BloodHorse Monday 9/1/25 | Larry Collmus

Oh, yes, rock and or roll. It's a September.

My goodness, September edition of BLOOD HORSE Monday.

His name's Sean. I'm Louis.

Thanks for hanging out with us as the open of your horse racing

week. Sean, back in the Bluegrass.

Which means you have to sit very close to me on set.

How? Are you?

I know. I thought it's funny.

I was thinking about last last night when I was leaving

Kentucky Downs. I had completely forgotten that

I was going to have to account for the time to drive over here.

This. It's been so long since we've

done this together. You.

Don't have to do that, but I do smell pretty good so it's.

Probably the trip. It's worth the trip just just

for the smell, just for the sights of everything.

Exactly. Very.

Musky. You don't get that in Saratoga,

you know. It's very muscles place That's

exactly I'll be shot back in the bluegrass here with us here on

blood horse Monday. Really glad to have you back in

the state for sure. You're at Kentucky Downs over

the weekend. Certainly the big racing though

and and by the way, let's set up the show.

Larry Calm is going to join us from Del Mar just called that

Pacific Classic one of the more. You know, I used to say unusual

and then journalism did what he did in the Preakness and then

fierceness does what he does in the in the Pacific Classic.

Apparently taking a hard left turn into the rail is the way to

win a classic. Race, I think it's just scared

him into focusing, which he sometimes struggles with, but

we'll we'll get more into. That Larry Collins is up first.

Adrian Beaumont from Kentucky Downs will join us.

He's based in Newmarket, England in his job with the

International Racing Bureau. OK, the B was for Bureau.

Look at me getting things right is get European runners in races

in North America, specifically in the fall at Kentucky Downs

and at the Breeders Cup. And so he goes through his

rationale. Now, we taped on Thursday for

that one. So it you'll hear some

foreshadowing of both this coming weekend's races and the

ones that just happened. And you might be thinking, oh

great, you're going to handicap for Saturday.

Listen to his rationale as to why those horses should make the

trip. 2 Kentucky Downs and you'll hear why some of them

won. Over the weekend as well, they

had a good weekend that's. Exactly right.

So flatten the curve stands out Wimbledon obviously in the in

the Derby as well. So there are a couple of horses

there that did legitimately exactly what he said.

So he's not only got a great eye for who should come over, he's

great at predicting the races too.

So you'll hear from Adrian in the latter part of the show that

way. But hey, let's get into it.

I don't even know really. You and I don't have a hard plan

on where to start. Well, I I just want to start by

saying when we look at the Breeders Cup Classic coming out

of this weekend, I don't think I learned anything that will help

me for that with what happened this week.

OK, so here we go. Mind frame bucking jockey.

You know, a couple weeks ago you had one of those posts that make

me cringe a little bit, but I get it.

You're like jockeys. They're built different.

Yes, they're built different. Was that for Lescano?

Yeah, it was Luis Rivera. Rivera.

That's but he got knocked off the mountain and was freezing

torpedo and at 5:30 the next morning after being in the

hospital 12 hours earlier, IRAD. 'S going to ride today like he's

riding, right? Now he said, he's going to wait

till Kentucky down. Finally.

Wait. Yeah, all.

Right. So these are but like, like his

agent yesterday, Steve was like, yeah, he was.

Going to ride him up yeah he was he was he was cleared to ride

today but he he's chosen I guess the way he woke up this morning

he's chose he's decided I'm just going to sit today out and I'll

wait till Thursday at Kentucky Downs for come back but glad

glad that I ride was OK after that.

That was a scary. That is where we should start is

that he's OK. By the way, that was my

notario's got way. Edgar's eye is hanging off the

right side of him and literally on his batox Irad Ortiz Junior

sitting on him, grabbing onto him, grabbing onto Edgar.

Like, what do I do here? And mine frame kind of looking

at both of them. Like, you can get out of the way

now. Yeah, I got places to go.

Well, I can't believe, like, I think the most striking photos,

I want to be really clear about this, the most striking,

striking photos of that moment are Flavia and Pratt looking

back to make sure I reads OK. Yeah, he's on Sierra Leone.

He's in $1,000,000 race and he's checking on his colleague, who,

by the way, they're not on the same team.

No jockeys on the same team. Nope, there is no team.

But he's checking on him first. It gives you an idea of what

that jockey colony is. Like, exactly.

Yeah, Anytime that a jockey gets injured, especially out in New

York, you always see several of the jockeys running out to go

check on them when when they're on the track.

I saw that several times during the Saratoga meet when I was up

there. They're close knit group up

there, but glad that Irad's OK, glad that mind frame is OK, that

way to Barrio is OK, that everybody there is OK.

Since everybody is OK, I think we can now make the joke about

how Irad did not want to quit riding.

Way to Barrio apparently, because he did ride him for a

couple. Strikes a joke.

He that was one of my first thoughts, was like, oh, he's

still riding way to Barrio, even though he was supposed to be off

of him in this race. But glad that everybody was OK

out of that. I mean, you can't say that that

did not have any impact on the race because everybody on the

inside, disarm, Highland Falls, Sierra Leone all ended up being

further back than you would have intended because they were all

trying to avoid that situation. You had White Barrio, obviously,

I mean he had two riders for a couple strides there.

So he was definitely impacted by that.

It's the only he's. Got his jockey not looking at

the race and I'm not picking up Flavia and Pratt for a second by

by the way, I'm not doing that. That was such a bad incident

that even Flavia and Pratt in the $1,000,000 race is like I'm

going to take a gander. I'm a look because I don't know

how bad this is. And it boy, it just, it's a

remarkable, you're right, Jockey's built different.

And they are. And but yeah, it's A and the

only horse who was not in any way impacted by this at all was

the horse that ended up winning an antiquarian, because he was

outside of everything. So it's like, I, I mean, it was

a good run from him. It was a good performance.

But when I look at the distance, by the way, at the distance at

the mile and a quarter, you know, But I did not go into the

race thinking he was, you know, of the same level.

Some of those horses, And I can't say it definitively coming

out of the race that he is because everybody else was

greatly impacted by this. Like if Highland Falls doesn't

have to try to avoid that, is he sitting closer?

Is he the one that's making that run at the top of the stretch?

If White a barrio is able to get a clean trip, is he the one

that's making that run Sierra Leone, if he sits closer, does

he get there because he ended up being further back?

So I can't, I can't really make anything out of out of.

So and Aquarium didn't move up the board for you?

At all, No for for me personally.

And so clip this when he wins the Breeders Cup Classic in a

couple weeks. But but for me, I just, I can't,

I can't move him up at all because everybody that everybody

else had something happened during the course of the race

and he's the one that didn't. And, and in that scenario, he

should have been the one to win when that does happen.

But I just, I can't really, I can't put him any higher on my

rankings. Going to the Breeders Cup,

knowing what all these other horses have accomplished in the

past and seeing the trips that they got, I just, I can't do

that. OK, so we're besmirching

antiquarian on this show just to do it.

Now I I do have to say I'm happy to see him getting a top level

win here. I mean he's been a hard trying

horse. He's been running in some of

these top races. It looks like he's better this

year than he's ever been before. Let's.

Talk about the Gold Club, Let's talk about this race, OK, 'cause

here are the last five winners, Antiquarian Highland Falls

bright future Olympiad and Max Player.

Now I want to defend Olympiad a little bit because that's

flightline, yes, OK. And he runs second in the

Breeders Cup Classic. And frankly, I think if there's

no flightline, he wins it. I want to be very clear.

I think he does. I think during that year was

that his fourth, either Grade 2 or grade one win that year?

He had an absurd, I know. I know he won the Stephen.

Foster, right? I mean, we're talking about a

horse that won the Foster and the Gold Cup in the same year.

That's awesome. I mean, that's high level.

You'll see it very rarely. Of course, we all forget about

that because flight line in the Pacific, classic.

You ever gonna see that again in your lifetime?

Maybe not, right? I mean, it's that kind of

performance. And so we forget about that part

with Olympia. So I wanted to fend him.

But do you get turned on by any of these other winners?

Does Bright Future do something for you?

To be to be fair, this is a much better field than the Jockey

Club Gold Cup has had in the last several years.

A lot better horses. But again.

So why are you putting an aquarium down?

That because they were all impacted, every single one of

them. That's that's the way that I

look at those two. Tonalist did win this race

twice, as did flat out Code of honor, of course.

