood

Horse daily previews. It's through an agreement with

Thoroughgraph. We're getting analysis for one

of the biggest races each week from them.

And of course they're just so respected on the handicapping

and the the way that they size up a race, even if you don't bet

it's, it's really interesting information what they have to

say about the, you know, it's usually a half dozen horses that

they'll have a comment on and we're adding those to our

previous. Yeah, that's spectacular stuff.

You hear about Theragraph, You hear about these other numbers,

Sean, that that us who like who do bet.

By the way, Frank, it's OK, we can bet on a race over here.

But you know, Theragraph is incredible, just an incredible

resource to be able to have that for free as part of Blood Horse

deal. I think it's just spectacular,

especially as we get into Keeneland season.

There's so many stakes, especially, you know, a front

loaded meat coming up here, Frank.

I'm sure that'll be included as well.

Yeah, for sure. I think we'll have a preview

from, so we'll have 1 preview this weekend.

I'm sure it'll be one of the three Derby prep races for sure.

Last week they did Arkansas Derby and it was interesting

what they said about Sandman. They really like the way that

he's developing and, and one of their comments was he's he's not

the fastest going into the Arkansas Derby, but he's the

most likely to run his race, which kind of played out because

you know that the fastest number, just looking at any

number was Cornucopian, who was stretching out and they had some

concerns about would he be able to stretch out and match that

number, which he didn't. Is that the way it played out?

There was some reasons for that, that that speed dual up front.

But but he faded. But Sandman very much ran his

race and probably improved a little bit too.

We'll we'll see what the numbers say after that.

But but strong race. It's noted that the cold battle

has kind of improved each time out.

Perhaps I haven't seen the final numbers from Saturday, but he

might have taken step back there.

But they don't discount his ability to to come right back.

Kind of just the way it's worded you you read it and it's pretty

clear they they still like his chances for the Derby.

I mean, this was written ahead of the Arkansas Derby.

But Even so, because they had some concerns on the if he'd be

able to come back strongly in the Arkansas Derby, saying that

it was kind of a big jump in a short time that he took a big

jump in a short time frame in the Rebel.

But they said this could be a stepping stone to another

forward move. See, this is we know what race

is next for him. That's right.

But this is this is where I think this kind of analysis is

interesting because one of the grand questions in handicapping

is was the step forward legitimate or was it a one off?

Right. We ask those questions all the

time, especially with three-year olds.

And so to get another opinion from a theragraph or something

like that and get it for free, frankly, is is awesome.

Just get more information that way, Frank.

Like you mentioned, and we, we link to the, you know, anyone

that likes what they're reading and wants to read more.

We, we have a link to 3rd graph and what all they're, you can

find out what the all they're about and, and see if it's worth

your while to, to digging, dig in even deeper.

But some good analysis that we're excited to to bring to our

readers for sure. Yeah, no, it's great.

I think it's it makes sense for what blood horses and does that

to include someone like Thergraph in that You have been

the president of the Cold Battle president, you know, just

absolute president of the fan club.

Frank, what did you think on Saturday and it it changed your

opinion about the Kentucky Derby at all?

I mean, I, I still think he's a, a top Kentucky Derby contender

with the loss, I couldn't keep him at #1 atop my NTRA 3 year

old pole. But I like the way he ran.

It was kind of a strange race with the two drawing off so far.

And then you'd sort of have the time of when you're going to go,

you don't want to get so far back that they becomes a 2 horse

race. To me.

What I like about Cole Battles, he still made his move.

He made his move and he went to the lead for a few strides and

then some of the other lake closers came and got him and

that that's all part of racing. But but I think he can improve

off of that for sure. I definitely agree with that.

And he was, you know, a little worked up in the paddock.

It looked like ahead of time when I was down.

There, Yeah. And it's an awkward paddock

because they're up above you. It's something where, you know,

you kind of look at that as a good prep for the Derby, kind of

get him used to something that's a little out of the ordinary

like that. And I think he'll be more

relaxed for the Derby. But as Frank said, I'd really

like the way that he still made that move.

He still came. I think he's going to get a

perfect stalking position in the Kentucky Derby itself.