Back when it was at Belmont. Back when it was at Belmont.

It will return to Belmont I hope very soon.

Of course, curling A2 line time winner of this race as well.

I don't. I think they're gonna keep it

there 'cause they made that switch before the crack went

under renovation, yeah. Put things back at Belmont like

God, we can have things at Belmont and the world won't end.

OK, I didn't say that on the show.

All right, so that race is in the books.

And of course, reminder antiquarian.

He's a bomb. Sierra Leone, though, runs

second, runs his race. He can win the.

Do you think Antiquarian steps up in your ranking?

Yes. OK, Yes, he wants.

It for a belt race, yes, yeah. At the end of the day, you have

to win the race that's in front of.

You and he did, and I don't discount that, but when?

You're like people putting down Sierra Leone's win when when

Pierce. This did all the work.

Who cares? Who cares?

I'm sorry, No, Sierra Leone had to come from way out of it in

the British Cup classic last year.

And query did the Ding Ding man. I, I, I disagree.

I think he moved up in my book. OK, I don't think he was the

British Cup Classic, I want to be clear, but he did.

He absolutely moved up in my book.

Well, if I'm looking at the at the rankings of the classic

going into it, I don't see this same scenario happening again in

that race. And so I I see, I see these

other horses being able to run the race that they're supposed

to run. Now, will they all end up going

to the classic after this? We'll have to wait and see.

I don't know what you do with white Barrio at this point.

Where where you look at for? Him.

I might run him during the Clark here.

That would be a good spot. I might run him in the.

Clark yeah, I think that'd be good.

Maybe run him out of those. I think the Clark could turn out

to be 1 of like best rendition of the Clark in a while because

you've got a class that of what, 8-9 older horses?

Maybe even 3 year olds that'll run in that thing that aren't

good enough for the classic. Yeah, right.

But they're still really good horses.

That's how good the Classic is this year, Yeah.

And that's probably, what, a $750,000 Clark?

Yeah. And you got rattle and roll

coming back. You got you're gonna.

Have dudes in there. So I think, no, I think that

race will set up really well once we get there.

We're under 60 days of the Breeders Cup, by the way. 59

days out today. OK, so that's why we're talking

about this so much. I guess you're wondering at home

again, I'm not at all sure how Irad's OK, but here we are at

Kentucky Downs. AG Bullock gets the job done.

She's an interesting one, obviously, because she beats the

boys up at Saratoga, goes Kentucky Downs wins again.

We haven't had a Kentucky Downs shipper win on the turf at the

Breeders Cup in California, ever.

Could she break that chain? Well, we're getting a lot better

horses at Kentucky Downs now than OK.

So I think this is an interesting conversation.

She almost won that race last year.

We did have a 99 to 1 plus winner yesterday at Kentucky

Downs, but does it feel like we're getting a little chalkier

like we've either? And I think there are a lot of

things at play here, by the way, with Kentucky Downs first is

we're getting used to it, right? It's like at Turfway when they

got the new Tabita course. It took people a little while to

figure. That out people know how to

handicap it now. The second part is, you're

right, the quality of horse going there is much better than

it used to be. I mean, no offense.

Like Safi Joseph last year brought in a $16,000 claimer and

won an allowance race or something.

Yeah, that didn't happen again. Can I suggest something else?

Yeah, they installed an irrigation system.

You were just down there. Isn't that the greenest that

ever? That place has ever.

Looked and I actually I, I heard several people talking about

that throughout the weekend too that this is the best that it's

looked and especially like you get to the end of the year

sometimes the last two years I've been there and it almost

looks like a dirt track by the end of.

The and so not to put down at all anyone who's ever won there

or the the prices people used to get or whatever.

What if an irrigation system just makes that place more

consistent? Yeah, makes it more like a

normal Class A normal track plays.

And so Class A normal track plays.

And so in my mind, I actually think Kentucky Downs is moving

toward more toward the middle than it has been because of

those factors. You're getting, like you said,

super high level horses. We had, we had the Flying

Dutchman folks on and they're talking about how this is the

the how the centerpiece of their year.

Or BBN. Or BBN racing Yeah, the BBN

racing guys on to talk about how business.

Two winners this weekend. Boom, there it is.

So by the way, they're pointing for this.

And if you can figure out which groups, I you know, I talked to

Rusty Arnold on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight last week.

He was pointing for this. We haven't even seen Kelvin yet

and he's picked off a couple of races, right.

So this is you're watching to repeat winners from previous

years. But at the same time, I think

because of the irrigation system, and I'm not putting it

down at all. I think it's the right move.

It's making it more play more like a normal, what we would

consider to be a normal track. Yes, an AG bullet to your point

this weekend, she's she's just phenomenal, especially coming

off of her win against the boys and the Jaipur and that she I

mean, she just broke out of the gate and there was never a

chance for competition here. And it really seems like she

loves that distance. She's 5 for five.

I believe that was 6 1/2, right? But she's 5 for five at that

distance now. And so I mean it's it'll be

shorter distance I believe with the Breeders cut.

Actually, I think he went 6. Did you go 6?

I think it's 6 now for. That I just remember.

I just remember that it was 5 for five whatever distance it

at. Oh, OK, then maybe all 6 1/2 she

she'll go 5 at, at at at Delmar. You're totally correct.

Yeah, so she'll go a little shorter at Delmar and now I'm.

Now you're triple checking on your.

I know, How about that? So it was 6 1/2.

I was right. So she'll have to go.

Shorter for the last time we were Bo Keyshawn Collins.

He's taking over the show. Good night.

No. So 6 1/2.

Yeah. I mean, it is to me.

That plays more like 7, seven and a half.

Yes. By the time you do all the work.

Yeah. But.

But no, She. She strikes me as one that's

going to be a player. I also thought that about

Cochran last year. Yeah.

Well, last year we didn't talk about her coming out of this win

and she ran third in the turf Sprint and she only.

Well, that's why I. Had her neck.

Yeah. And that was to one of the very,

very fine European sprinters in that well.

And so to me, I think she sets up pretty well for this and and

I'm hopeful that we'll break that streak.

I think it's more of a fluke than anything else, Sean, that

that hasn't happened yet. Like Cogburn just almost Cogburn

just and we could ask Larry about this.

He just, he just stopped. He stopped, right?

He had the lead. He was rolling.

I think he went 20 and 8:20 and 4:00, yeah.

He just hits. The wall and he's hit a wall.

That's right. And so, but it is its own weird

thing that we haven't had that transition from winning in

Kentucky Downs to winning in the Breeders Cup in California for

whatever reason. But hopefully overcome that for

sure. A man who will be there and has

been called the races out of California at Del Mar.

Joins this year. On the program, so, so glad he

was able to carve out some time today it from morning into

afternoon. Larry, good morning.

How are you? I'm I'm doing pretty well almost

afternoon. We got 3 minutes so, but it's

been a, it's been a fun weekend out here for sure and looking

forward to the action today as well.

Yeah, no, that's right. I'm racing out there at Del Mar,

of course, on a Labor Day Monday.

I have always wanted to ask, does Del Mar put the weather

report at the top of the screen just to mess with us in the

Midwest? I don't even know why they

bother. It's the same every day.

You know, we actually the other day I, I was looked around and I

was asking people what is this stuff falling from the sky?

It was called rain apparently. And it, it, it lasted like 10

minutes. But yeah, I mean, it's the

weather here is ridiculous. It truly is.

Well, we'll be with you in about 59 days, Larry, as we countdown

the Breeders Cup 2025. One thing to remember though,

before I forget, if you're coming to the Breeders Cup OK

and you have you have seats in the grandstand, do dress warm

because the sun sets behind the building.

You'll be in the shade and it will get chilly.

Yes. Keep that in mind, you'll feel

like it's nice, like fifties 60s type thing.

Walk into the paddock, it'll be 80 and then you walk to your

seat and it's 50. It it they're, they're 100 feet

apart. It's amazing.

It's amazing, true. I have some good, some good heat

for you up there in the announcer's booth.

We do have heat. We we've used the ACA little bit

this week because there's a little more humid than normal,

but for the most part just windows open and we're all good.

Poor Larry Columbus having to deal with a little humidity.

He's doing all right. Larry Collins with us here on

Blood Horse Monday. You saw one of those Breeders'

Cup qualifiers yesterday in fierceness.

When's the last time you called a race where a horse took a hard

left turn? And then one over Ted Furlongs.

I've I've seen a well Byron. Good call.

That's a good one. Yeah, I just, I just came to

mind, yeah. When he, when he, I remember in

that race, I ended the call with finishes first in the Breeders

Cup Classic because I thought he was going to get DQ, but he he

didn't. So but he yeah, that was, it

wasn't really that similar because there were no horses

inside of fierceness likely when he did it.

So that was wild. My eyes were on him and

journalism coming out of the gate.

And I was like, whoa, what is going on here?

And then journalism's last. I knew he wouldn't be near the

front, but I didn't think he'd be that far back.

And then all of a sudden he caught up.

It was crazy race, but fun, man. Fierceness is so good, so good

right now. What, what goes through your

mind in that like split second where you see him duck left and

you have to figure out whether the rider's going to come off or

not and what you're going to say if that happens, just what what

flashes in your mind for that quick?

Moment it just it's spur of the moment, you know, you just have

to, you have to say what you see, you know, that's that's all

And and you know, and you know, obviously John Velasquez being

John Velasquez, he was able to take control quick and, and

everything was fine, but it was it was a little scary there for

a second, you know, for sure, but all worked out.

Track announcer Larry, call us out there at Del Mar with us

here on Blood HORSE Monday. You get to call a Pacific

Classic with a couple of serious contenders in it in journalism

and fierceness. One of the things Sean and I

have been really celebrating on this show is, hey, you call that

Pacific Classic the next day. We've got a bunch of great

horses in the Gold Cup as well. That classic division being as

good as it is. Larry, right now, how much are

you enjoying? It's got I mean, just keep them,

keep them together, you know, make make sure that everybody's

everybody's good and we're going to have a barn burner.

It is just going to be unbelievable.

And don't forget forever Young's coming.

I mean, I think I think he's coming too.

I mean, it's going to be absurd. the Breeders Cup classic this

year. And I just have to like control

myself, not get, you know, I've been accused of getting too

excited sometimes. So hopefully we'll we'll try to

keep it down, you know, but that is going to be unbelievable.

Well, you can't help but be excited for a race like that,

but everybody was excited for this race this past week in the

Pacific Classic. What was the atmosphere like at

Del Mar? Watching journalism and

fierceness get prepared. It was great.

I mean, you know, this, this, this place was was, it wasn't a

huge crowd. It was good.

And I think everybody was excited, you know, to to have

that match up. It lost a a touch of luster when

Nisos had to had to scratch earlier in the day.

We were looking forward to that, that threesome.

But we ended up still with a great horse race and it was just

a terrific day. Not only that race, but we had

Gold Phoenix winning the Delmar Handicap for the fourth year in

a row. Who does that?

That was, that was incredible. The Cal bred Almond Joy winning

the stakes race earlier in the day.

You know, it's like 1 and one after another of of of terrific

races. You have had frankly a fun meet

to call Larry out there your place, you know, you, you, you

take over for for Trevor and I got to talk to Michael Rona the

other day at Kentucky Downs, another place where of course

you've called races in the past and and.

Just his calling there and I'm not right now.

He's doing a track to call. It's so hard.

I love the place but it's so hard. 2 miles and a 16th and 300

yards. I mean, that's essentially the

same. I mean, I'm sure.

But you know, he talked about Trevor's, you know, sort of

legacy in Southern California for sure taking over for him.

Just it's got to be it. Was it daunting for you?

I shouldn't ask it. Was it daunting for you?

Was there a pressure associated with that or was it just, hey,

I'm ready for the Del Mar job? You know it there's, there's

always some when you're following a legend And, and

I've, I've told people this, it's the second time I've had to

do this. I did it with Tom Durkin in New

York. So I've got to have a little

experience of, of a legend following.

You know, Trevor was here for 40 years, 40 years and you know

this, you know, all of the the magical calls that he gave over

the years. And luckily for me, I had the

opportunity of being here for fivefold meets.

So you know, the the announcers booth was very familiar to me,

the surrounding area very familiar to me.

And you know, everything was everything, everything like that

made it easier. And so I didn't even think about

it that much other than the fact that, you know, a few people,

you know, have asked me like you, you said, you know, what's

it like? I got I got a a cool compliment

one day from a fellow. And he says, I just want to let

you know. He says no one is talking about

the announcer. And he goes, that's a really

good thing. And I'm like, there you go.

You know, it's because you know, the the guy that follows Trevor

Dedman has has some pressure on him and apparently no one, no

one's made a big deal out of it. So I guess that's that's OK by

me. You know what, you know, Larry,

I grew up with a guy named Ernie Harwell calling Detroit Tiger

games. I'm sure many people in Southern

California grew up with Vin Scully and that kind of thing.

I got to imagine for so many in Southern California horse racing

in their head. Sounds like Trevor, right?

You know, just because for 40 years they heard that.

And so hopefully that'll continue with you, Larry, as

you. I mean, there's a, there's a

sign there when you, when you come in, it says and away they

go. I mean, so it's still an away to

go. So it's still, it's still

ingrained in the place, you know.

Oh good, I hope that never goes away for sure day-to-day.

You've got closing day this coming weekend as well,

debutante and of course your futurity out there at Del Mar

One to watch for sure as we get closer to the Breeders Cup and

that Friday, of course. Oh.

Yeah, we're, we're going to have some, we're going to go out with

a bang. Some good 2 year olds.

I mean, Brant obviously, I think he's been the most exciting 2

year old out here so far. Bob Baffert is just loaded.

He's, he's always loaded. He's got so many good ones.

But he, he's going to run Brant in there.

I was, I was texting my friend David Jergens, the racing

secretary, and he gave me some, some probables for those races.

So Brant is expected more Baffert's desert gate, Balboa

expected for the race on the Philly side.

We've got a Hamika in there, Liwali for for Mark Lat.

You know it's going to be they're going to be two really

good races. I don't know if you saw

yesterday Kristofferson, who was a Baffert first time starter.

He went in 108 and 4 yesterday a 2 year old.

So I mean he just just one after another, they just keep on

coming. Well, when you look at, you

know, the success Bafford obviously has out there,

especially if it's young horses, last year we saw when another

trainer gets a pretty good young horse like Journalism and

Michael McCarthy, they're able to take it to them.

There any any of those types of horses that maybe we haven't

seen yet that you're hearing whispers about that maybe could

play a role against these Baffords?

Yeah, not a whole lot yet. I mean, journalism was, was

certainly, I remember I called his maiden when here in the fall

last year. So he, he came along late, you

know. So I, I think we'll still, you

know, I think this fall will be coming up and it's Santa Anita

as well. My phone's ringing.

Hold on. Let me just, ah, forget it.

Let me turn the ringer down. The busy life of a track

announcer. It's right.

He's working to do what I was. Going to be doing a podcast they

and they're still calling me so whatever.

You're fine, Larry. OK.

I'll get it later, but but anyway, yeah, it's it's you

know, the 2 year olds, the races will get longer.

You know, we're going to, like I said with Christopherson, I

guess with that, that was 6 for a long.

So he's probably going to run at Santa Anita at some point and

then Breeders' Cup. So we're we got some some good

stuff going on. Larry, I always love to get the,

the feel from people on the ground in different

jurisdictions and circuits and different things about how

they're feeling about the sport. And certainly in Kentucky, I

think we take for granted, you know, the embarrassment of

riches at some of the places around here.

What's the what's the mood like at Del Mar this meet?

Are people pretty upbeat? Because if you're east of the

Rockies, you know we don't necessarily hear a ton about

Southern California racing unless we hear a negative

headline about something. Unfortunately, I follow the

sport, so I see a lot of good things happening in Southern

California. What's the mood like in Delmar?

I, I, I think it's, it's hard not to be in a good mood here at

Delmar just because of the, the whole atmosphere.

But yeah, I mean, everybody, obviously you're concerned

about, you know, the, the future because, you know, obviously

Kentucky has had so much success with the, the historical horse

racing machines. And that's something I think

that we need here in California and hopefully that we can get

that done. If, if, if that happens and we,

we get some, some help, California's going to explode.