I think he's going to be sitting in that like kind of perfect

zone that you've seen, like, you know, the American Pharaohs and

the Nyquist sit in, you know, off the pace.

And I think that he could definitely still be set up for a

big run. It sounds like the third graph

numbers were kind of predicting that as well.

Yeah, no, that's right. And I, I, I think too, in a year

with so many deep, deep closers, having won the early races right

at Turfway at you know, you know, with a, with a

sovereignty, who's going to be coming from way, way off the

pace horse like Cold Battle or Tappan St.

Frankly, as as pressers, right, being just off the pace could

really benefit Frank. I mean that that's really what

I'm thinking because I think some of these, early on in some

of these preps, we were seeing horses go gate to wire and what

have you. Some of those horses have fallen

by the wayside. So it'll be interesting to see

who's left in terms of pace. But right now, if I had to pick

a running style, and of course, this goes for 90% of dirt racing

in America, you want the presser.

That's kind of what wins a good chunk of these races.

But the horses you mentioned then along with his tastic,

that's his running style as well.

So I, I do think that, you know, right now it's very much in

theory, that's where you would want to be.

You know, with, with Cole battle being defeated, I, I had to put

a new horse on top. It wasn't too hard.

I just moved my number two journalism into the number one

slot and see how he runs Saturday.

Been very impressed with the Oak Lawn circuit this year.

So I went ahead and put Sandman second and Tappan St. third.

I think you guys were talking about it earlier.

I think because of Tap It and the pedigree, I would think

Tappan Street, but we'll we'll leave it to the the people that

named him. I've been told it was Japan.

And by Japan, I mean, it's Aiello's fault at this point,

right? Just get away from that.

But there you go. Who was your top five then on

the three old side? Oh yeah, so journalism.

Salmon Tappan St. Citizen Bowl.

Coal Battle. OK, and so we'll see some of

those this weekend. You mentioned journalism, you

mentioned a a citizen Bowl. I, I, I, I'm, I'm doing spots in

LA this week ahead of the Santa Anita Derby, which is always

very fun. And I'm just going to tell

people you don't have to know what thing about horse racing to

watch the Santa Anita Derby and watch three horses that have

very distinct styles try to win that race.

You're going to have, you're going to have Citizen Bowl on

the front, period. You're going to have journalism

right behind him, period. And then you're going to have

Barnes trying to stay right next to journalism is essentially

what you're going to have. And it's not going to be

difficult to figure out either. Either Citizen Bowl is going to

get that lead and he's going to do the Baffert thing and rally

and be great in the stretch, or you're going to get journalism

being journalism. Frankly, that I think the Santa

Anita Derby just sets up as a clash of styles, Frank, that is

going to be so fun. I just, I think that race is

just set up to be really great. Yeah, I mean, it's I think

everybody in the industry is pulling for Southern California

right now. We want things.

It's been such a, you know, foundational piece of the sport

for so long racing there. So so it's great that they're

getting really good horses this year.

You'd like the field to be a bit deeper, but but hey, you got you

got some big, big Colts running for the take the next step to

the Kentucky Derby and winning. I always bring this up, winning

the Florida Derby, winning the Santa Anita Derby, winning the

Louisiana Derby. These are races you want to win

to begin with, so you know that they can't take them away from

you. Once you got those in the books,

you're the horse. Has that accomplished?

It's going to be meaningful. You know, if they go on the stud

when they when they go on the stud, it's cold.

So once in a while you have a gelding in there, but they're

they're huge wins, races that everybody wants to win.

It only gets bigger for the Classics but but these are big

races too. Did you change up your NTR As

for other divisions at all? Did a white barrio move up at

all with his? No, I, I kept him second.

I mean, you know, on, on the male side, he's definitely been

the dominant horse so far this year.

I just feel like Torpedo Anna was last year's horse of the

Year and she won her debut, so I have her at #1 still.

Yeah, I I didn't touch that side of things on the for this week.