You know, it, it would be boom because there's so much money

out here and you know, and it's, it just can't be anything but

great if that happens. But for now, we, we don't have

them. So it's tough to to match the

purses that Kentucky gives away, especially Kentucky Downs, which

is obviously out of control. But it's it, it's just one of

those situations where hopefully, you know, we can get

the the right political atmosphere And, and when that

happens, you know, I'd be very happy to be here in, in

California. Well, we talked about you

following up, Trevor and obviously you've called a number

of top races not just across the country, but around the world.

Where does the prestige of being the Del Mar track announcer for

the summer? Where does that rank kind of on

the on the track announcer hierarchy when people are

looking looking at that? Well, I mean it.

You know, it at this stage of, at this stage of my life and

career, I don't even worry about that anymore.

It's, it's, it's more of, I mean, I've what I, I've been so

lucky. What, what haven't I called, you

know, the, the Triple Crown, the Breeders Cup, Belmont, Saratoga,

Gulfstream, you know, Churchill Downs, you know, Monmouth of all

these places. So I've done it all on the East

Coast. Now I get to have fun out here

on the West Coast. Call the races at this gorgeous

place in in perfect weather every day.

You know, great quality racing and I don't, I don't can't,

can't worry, worry about hierarchy anymore.

We know about the weather, we see it on the board every.

Day. Yes, yes, we'll talk to you

again today too. You see it?

Again, don't worry, 78 you wonder what it's going to be so

difficult to figure out. Well, he's Larry Comus.

He's out there at Del Bar. We'll let you go.

But as we are under 60 days, the Breeders Cup, do you let that

kind of sneak in? Do you start getting excited

yourself? Oh, yeah, I'm, I'm going to get

excited. So I'm, I'm driving back.

I, I don't know why I decided to do it.

I drove across the country to come out here.

So now I got to drive back to, to Jersey.

I'm actually in the process of buying a place here and I'm

going to move here to the Delmar area.

But, but yeah, when I get back to Jersey, I'm going to have to

start buckling down a little bit and paying a little bit more

attention to what's been going on on the East Coast.

And as we get closer to Breeders' Cup, they're going to

send me the, you know, all the probables and all the silks and

all that stuff. I'll be making my flash cards

and we'll be ready for October 31st and November 1st in no

time. Well, you heard it here.

He's trading in pizza for tacos. There it is, outside of the

classic outside of the classic call.

Me again I I'm. Well, we'll let you go on this

outside the classic, any division you're specifically

looking forward to this year? Good question.

All of them. You know, I the Breeders cup is

so much fun, You know, you and every year there's, you know,

the classic is great, but there's, you know, there's just

so much to look forward to. But when, when we get down to it

and I'm, I'm definitely I, I haven't thought too much about

the other races quite yet. But as we get closer, I'm sure

we'll, we'll find out like what Euros are coming over for the

grass races and and things like that.

And it'll, it'll all come together and it'll just be two

fantastic days. Well, good luck with all of your

phone calls and we will. We'll catch up with you in about

59 days. How's that?

That sounds good. We'll see you guys.

Thanks, Larry. Thank you, Larry.

Harry Thomas with us here. Odd blood horse, but I

appreciate him getting up at Del Mar and hanging out with us on

the programs. There you go.

Man, he's a very. Good.

Apparently there's others. What, like someone overweight

and race one? They really need to know Larry

to know he's +2. It's.

Almost like they're racing today.

Is he working feel like doing 2 shows today.

All right well, there you go there he calm us.

I'm I, you know, I've never asked you this.

I'm a I'm a geek for track announcers and I think in 20

years when I'm hanging it up on Blood horse Monday, I think soon

we're going to look back at this era and go holy crap we had a

bunch of great announcers. I think we're literally going to

do that because I mean, just just sort of generally and I

will start SE and move around the country.

OK, But you got Pete Aiello in South Florida.

If you can't get pumped up by a Pete Aiello call on Race 6 on a

Thursday on the Tepeda, you're out of your mind.

OK, You got, we got Travis. I almost said Trevor, we got

Travis here at Churchill. Who is?

You don't have to see the race to know exactly what happened.

Yeah, he's so accurate. And and behind him we have Tony

Kalo. Too, at the two other CDI tracks

here, OK, we've got Michael Rona calling quarters in LA and then

showing up at Kentucky Downs and still being as sharp as ever.

And making me laugh throughout the entire week, Kurt.

Becker and Keeneland when we feel like it, Matt Dinerman,

who's one of the young rising stars in our sport in Oakland,

at Oakland and at at Monmouth. We got Jessica, we got women

calling grade ones, OK. We got Frank Miramati between,

you know, Saratoga and Santa Anita and I.

Just both coasts. I think we're just, I think

we're going to OK, we got John Dooley calling races in Indiana

8 months a year. Yeah, that's how good it is

right now. I'm just telling you, I, I think

20 years from now we're going to look back and go, man, we had a

really good. We are.

And I, by the way, someone's going to beat me up on the

YouTube page about a, a track announcement that I left out for

somebody else like Craigie or, you know, what are these other

guys who's really good, like the, the guys at the Cineboya?

How can you not have fun watching them on a Tuesday

night? Exactly.

It's hilarious. It's fantastic.

So I, I don't know, I, I think we're going to look back.

Guys like Larry, I think are part of a class of very

exceptional announcers. Yes.

And I think we're going to. Hopefully that's a sign it's

only going to keep getting better and better and better,

yeah. No, but every time we think

we're going to run out of guys, you get a Travis or you get a

mat right there, there, there's the next guy, even like a Chris

Griffin who calls the races an Aqueduct.

I think he's excellent. He's really excellent.

And so, you know, I, yeah, I, I'm, you know, cuz like Johnny,

I retires and you're like, who's going to call Aqueduct?

And then Chris shows up and he's great.

He's great. And so like, you know, I just,

I'm largely hopefully Paul Espinosa Charles, I could go

forever. Paul Espinosa.

Charles Town's really good too. All right, I love Charlestown.

Yes, Charles Town. He's fantastic.

Peter Mountaineer. I mean, like there's just over

and over. There's great announcers

everywhere. We're super spoiled.

But anyways, all right, Matt Hook, shout out at Thistle.

All right, so I think that's enough.

We need to talk about Adrian Beaumont.

Unless you have something else. With the, we still haven't

really delved in. We talked about it a little bit

there. We have delved into the Pacific

Classic. Here.

OK, so that is a fairpoint by you.

What are they doing with journalism?

Am I allowed to just ask it that way on this go?

Because here's the deal. I so.

Because I've watched that horse in several races, several be

much closer to the front that he's been the last two.

Yes. Now what they did in the Haskell

he could get away with because, God bless him, Gossgar is the

other horse. OK, and I'm not picking on

Gossgar, but that's a three-year old who's a grade 2 type of

horse. OK, we're talking about

fierceness. Yeah.

At Del Mar last year he ran like a ridiculous triple digger.

Like over the top speed figure for sure.

OK, he always shows up in California.

OK, we don't have to do this. Am I crazy to question the

tactics here? No, because I'm questioning the

material. Anybody who's watched the show

knows what I think of journalism.

A lot. And by the way, the people that

watch this don't think a lot of him, yes, A lot.

A lot, yes. And how confident I was with him

going into this race and how confident I still am in him

coming. Out of this race, we talked to

Aaron Wellman. Yeah.

And I I don't like calling out jockeys, but that was he was too

far back. So far back.

And it looked like on the far turn, it looked like Umberto

thought that he had the race one, and like, there's just a

way to shake him up and go. Yeah.

Just looking at the way that he wrote him in the Preakness in

the Haskell, how early he got into him to get him to catch up,

versus how he was coasting on him on the far turn, It seemed

like he felt like he could. I mean, like, maybe I'm wrong,

but it looked like he was, he thought that he was going to be

able to do it no matter what. And Fierceness is not that kind

of horse. And shout out to Fierceness, who

as I was watching this race live at Kentucky Downs, right before

I left, I was watching with a couple of others and we all said

as soon as he made that little left turn, we're like, oh, Yep,

he's done. Any time Fierceness sees

adversity in his races, he throws the towel.

That's it. And then on top of that, he

comes out of that little left hand turn and he's stuck in

traffic and he's behind horses. I was like, he's totally, he's

about to run 5th. This is the worst decision.

Ever touched from John Velasquez?

Was perfect. Was perfect and fierceness

responded perfectly. That move.

We saw one of the best is that, I mean journal journalism,

Preakness, probably the run of the year so far.

Yes, fair. Yes, yes, OK.

Is that second? It might be I just want I look

at remember John Velazquez when we were in the 2020 Preakness

and he was on authentic and Robbie Alvarado made that quick

move inside of him on Swiss Skydiver and even though.

By the way, I didn't mention Dave Robin.

Holy cow. Yeah, Holy cow.

Holy Dave. Oh no, Dave's not watching this

week. I love Dave Rodman, by the way.

That 2020 Preakness call is my favorite call of the race ever.

What do they call? I mean, he, Robbie Alvarado,

snuck up inside of Velasquez early, got that position and

didn't relinquish it. That was all, all he needed.

Velasquez did that same thing here.

If you're supposed, he made, he made that move early.

He made the pounce early. In my mind, that was when you

see that happen. If you're in the back on

journalism, that should have been when you went right is when

you saw fierceness go, Oh, I agree.

And that was it was the perfect move.

And I even I when Johnny made that move, I was like, again,

with just everything that happened at the beginning, I was

like, it's too early for him. Everything that's happened, he's

going to quit, quit like he usually does when he has

adversity and he didn't right. So that's also coming out of the

Whitney and then fierceness doing that.

I mean, we, I, I, he's the most confusing horse I've ever

watched in my life, probably because you never know when he's

going to throw in the towel. But again, you just see him

continue to take steps forward at times where he this is a race

that he would have quit on in his two year old season, his

three-year old season, even a race ago in the Whitney and he

did it this race. I got a big bone to pick with

you. Then I was at the outside of

this show. You said you didn't learn

anything this weekend. Well, that's what I I didn't I I

didn't learn really anything about Ferris 'cause now I don't

know what to expect while. He was right.

OK, All right. OK.

Like is he going to do that again?

Is he fine now whenever something happens?

Or is he? Was this just a random one?

I think maybe so. Here's the rail might have

scared him into. Into paying attention.

Here's this race. Here's what I'll say about this.

How often do we see a horse take some 3-4 races to break their

main good horses? OK, talented young horses.

And then they do it and the light goes on.

Oh, yeah, OK. We see this a lot.

What if it happened for Pearson's this weekend?

It might. That's a real possibility.

Here, frankly, it's scary if he just figured it out, but.

Dude, but he was sitting. This was when Gunrunner figured

it out. Yeah, he was a champ when he was

sitting right behind them. And like he I was not expecting

him to handle the kickback that well, Right.

And it was rough kickback. I don't know if you saw the

pictures that Alex Evers took of journalism.

The first time down the stretch to have him on the show.

The dirt was knocking the goggles off of wrist belief the

first time down the stretch on the show.

Maybe we'll. See.

Loud? I don't know.

We'll see. We'll Frank.

But yeah, that was, it was amazing the, that that kickback

and fierceness took it. I mean, that we saw a new

version of fierceness that we had never seen before in this

race. And if that version stays here,

I, I mean, unfortunately we're looking at probably one more

start in his career. But I mean, hey, that's going to

be that's. Everybody's sad, their hands.

Full. Until Ripoli just decides he

wants him to run another year. I know you sad.

Be nice, especially if he's just now hitting the peak.

Mike, please leave him in training.

Because you imagine him as a 5 year old.

You imagine well first of all, just imagine a 2 year old

champion running as a 5 year old having just finally figured it

out how good that horse would be next year so Mike, if you are

listening to this, just keep that in your mind when you're

thinking of plans for next next year I'm.

A little in love with that, yeah.

It's good. I know Coolmore's already

already bought into fierceness, but he got Sierra Leone.

Yeah, Coolmore's got function. Next year you can.

You can wait a year on fierceness while Sierra Leone

wraps up his year this year. Oh man, what do you?

Are you rooting for an outcome in the classic?

Is there a horse you want to win the classic?

Do you have that right now? I don't have that horse.

I mean, I mean, I like Brooke Smith because he's out of his

mind, but other than that, I don't really have a.

Really, this is one of those weird years, You know, I'm, I

obviously I'm such a big journalism fan.

I'd love to see him. Well, I was gonna say, do you

want sovereignty? To I would love to see I'd love

to see sovereignty just show that he's steps above, above

everyone. I'd love for like, you know,

just the greatness just to see the greatness of a single horse

aspect. I'd love to see sovereignty do

it, but man, watching fierceness, watching Sierra

Leone, watching those, those guys for the last two years and

they're still showing up every race.

I know Sierra Leone didn't win this weekend, but he still shows

up for sure. Yeah, and by the.

Way he's jockey spent a third of the the Brook stretch looking

back at Iran exactly and he's still almost won the time.

Thing it's like for them to cap if, if this is their last start,

for them to cap off their year or their careers with a win in

the Breeders Cup class. It's it's one of those years

where they're, and this is the thing that we want is we have

horses that have come back and horses that are developing.

We want them facing off. This is what we always talk

about with the the sport needs stars.

This is the example of it when you get to the Breeders Cup

Classic and you don't know who you want to win because there's

multiple horses where it would be the perfect story of their

story if they ended up winning this race.

I agree with you. All right.

Well, Next up, we're going to talk with a man who does some

recruiting for Breeders' Cup, but also for Kentucky Downs.

His name is Adrian Beaumont. I sat down with him a week ago

or not a week ago, about 5 days ago, Thursday, and I talked with

him about it recruiting international runners to both

the Breeders Cup and Kentucky Downs.

What goes into that in on all the different moving pieces.

Like I said, this is from Thursday, so it is ahead of some

of those stakes on Saturday. Had I been able to play this for

you on Friday on Blood Horse Friday, which does not exist, we

would have had all this information and all of you would

have hit the pick 6. How about that?

Just like when my Emerald Downs one where we were talking about

all the horses that ended up winning, we seem to have a knack

for that. Well, just about the show.

Eventually it'll work out, but here's Adrian Beaumont with me

in the media bunker tower slash area at Kentucky Downs.

OK, Blood Horse Monday. We're trackside here opening day

at Kentucky Downs alongside Adrian Beaumont, who has an

unusual role in American racing and and something frankly,

Adrian, that could probably only exist at a place like Kentucky

Downs. But good morning.

How are you? Happy opening day.

Well, welcome to you, Louis. It's great to be here on this

gorgeous sunny day here in the in Franklin, KY at Kentucky

Downs and I'm really enjoying being here for my second time.

I've been to this this event and we had a a Nashville Derby

winner last year and I hope take one home this year.

There you are, Yes. And where is home?

You keep mentioning home. Yeah, So I'm based in Newmarket,

England, OK. I've been, I'm so an

international promoter of racing.

I've been doing this job for a very long time now.

My first international trips were in 1986.

I did the I did the Arlington Million back then and I did got

my first ever Breeders' Cup. I'm one of the longest and

luckiest people to have a streak going back.

I'm I'm not Mr. Breeders' Cup since 86, even including the

COVID year. Oh, how about that?

OK, you and I have that in common.

I did radio at the COVID Breeders' Cup.

They we dragged some tables out onto the walkway at Keeneland.

And I, I managed to get a bizarrely from out of my status

and stature, I'm actually get a elite sportsman's visa that

year. So just to get into the country.

But so no. So my role really is I'm, I, I

recruit all the horses for from Europe to come and race here in

America for our various racecourse clients including

Kentucky Downs. And I also look after all the

international horses, which includes the American horses

when they come to England. So I'm very well used to looking

after the likes of Wesley Ward, Kenny Mcpeak, et cetera, when

they bring horses to Royal Ascot or Newmarket or wherever in in

Europe. So when you're when you're

stateside here in the US and you watch turf racing as it exists

in the United States, what comes to mind immediately?

Well, obviously you know, we when we're normally trying to

fit the horses to the actual surfaces.

So here at Kentucky Downs, you know, we're middle of your

summer, so we're probably going to be racing on quite quick

ground. So we're looking for quick

ground, versatile horses. This track is, is a brilliant

track for British and European horses because it's so unusual

compared to most race tracks in America, which I normally just

flat and left-handed and boring ovals.

This is an uphill, downhill deal.

I, well, I'm talking to my trainers about it.

I'm twisting their arms to come here.

I'm saying, well, think about Epsom, you know, the Tottenham

corner of our Derby. That's the sort of configuration

we're looking at here with the, with the, with the running

style. And one of the great advantages

we have here, we have some British jockeys based here like

Frankie Dettori and Ben Curtis, and I'm going to, we're going to

be using them this week because I think it's a huge advantage to

us. Yeah, it's interesting.