There you go. And just as we get into these

races, we asked about a cornucopian and that kind of

stuff as well. Frank, do you think what Sean

said is true and they'll try him in more like a Preakness or do

you think of Pat de Mile and then a Belmont kind of makes

more sense for him? I mean, I, I, I think the

Preakness makes sense for both of those horses that were on the

lead at in the Arkansas Derby. I, you know, like you have

nothing but options this time of year.

I kind of like what you said too is you could prepping the Pat

day and and then go in the Belmont Stakes, which is the

mile and a quarter, you could prep in the Pat day and go to

the Preakness as we saw just last year that that worked.

Very well, so you know. I I think the horsemen that are

involved with these horses, they're, they're going to make a

far better decision than any of us.

There. Every day and we're talking

about Hall of Farmers and and Ron Rouquet and these are these

guys know what they're doing for sure.

What are you saying I'm not good enough to work for SF racing?

I mean, well, we want to air Europe.

I agree with you, Frank. All right, well, he's Frank Eggs

over at bloodhorse.com. What's up?

We're talking obs sales and those kinds of things on the

sales side of things at this point.

I know we'll get more into those as we get.

I think it's about man only what two weeks to the to the two year

olds in training sale here but I'm sure.

So quick this year. It feels like it, at least.

Frank. Any updates on the sales page

over at Blood Horse? No, we, I know we have some good

shows planned here ahead of OBS April, both ahead of it and

during and right before it and during.

So, so looking forward to that. You know, OBS March was a nice

sale for sure. Everything going on in Florida

that was that was good with a decoupling issue which but that

was that was good to see you know there.

There's people still have confidence and and stepped up

and it was a good sale and looking for more of that in

April. Yeah, it's interesting too.

Big group leaving from Tampa tomorrow to go to Tallahassee as

well. It looks like they're going to

get a couple bus loads and get people up at the State House

there in Tallahassee in Florida. So good luck to them on their

efforts against decoupling there in the state of Florida as well.

Frank, last one will get you out of here.

How's your bracket? Oh, it, it was long done.

I, I went with Saint John's and because I, I generally default

to the Big East, which has been very profitable in recent years,

but not so much this year. I will be talking with Mike

Ropoli Derby week to to see if see what went wrong there.

But no, I mean. It's got a Mike.

What are we doing here? Come on, a little more we've.

Done the story. Mike was a big supporter of

Saint John's basketball and but you know, one and done, you did

you. There's no forgiveness there.

Done of the first weekend, you get out of here, You know who's

never done on the first weekend? Frank Eggs.

You go check him out at bloodhorse.com.

Go check out all those great things there.

He's also got the best, the best.

That's the best bookshelf in horse racing.

It is what it is. David's got beautiful brickwork.

Frank's got beautiful books. Thank you, Frank.

We'll talk to you next week, buddy.

Thanks guys. There you go.

Frank Eggs with us at bloodhorse.com.

It's interesting when he talks about the NTRA poll and I don't

know if you have a strong opinion on this about older

horses. I'm not mad at the Thorpino and

the number one spot thing at all.

I think that does bother me, but the older dirt male thing hasn't

materialized to the way that I thought it was going to.

Only because Sierra Leone doesn't run great on debut in

2025. Whatever, I'm not going to hold

that against him. We haven't seen fierceness yet.

Mystic Dan did what he did in the the Malibu Right in

December. And then the Pegasus.

And then in the Pegasus, right, So we haven't seen that great

performance yet from any of the four year olds per SE, but mine

frame comes back, Gulfstream Park Mile looks really great.

Is Whitey Barrio just the class right now?

And now he is. But it's going to be

interesting. It's a.

Long time till November. Well, it's a long time till

November and also the older male division's now going to switch

to where it's really centered in New York going forward.

You're going to have the Met Mile coming up at Saratoga.

You're going to have, you know, the Whitney, the Woodward Jockey

Club, Gold Cup, all those big races.

And so when when fierceness comes back into it, when Sierra

Leone, now that he's got this race under his belt, I think

that's going to things are going to start changing here.

White barrio. I know he won the Whitney couple

years ago, but I'm not the I don't I don't let love him at

the one turn distances. You know, he, I haven't really

liked his runs in the Met Mile in the past, that race in the

Saudi Cup. He explodes out of that second

turn. You're right.