I saw Frankie at breakfast this morning and he was trying to

glean every bit of information he could about, you know, the

the track itself as far as the depth of it.

With the irrigation system that's been put in place this

year. Does that change how you are

recruiting certain types of horses or is it still more that

firm fasting in the middle of the?

Summer, I think it's still the firm fasting.

What I can say to traders is they're probably not going to

get as quite as Jarred up as they may have done in previous

years because the irrigation is going to help help, you know,

the horses come out of the races in better.

In fact, we have a horse running this Saturday.

I know it's after this show goes to air, but we're going to have

a runner in the the the Gold Cup here.

So go flatten the curve from Germany.

And if he runs well, we might back him back up in the Turf Cup

on the second weekend at Kentucky Downs.

Yeah, that is something that happens here and nowhere else.

It's kind of proof that horses can run back as long as the

purse money's there. The money's here.

The horse, the horse is on side if, if he's fitting well he, we,

I mean running back in a week is actually normal practice in

Europe. We don't bother about that at

all. We have some of our the biggest

meats we have in Europe, 5 days at Ascot and Goodwood and we

would run back Tuesday, this Saturday, no problem.

We'll see. For example, Tastic in the Derby

this year was a runner twice last year here within I think 9

days. It was something like this last

year at Kentucky Downs. So even American horses,

certainly. Capable of it.

It's a little boutique meeting. I know this is, you know, not

many horses train here at Kentucky Downs.

I know they're shipping in mostly from the training hubs,

whether it be Keeneland or Churchill or from maybe the East

Coast up in Saratoga, what have you.

So it's, it's great. I really enjoyed the experience

of coming here and my horses are based here for a few days and

seeing all the others is shipping in.

So just to let you know, we had a slight change on our routine

this year. We've actually, we ship these

horses. They flew in on Thursday.

And whether you where? Do they fly to?

To get to here yeah. So these horses flew from a an

airport called E Midlands, which is Nottinghamshire in England.

And then we flew into Cincinnati and then we went from Cincinnati

to Louisville and we did two days quarantine at Churchill.

That's an obligatory USDA rule, 42 hours in quarantine.

So we broke quarantine Monday this year instead of coming down

here to Kentucky Downs where we can only train on on a turf

surface around the exterior of the the main track here.

We actually kept them at Churchill and they've been

exercising on the dirt track at Churchill each morning.

I went and saw them yesterday. They all look in good order and

they're actually banning as we speak here to the track on

Thursday morning. They'll be here Thursday

lunchtime and the plan is we're going to give them a canter

around the exterior of the turf tomorrow, Friday and race

Saturday. What is your impression of that

so far? Has it been a good move to be at

Churchill like that? You know, for example, those of

us who cover the Kentucky Derby every year, that quarantine barn

has become, frankly, the Japanese barn, because we'll

have a couple of runners from there.

You know, the quarantine rules with Japan, of course, but how

do you use that? Something you think you could

replicate moving forward? I think it's going to be

interesting and see how we actually deal with the we've got

terms, some more horses, couple more horses coming in next week

for the second weekend at Kentucky Dance of quite how long

we leave them at church all for. We might decide to bring them

here a day earlier. I'll get some feedback on that.

One of the horses we've got running this Saturday is horse

called Cardem. He's a very old established

grade one type animal sprinter here.

He was second in this race last year in what was a very hot turf

Sprint and we're going to we're going to run him this year

again. Frankie Tories taking them out.

He the the connections with him and such.

Actually they probably stay at Churchill a day too long because

because the issue with him is he's a quirky horse who likes to

be on his own. So when he gets here tomorrow he

will train at 6:00 AM. He'll train by himself before

any other horses get on the track.

He's one of those. There you are talking with

Adrian Beaumont. He is director of Helping Get

European Horses over here. What's your official title here?

Do you have one? I'm director of International

Racing Bureau, but I'm my, my company's based in Newmarket,

England. But we have, we have offices and

agents worldwide. And I've worked with the guys

here. I mean, I work with Martin

Panzer's director of racing. I probably worked with him for

over 30 years because I we, we launched things like the

American Derby, American Oats together and work with him in

times of naira and so forth. And you have a, a gal here

called Jenny Reese, who I've probably known for at least 40

years. So I know Jenny was banned for

me to come and get on board. And I worked closely with the

likes of Carter Carnegie and Ted Nicholson.

We had a interesting thing this year.

We took the Kentucky Downs crew. They all came across the the

owner, Ron Windshaw and Ted Nicholson and a few of the other

guys. They all came to Royal Ascot

this year and we had a cocktail party for them on the Thursday

of Royal Ascot. And we did a bit of recruiting,

a bit of a bit of arm twisting, handing out brochures.

And, but and different to any other perspective.

I mean, that's a well different, different to any other, any

other party we had. We actually brought our own

bourbon to it. So I mean, you know, we got the

Never Say Die sponsoring this this week and and it's great to

be able to put a bit of a twist on things.

Flatten the Curve will be in the Gold Cup on Saturday.

We're going to run 2 and 2 miles at a 16th here on the turf.

A horse like that they brought over for that Belmont Festival

earlier in June as well. Is this one that they want to

have stateside, you think? Or because he's already gone

back and won in Germany since? Then when he won a, he won a

good race called the Ollie Ander and which is a grade 2 back at

Barden Barden. And that qualified him to get

into the Belmont Gold Cup, which this year is at Saratoga because

while Belmont's being redone, So, and we, it was a, a bit of a

disaster to be true for, because it was, you know, supposed to be

a two mile race on the, on the, the turf.

They had a little bit of rain in Saratoga and they took it off

the turf and put it on the dirt on a very sloppy track that's

totally alien to my horses. So he ran in that race and he,

it wasn't suited to him at all. So that was a, a big shame.

Anyway, he's gone back. He's won another race in Germany

and you know, this race is absolutely ideal.

The money's fantastic. Good incentive package.

I'm very much looking forward to his his arrival and I, I, he

will run. He will run really well.

I'm not sure what the morning Lion is going to have on him,

but I I I would rate him a definitely a 12 chance.

Yeah, he's he's the the favorite here at 8:00 to 5:00.

Limited liability will be two to one.

The winner of this race last year, Frankie gets the mount.

Yeah, again with him. And so shouldn't be surprising

to see the two of them at the top.

And he's a, he's a substantially better horse than we sent last

year for this race. So, you know, he's a limited

liability. He's a very, very decent horse.

We've got a jockey called Thor Hammer Hansen, who is the, he

will be the the the champion jockey in Germany this year.

He's sort of, you know, it's it's that's a really, really

high. I don't believe he's, I can't

remember him riding here before. He did ride a Saratoga.

So, you know, he knows the score.

So yeah, I'm expecting a big run from Flatten the Curve.

There you go, Flatten the Curve will be in that seventh race on

Saturday. We move to Race 9 though in the

turf Sprint itself. We see Kadem back here.

Am I saying the name correct? Yeah, Kadem.

Yeah, Hay. And you know, you see those cars

quite regularly being worn by Wesley War runners over here.

They have some horses there and. That's the horse we saw here

last year. Yeah, he's a very quirky horse.

This is a horse that we have to bring him down.

We're going to saddle him early. We're going to, last year we had

to saddle him on the, on The Walking ring outside the, the

saddling stables. He's very hard.

He's, he likes being by himself at home.

He comes out of a stable in Charlie Hills, in Lambourne in

the sort of southwest of London and he trains by himself every

day. He's not, he's, he's not a

friendly horse with other, other horses and he's certainly got

some quirks, but he's a, he's a character.

He's a very, very good horse. He's won over well over

$2,000,000 and you know, it's going to be interesting to see

how he holds his form at the How old is he now?

Is he nine years old? Nine, nine years old?

Can you believe that? Fantastic.

In some countries, you wouldn't even like to run in your.

No, that's exactly his best finish recently has been here.

Yeah, I know that was a really, really strong race.

He's been a little bit disappointed on his two starts

so far we've we've gone from Jamie Spencer from last year to

Frankie Dettori, so he's not getting any younger but I expect

him to to run a credit for race. The Derby itself, they're

they're very much trying to promote as one of the, if not

the race of the meet down here and for good reason.

Certainly in the United States, we care very deeply about Derby

culture. Obviously the state of Kentucky,

we care very deeply about that as well.

And this is a race look that you can get a certain type of horse

from overseas to come and run in this one women.

And Hawkeye makes the trip. Frankie Dettori gets them out

here for James Owens. What can you tell us about this

horse? So right, so this was a very

similar profile to last year's winner.

So last year's winner, Bellum Justin ran second in the the

Golden Stakes at Goodwood, as this fellow did as well.

You'll see he was he was second to a very, very up and crew

proving horse, a real Breeders' Cup turf type animal in horse

called Merchant Trevor William Haggis.

So women Hawkeye has always been a decent horse.

He won as a 2 year old. He won the Jobmont Royal Lodge

as a grade 2 and and we then tried to get him to come to the

Breeders Cup, but James Owen decided to do to run him at home

instead in a grade one at the the the maturity this year.

He's he ran in the Guineas. He ran he ran quite well in the

Guineas, but then they regroup with him.

Two starts ago, he ran the Princess of Wales Stakes was a

grade two against older horses. You your your viewers will be

familiar with the winner of that race, Elka Dorbeth, the the

Godolphin horse trained by Charlie Appleby, who went on to

win the Sword Dancer. So that is really, really good

form against an older, older horse.

Last time out on very, very atrocious ground, we had a lot

of rain on the Gordon Stakes day and he only got beat the nose by

this good horse called Merchant and I and, and again Frankie Joy

is going to take the ride. This horse is owned by a very

well known personality in, in England, Bill and Tim Gradley.

They're big property developers and land in Newmarket and and

Tim himself is a show jumper. And actually the way this work

was, I just happened to I saw James after he ran it in the

Golden Stakes at Goodwood and persuaded him.

He said we just got to get the owner on side and luckily I was,

I went to the Royal Dublin Horse Show this year and I saw Tim

there and had a chat to him about the race, explained about

the purses and the deal and the track and everything else and

shook hands on the deal. And here he is now.

So I'm, I'm really, really looking forward to seeing

Wimbledon Hawkeye here. I, I went and saw him train at

Churchill yesterday. He's training really well.

He looks great. He's, he's very relaxed for a

colt. He's, he's not psyched out at

all. He's by a horse called Kamiko

that was a very good miler over here and has bred some really,

really good horses. I think it's his his second

crop. I I just think he's got a he

stays well, he's most of his performance at a mile and a

half. And I do think the way this race

is run, you've got to be a man off stair where from our

position here at in the racetrack, Louis, I can see that

the last furlong here is a gradual incline, which is

another different characteristic to an American track very much

more familiar with what we're used to at the likes of Ascot.

So I do think the the the uphill climb is going to suit this

horse. I think he'll be the favorite on

Saturday. Is he a worthy favorite in this

field? Well, I've I'm really worried

about about one of the one of the other horses test score.

I think test score is a very, very useful horse trained by by

Graham Motion. You know, he's a very smart

horse. I, I he might be the value.

But if we if we over bet wound and Hawkeye, next test score

might be the one owned by Ammerman racing.

His form is really good. He and his last three starts,

he's running three grade ones. He won the Belmont Derby, which

is a really, really good race. I had a runner in that race

called Luther who finished third that day.

He came back and won the Hall of Fame at Saratoga and he's now

going for a a $10 million three-year old race in Sydney

called the Golden Eagle. That is how small our world is

now. But I can have horses going from

Newmarket to race Saratoga to going to race in Sydney for for

10 million bucks but going back to test score.

He then he then ran up bar in the Saratoga Darby and he

finished third that day to world Beater and a French horse that I

send over called Jewelie A. I think that form is solid Group

One form is he seems to the trip will should be ideal.

My my only concern would be with test score is that my horse

women and all kind might just outstain in the last 100 meters.

OK, Yeah, got it. Yeah.

And we see 4 runners from this year's Kentucky Derby off the

dirt, obviously moving to the turf.

Some of these horses before Final Gamut, etcetera are, you

know, synthetic horses, turf horses, that kind of thing.

You know, more than just the handicap excited.

How happy are you to see these this many?

You know Kentucky well. I'm intrigued, I'm intrigued by

it. There's a horse here that I'm

very familiar with called Hill Rd.

OK, so, so, so Hill Rd. last year was trained by Adrian

Murray in Ireland and I helped come over with him to race at

the Breeders Cup. And he is.

He's a quality Rd. horse and we very much thought he's owned by

Ammo and Kia. Giorbashian, who owns Ammo,

thought he was worth a shot in the juvenile on the dirt, which

is an unusual route for us to take with our 2 year olds.

And he ran very, very credible. Say all he did was.

Hit the border, he ran really credibly and if you look at the

fractions you'll see no one was running on better than him over

a mile and a 16. He was he was flying at the at

the finish there. So very, very good run.

Obviously they've now left him over with Chad Brown and that's

I'm not saying that's an upgrade, but certainly no, no,

no issue to go to Chad Brown's barn.

I am I am just slightly intrigued by this horse as to

they've left him with Chad. He's been running in dirt races.

He's running the Belmont. He ran placed in the in the gym

dirt dandy last time. I'm intrigued why they're

running him back on turf. You thought if you were going to

be a turf horse that had left him in Europe, I thought he's

going to be here running a do a dirt campaign.

Maybe maybe just the way that he's training that maybe Chad.

I presume Chad has tried him on the turf.

I I've not gone back through his works.

Has he done a work? Yeah, Yeah, he.

Had a bullet in. Fact he did it.

Saratoga did a work on my birthday, August 17.

So a bullet over drive on the turf.

So yeah, I mean, he's obviously showing Chad enough to suggest

he's got a shot. So yeah, I mean, we see.

These quality roads once in a while turn up just fine on the

turf for sure. They do, yeah.

I had a very nice quality Rd. last year in Newmarket that was

winning a mile and a quarter races in on on the turf, yeah.

So yeah, we these I am, I'm intrigued by this race.

So I, I, I, I really fancy my English horse.

I think when Hawkeye will win test score will will push him to

the end. I'm, I'm just hoping that

Frankie can just squeeze a little bit more out of him.

But I'm very good friends with Graham and Anita Motion and if

they won, I'll be pleased for them too.

Adrian Beaumont with us, two more running this weekend.

What's the story with Cheshire Dancer?

She'll be in the ladies turf that will be run.

It's the last of the greater races on Saturday.

Yeah, it's a huge purse again from Mile Philly.

We were, we were slightly concerned whether we're going to

get a run for this race. This race is not an

Invitational. It's a nominational race and

they were going to get in on greatest status here.

Luckily, this Philly is a Grade 3 winner, which gave her a head

start over some of the more ordinances.

But in fact, this race, unusually for Kentucky Downs

hasn't filled. So so she's got a run.

I was with Hugo Palmer last week at York Racecourse and we were

sweating every day as to whether she was going to get a run.

And we actually shipped here with our fingers crossed.

Just just thinking, you know, are are we going to get in?

But but as I say, she won a Grade 3 at Ascot last time, the

Valiant Stakes ridden by a brilliant young rider called

Billy Locknan, who's, you know, our most foremost young young

rider. He's staying at home this time.

So again, we have got Frankie and that's not, that's not a not

an issue at all. We love having Frankie over

here. So, you know, she's a that was

her best run. She had been running in what we

call handicaps. Our handicaps are, you know,

with huge weight differentials, but the Valiant was was a grade

three last time and asked good and it was a it was really a

good run and Hugo is a excellent trainer who obviously thinks

this is the right spot for her. This is a horse that hasn't run

going left-handed, at least that I can see on this form.

Any concern with some of these EUR coming over going

left-handed? Or is this kind of old bag for

them once in a while, going right-handed, going left-handed,

going straight line? Yeah, no, let two starts ago she

did run at Pontefract which is a left-handed course and she has

been at air and so forth. So she has run left-handed.

But her form, as you say, her best form is an Ascot which is a

right-handed track. But our horses are very

versatile. We train over all sorts of

ground, uphill, downhill. So yeah, we're, we're used to

that. We've got, we've, we've got,

we've got also an interesting runners shipped in from Germany.

So we've got 2 German runners besides fly on the curve.

We've got Lady Ilsa and Lady Ilsa is trained by Andreas Vola.