So, you know, when we get to a race like the Met Mile, I

wouldn't be shocked to see one of these other ones step up.

When that one, then you know, maybe White Barrio comes back

and proves himself in a race. Like a mind frame, you know?

Get a mind frame in the Met mile, you get a white barrio

bouncing back potentially and race like the Whitney.

And so I'm not, I think definitely at this point white

barrio is, is the head of the male division for the older

horses. But I'm I would expect someone

else to look like they're about to take that spot after the Met

Mile and then see whether what a barrio is going to come back and

remain in that top spot the rest of the year.

Keeneland opens this week, yes, which is always the goodbye

winter moment for. Me.

We're in spring now. You know, I made a joke on

Twitter the other day and I'm very proud of it, so I want to

bring it to this show. Are you ready?

Yes, I am. So I made the claim that the the

Punxsutawney film moment for Louisville is when they change

the Derby sign to the new Derby 151.

This. Year as a Pennsylvania resident

I can respect. That do you love that yes OK, as

a guy who's from Pennsylvania and loves horse racing, yes I

referring to the Derby sign as our as our personal Groundhog

that we hold up. I approve of that, yes.

Karen Rodgers thought that was very funny.

So shout out to the guys at church.

I think we'll stick with that going forward.

But what that also means with Keeneland opening is it's the

end of 100 point season. This weekend.

You and I will be at different preps.

I will be in New York at the Wood Memorial.

You will be here in the Bluegrass at the Bluegrass at

Keeneland. Interesting fields in all of

them. Yeah, the Bluegrass is loaded,

the Santa Anita Derby is wildly loaded, and there's tons of

potential in the Wood Memorial. I think that's the best word for

the Wood Memorial. And don't forget, we got Dubai

this weekend. Anyway, thank you for reminding

me. Yeah, it is.

And that was loaded too. Loaded this week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there one in particular that

you're most looking forward to? And why?

Is it the Santa Anita Derby? You know exactly which one I

it's been a couple years, I think.

And part of this is because Baffert's been suspended and you

know, if his horse is running in the Santa Anita Derby, we you

haven't really been able to care from a Derby perspective.

You haven't been able to care too much about those races the

last. Couple years.

Like Stronghold's a good horse, but he's not a Santa.

He's not what we think of as a modern Santa Anita Derby winner.

Yes, right. And like the years before that

where Baffert was winning and yeah, like, you had Teba come

back and he ran with Yaktine and the Derby and stuff, but it

just, it hasn't been that same field.

It's been a while since I felt like the Santa Anita Derby has

been like this and it just it feels like a match up of Titans.

You have the champion, the two year old champion coming back

this year. He's still, I mean, he ran

phenomenal in his first race back.

So what is he going to do here when he's matching up against a

horse like journalism? Who was the last future wager

favorite last time they had the future wagers?

So I feel like it's really set up to be kind of this clash of

Titans. And then Oh yeah, you also have

Barnes. Everybody's been high on Barnes.

You're going to get to see. And the tale, it's obvious with

him. You can see it when he runs,

Yeah. You can you're we're going to

get to find out who he actually is this weekend.

Is he going to be that longer distance horse?

Is he going to be one that maybe you're going to want to cut

back? And Oh yeah, you also have a

horse like Beza who's got the bloodline of, you know,

Immaculate bloodlines. It's the last is 2 half brothers

have gone on to win Triple Crown races of the last two years.

He's going to need a first or second to get into this race or

into the Derby. But when you look at that kind

of supporting cast to already what's going to be a great match

up of Citizen Bowl? I think, you know, Citizen Bowl

could run the race of his life and you still feel like

journalism might be able to run him down because journalism

might be that good. So I think this is set up, I

think whoever wins this race between really the top three,

but even potentially Beza depending on how he wins, I

think if any one of those four wins this race, they are the

Kentucky Derby favorite. I think that's why this race is

going to be so exciting, Had. Sovereignty won the Florida

Derby. Would your take be different?

No, OK, I think it. Would not have mattered to you.

It would not have mattered, I think this race as far as as far

as the betting. Favorite.

I'm not saying for you as your favorite, but just.

Yeah, As a betting favorite, I think, I think it's been set up

since journalism won the San Felipe the way that he won the

San Felipe. I think it is set up for this

race to be the deciding factor when it comes to the Kentucky

Derby. Interesting.

OK journalism. Currently 14th in points because

he got a a reduced number of points for winning in the San

Felipe. I don't think he's going to miss

the field in the Derby if he doesn't hit the board here.

But man, the number of points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby

seems higher this year, Sean, than in past years.

What do you think the bottom cut number is going to be?

Journalism, by the way, at 47 1/2 Maticot Rd. at 46, tied with

Getaway Car. That's two Bafferts that might

get cut this weekend. Should we get, frankly, like a

UAE? We don't usually get the 2nd

place finisher shipping over here, but if we did, that takes

a spot. If, you know, we get a couple of

upsets in the wood, which is not outrageous, that moves two more

spots down. I mean, getaway card just in

that scenario, by the way, is 19th.

Yeah, journalism moves to 18th in that scenario, man.

And I haven't mentioned Luxor Cafe who won in Japan over the

weekend is going to take a spot. We're going to find out tomorrow

or Wednesday on that. I'm just saying I think there's

actually motivation in here for journalism.

And I, look, it's a grade one. I I talked about this last week

with with sovereignty, when people are like, we don't know

if they're gonna wait. No, they're not saving him for

the Kentucky Derby. That's twenty horses.

You don't know what's gonna happen in Central Downs.

You win a grade one when you can win a grade one, right?

And that's what Frank was just saying in the previous segment

is no, you win a Louisiana Derby, that's a big deal.

In Arkansas, Derby is a big deal.

Sanity Derby, same thing. Yeah.

It's a big thing and the points, you know, the point system came

into play starting for the 2013 Kentucky Derby and there's been

a lot of changes to it over the last decade.

And we always look at that 40 points as kind of the magical

number that used to be what you got for finishing second in

these final prep races. Last year they made that change

to where you get 50 points for running second.

They increased all the 2nd place points throughout the entire

series and I think we're at the point now last year because of

horses scratching, because of horses dropping out under 40

points there. I believe there's still like a

couple of those bubble horses that got in with less than 40

points we've. Seen 3837 before.

Yeah. And it might end up being the

same way this year if we have some dropouts.

But I think for that safe zone of knowing that you're in the

race, I think it's time that we start saying 50 points is the

safe zone going forward. Because one of these years, like

everybody's kind of looking at it like, yeah, somebody's going

to drop out. One of these years horses are

not and you're going to need 50 or more points to get into the

race. 700 point races, that's 14 spots, yeah.

And you're looking at, I mean, right now, Chancellor Mcpatrick

is sitting in the 19th spot. We're not counting the 20th spot

because that's probably going to be taken by Looks or Cafe off

the Japanese invite. Chancellor Mcpatrick sitting

19th at 35 points. And you have two invites going

to the Dubai Horses this weekend.

So that right there, as you said, that puts the bottom point

at 4645. And now I look at it as Citizen

Bowl and journalism are probably going to take points this

weekend. They are already above that

threshold, so that's not going to play a big impact.

But you have quite a few horses in like a race like the

Bluegrass, East Avenue and Burnham Square and horses that

have points but they don't have enough.

And so even if they run, maybe not East Avenue I think only has

10, but you look at a Burnham Square where I think it's

sitting about 30 right now. He runs 4th and that puts him up

at 45 points. So you know you're looking at

where quite a few and same thing out there with the race of the

wooden Memorial. You have a horse like Omaha.

Omaha if he gets a third, if he gets a fourth, that puts him

above 40 points. And so it's gonna be really

interesting to see how the bottom of this point system will

shake out. It's possible if you get all new

horses that are not in the top 20 right now that finish in

these top spots, it could be possible horse like Flying

Mohawk who has 50 points gets bumped out of the top 20.

If you have both the Dubai horses come over, you have the

Luxor Cafe come over from Japan, it's possible to wear that 50

points now all of a sudden is not looking 100% certain.

So I'm sure this will all shake out.

You know, if we have horses who maybe decide to go, you know, to

the shorter distance, you're looking at horses like Bills,

potentially the getaway car, the Maticat Rd. where maybe they

would decide to go a Pat de Mile instead.

But you know, there's a pole of the Derby.

And if they stay in this point, the points are going to get very

interesting here for prep races this this weekend.

You have the Lexington with the final 20 points to the winner

next week. That could turn into a huge spot

if some of these guys that are sitting on the bubble decide,

let's try and guarantee we get in.

Let's go to the Lexington. American Promise is already in.

He's heading there. But if we get any of these other

horses heading there, that's I mean it's that this is the part

where I get super interested is the analyzing how the points are

going to shake it. It's something I love about your

interviews is that you're willing to ask trainers, hey,

take me inside trying to get points here.

Yeah. And we watched, you know, a W

Saratoga last year navigate from the Iroquois all the way to the

starting gate and the Derby just.

Picking up small amounts of points so. 3rd, 4th place all

the time and and we don't have that this year largely it seems

like we're getting big chunks, but it I think, I think they did

the points, the points change to get rid of horses like W

Saratoga and I don't know if I like that or not.

Well. I think that the big problem was

the horses that ran second. It was because the thing that

happened was when they they changed it from the top 4

finishers to the top five finishers getting points.

And when they did that there were, I think it was the 2023

Derby. There were the horses that

finished second in the final round of prep races that should

have definitely been in the race that were on the bottom of the

points boards because they only had 40.

Points. So I do think it does, It does

guarantee that you're getting those top horses in.

I love having kind of those horses like the West Saratoga's.

But this was the same point system last year for West

Saratoga. He made it in.

So those horses can still get in.

But by the way. Larry and Dante and all the

people that were connected with W Saratoga.

Phenomenal, that was. The highlight of my Derby last

year, I was getting to talk to them.

Yeah, it was spectacular. The ownership was great.

I mean, you know, no, so I'm not, by the way, I'm not putting

that down. What I'm saying is actually I'm

in favor of that. Like, like you talked, you joked

about 16 seeds. Yeah.

Like it's nice to what's their token to 10 seed?

He's an 11 seed, right? I mean, he really is.

And that's OK. Like it's OK to have those kinds

of horses in. And frankly, I don't want us to

get away totally from, you know, Rich Strike or whatever, but

Larry Demerit did an incredible job getting into the Kentucky

Derby starting gate, and I just don't want that to go away.

Rich Strike does not get into the Kentucky Derby off the

current point system. OK, good point.

Yeah. So you do need a little bit of

that. Make sure the long shots can get

in. Now the part that really.

A lot of people listening would say good, yeah, no, but I think,

I think that's how they feel. Yeah, I think so too.

But also, you know, you look at the impact that Rich Strike had

on the non racing fan, just the general sporting public to

general public. I think you kind of need to have

a horse like that in there. Frank back in with us.

Any any this Frank? One thing I think that's

important to remember is unfortunately you always have

horses that come up with little issues and they're not going to

make the race. So that always factors in.

That's always going to get a few other horses in.

So I think if your horse is moving forward, you know, you

prepare like you're going to go to the race and and see how it

falls out. We've had several horses make

make the field using that approach in recent years.

Yeah, I, I, I'm fascinated by this.

I in the same way that people are upset about the brackets and

not enough Cinderelles and all those things.

I don't care. I want the best teams in the

Final four. I think all of us sitting here

want the best horses in the Kentucky Derby.

I think it's worthwhile to have the conversation about the best

way to do that. I do think, OK, let's just kind

of round table real quick on this.

I'm pro point system. I think it's a good idea.

I don't think the, you know, the, the the greatest stakes

earnings could be grass and Tepita, whatever, Like I'm, I'm

not, I don't know that one is less interesting to me now.

It makes the handicapping way more interesting for sure.

But I like the road to the Kentucky Derby.

I like seeing the different tracks all lead to one race

because in horse racing it's so parochial and, and whatever

else, you know, LA, Miami, New York, you know, whatever, all

having the same goal of sending a horse to Louisville, I think

is very cool. So I like the point system That

way. I will defend it.

I think it's a good idea. What's a Sean called?

I love the points, OK? I, I have loved every step of

it. They've made adjustments to it.

You know, you can question maybe some of those judges, but I do

really, really like the point system.

I like kind of having that set goal, knowing what you have to

do in order to get into the race and you know, this whole the

bottom of the points board changing over the last two

years. It's a learning curve and people

will react to that and they will prepare differently potentially

in future years. I love the point system.

I like that it kind of gives you a sense of being able to really

follow the top contenders. I agree with that.

From an earlier stage than maybe, you know, people like us

that watch racing year round. We're we don't we're keeping an

eye on the media, but for, you know, the general racing fan who

doesn't pay as close attention, it's nice to kind of have these

set spots. I love the point system.

I definitely think that is the way to go as far as making sure

that they're qualifying into the Derby.

The real interesting part this year, as you mentioned earlier,

I didn't get back to this point, but with journalism is the

reduced points. If is that going to play an

issue? And it ended up not being a big

issue on the oak side for good cheer because she won the final

prep race. But is that going to start

playing an issue at some point here?

That's the only part of the point system I'm a little on the

fence about is the reduced points for the smaller fields,

but in general I love the point system.

Yeah, All right. Good take, Frank.

What say you? You know, I'm good with the

using graded stakes or points to figure out who goes.

I think the points are probably easier to follow for people that

kind of pick this up in April, which I totally get.

It's a race that the entire continent identifies with.

So we want to welcome those people even if they want to join

us just for the Triple Crown. We hope they stay on, but we

welcome that. I the, the thing that I really

like is using is we're not counting the sprints anymore and

we're not counting turf races. I think the, the prep races that

award the points are, are the right races.

So that's been good to see. Yeah.

And even you know with the addition and I and I said turf

and Tepita there, at least the Ruby has given us quality horses

out of that. Oh yeah, I mean for Tepita, I

like that there is still a way for the Tepita horses that, you

know, the all weather horses to make the race.

I, I've always said that Animal Kingdom was the best 3 year old

that year, at least for that time for sure.

You know, he went on to a lot of, you know, win the Dubai

World Cup and, and what have you.

So a serious horse for sure. He wouldn't, he wouldn't have

qualified if there wasn't an all weather way to get into the

race. So, so you want to have that

you've had some other horses come out there and and get

placings. So yeah, I, I do like that.

There's still that. That exists for sure.

There you go. All right, well thanks Frank.

We appreciate you buddy. I want to thank our friends at

OBS one more time and OBS continues to be the two year old

Source 9 graduates from OBS April have won Grade 1 stake

since 2024. The most recent is Cavalieri

winning the prestigious Beholder Mile.

The April sale will be held April 15th through 18 and the

under tack is set for April 6th through 11th.

Man, that is 7 days from now. How about that?

Getting that under tack going down there at OBS Really

appreciate them hanging out with us here on Blood Horse Monday.

And of course go find them at OBS and all easy to find on

thebloodhorse.com. All those sales tabs and all the

things we got going on. Of course, tons of coverage of

that sale as well as we get into April, kind of the the appetizer

for the Triple Crown, the OBS sale.

I'd say so, yeah, a little bit there.

We're finding next year's. Trip.

It's our, it's our NFL Draft Combine is what it is, you know?

Finding next year's Triple Crown horses before we've even run

this year's Triple Crown. That's the part that I love

about this sport is you have all this build up to the Triple

Crown and as soon as you get to it, you can start getting the

build up for next year's Triple Crown.

It's starting even before the Triple Crown.

All right, Lee. Sean Collins, I'm Lou Rabo.

This has been another edition of Blood HORSE Monday.

By the time we get back, we will probably know about 19 of the 20

starters in the Kentucky Derby, maybe 1 sneaks in in the

Lexington the week after. Sean will be up there at the

Bluegrass. I'll be at the Wood Memorial.

We'll share our experiences next Monday with you as well.

Lou Rabo, Sean Collins, this is Blood HORSE Monday.

We'll see you next week. The Blood Horse is dedicated to

the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing for 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.