She's a British bread filly bred by one of my colleagues in Lulu

winter. She works for us, she helps out

at weekends and out in my office and she's absolutely thrilled

with this Lady Ilsa. So she sold bread quite cheaply

by territories, was sent out to, did all its early racing

bizarrely in Warsaw in Poland, which is quite kind of crazy,

and has now ended up in in in in Germany and ran in the prep race

for the German Guineas. I was a bit of an outsider, a 10

to one shot when she ran the German 1000 Guineas Grade 2, but

she won quite comprehensively. She then came to the Farmer

Stakes at Newmarket and I was helping look after this team.

The Falmouth is a Group One race for Phillies and mares.

So it's Phillies, but older horses.

So she was taking on olders and she got held there by

Cinderella's Dream January and that good mare Crimson Advocate,

who won a grade 2 at Royal. I saw time before well against

older horses. This is a this is a very, very

strong race. And I was with the team and and

they said to me, Andreas Vola said to me, where, where can we

go next? And I said, well, Kentucky down

to with the obvious spot because it's it's keeping it to a mile.

There's very It's another configuration quirk about this

trap. Very few races in America I'll

run a mile on the turf because of the being so a proximity to

the bend, so it's a perfect spot to run her here.

Well, very good. Well Adrian, you know, Breeders'

Cup obviously in a couple of months as well, we haven't had a

winner come out of a race here and go win a Breeders' Cup race

for example, like in California, something like that.

Do you think that's a matter of time or do you think that

actually has to do with, you know, just how, how the horses

can figure just different than the flat racing you mentioned

earlier? No.

And I think, you know, if if if a horse was to win here, if

women and Hawkeye was to win here, I would be talking to Tim

and James Owen about possibly running with the Breeders Cup

Turf. OK.

I mean, I mean, obviously he'd had to step up.

And again, because Elkador Beth beat him in the Sword Dancer.

Of course you'll get weight for age.

But yeah, no, I'd be hoping that James Owen himself is a very

interesting character. He was a jumps jockey and then a

jumps trainer and he started out training jumps horses and

Arabian breads and, and, and he's only just in the last two

seasons going to flat horses been unbelievably successful.

And actually we think James is, I'm probably most up and coming

of the young young brigade. And this will be his first

runner in America. So I mean, he's going to come in

with Tim, the Tim, they're arriving this evening into

Nashville. I'm going to be having a

cocktail party tomorrow night for them downtown and we're

going to be here Saturday. And I'm really looking forward

to him seeing this will be home from home from Tim.

He's used to running on jumps tracks, the similar similar

configurations and with no grandstand, we're used to that

at home. So.

No, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend and

looking forward to next weekend where we've got runners in the

millions. Looking forward to seeing Cairo,

who I helped ship over to Colonial Downs for the on 2

million. He's been lurking around

Keeneland ticking over until he comes down here.

He'll be he'll be shipping in for Alice Haynes, Ben Curtis's

book to ride. So we'll have him in the mid

millions taking on a very nice horse called Port Lioness,

trained by another young up and Comer called Edward Bethel, who

trains up in the north of England.

So yeah, we've got we've got some interesting runners for

next weekend. John Mall is sending over a

filly for the Music City as well trained by Ray Beckett called

Tabati. So yeah, so we've got 5 runners

from here from Europe this weekend and three next weekend.

How many are coming this year? How many do you hope in 26?

I, I think we've got 8 total and I'd be hoping for double

figures, sorry, probably I'd be looking for maybe a best bet a

dozen. I mean, one of the issues we

have is, is just whether we're going to get into these races.

These races are really tough. I had a lot of interest from

trainers who wanted to bring horses here, but we just knew

they weren't going to make the cut because it's these, these,

these fields fill and for the prize for me, I'm not surprised.

It's a great place to base. What I am hoping is to start to

keep increasing the quality. We want to get these races, the

grades up on these races. So you know, it's bringing

European horses here. It's really about trying to

improve the the level of the races we're bringing.

So all that quant quality over quantity that.

That seems to be the case down here at Kentucky Down.

So Adrian, thank you so much for spending time with us here.

I'm blood Horse Money. Congratulations on the 8 runners

that you have. And hey, I'm holding you to the

dozen next year. That's great if I'm here.

If I'm here this year with a dozen horses, I look forward to

doing another. Interview.

We'll do another interview. That's exactly right.

Well, thank you, Adrian. Back to the studio.

Well, there we go A little. Adrian Beaumont with me on a

Thursday. 708 people walked behind me during that interview,

including Jenny Ree. Shut up.

There you go. I'm never mad with Jenny.

Can be. Whatever Jenny can do, whatever

she wants. They go I, I, I think couple

takeaways from there for sure. The difficulty of getting into

races at Kentucky Downs is an interesting comment.

Is it not like, hey, we'd love to ship over 2,000,000 bucks

sounds nice, but if there's no guarantee, it's very difficult

to do. I also wanted to bring that up

because I think people don't know the quarantine thing.

Like you and I are used to it because of the Japanese horses

at the Derby and that kind of thing.

But if you're not used to the fact that fly into Cincinnati,

go to Churchill for quarantine after that, then come down to

Kentucky Downs, your horses having to stay at Keeneland and

do those kinds of things. Now, that's not unusual, right,

to ship to a track for a day of racing.

But to have to go through quarantine, to travel that kind

of way internationally, I think we just take for granted that

these horses just show up like fierceness.

Was it a box to go race in the Pacific Classic?

Yeah, right. I mean, it's right.

And so, like, we kind of forget that, you know, there's to move

a horse. It takes a lot.

It takes a lot. There's a lot of things that go

involved, but what stood out to you?

Well, I think, you know, it was just interesting hearing him

talk about, you know, I know obviously they already run these

races, so we know what the results were on these horses.

But just as he explained each horse, just you could hear his

thought process as to why this horse was selected, why this

horse was targeted to come over here and.

It's a winners amongst his selections exactly Hawker.

Wimbledon, Wimbledon, Hawkeye and several of the others didn't

disgrace themselves either with the way they ran out here.

I cut, cut him. Was that how they pronounced it?

He ran, Yeah. He ran well nine years old

running third in a turf Sprint over here against and you know,

some 2 very good horses in front of him.

So it's one of those things, you know, I, I got to talk a lot to

Wimbledon Hawkeyes connections after the race, both directly

after the race on Saturday and then Sunday morning at the barn.

And you know that we always talk about all the money that's

available for the Kentucky breads.

But the first money they got for winning the Nashville Derby was

just, it was only about like $100,000 short winning the Epsom

Derby. And you're not facing, no

offense to any of the horses that were in the national Derby

from the American standpoint, but you're not facing the same

quality that you'd be facing in the Epsom Derby.

Those are the best. Bartim Square ain't one of the

Epsom Derby. Those are the best grass horse

stayers in Europe, which meant everybody will say are the best

in the world. Europe, you know, the king of

the grass. And so, you know, you're looking

at where you get to, you get to ship all over to run against

potentially easier competition for the same purse money.

That's a big draw. And it's something that the

connections talked about quite a bit was how you know how

important that was for them. You know, the owner and the

owners bred the Wimbledon Hawkeye.

And you know, they're they're kind of a smaller operation out

there in Europe. They've had a couple big horses

over the years. But you know, we're coming over

here winning $1,000,000. That's, I mean, that's a huge

deal to them, he told me. That pays the bills for us this

year, just coming over and winning this one race and I'm

sure there's travel expenses and stuff that'll.

Take it's not the game isn't different for the British guys

than it is for BBN racing. It's not like you need the

chance. Right, as we're looking at those

purses continuing to get higher over the last couple years,

seeing more and more Europeans and potentially starting to see

some of the top Europeans coming over for these races, I think is

definitely in the near future. Especially we talked to a Ted

Nicholson last week. One of the key focuses for them

right now is increasing the grade.

If you're starting to see these three $2,000,000 races being run

as grade ones a couple years from now, we're going to be

having, we're going to be shipping over multiple planes of

European horses. They're going to be coming over

here to get that Grade 1 to get the get the purse money.

It's just better than what they're running for in England

at especially at this time of the year.

Yes, there's a couple big races in England coming up, but it's

that purse money just kind of this was something when Bellum

Justin won last year, this was something that they had talked

about with me as well is, you know, the purse money is just

better than what the options are in England at this time of year.

So of course where they could be successful, of course that

they're used to style wise, you're going to see more and

more of them. There you go.

Frankie Dettori with a bunch of success over the weekend as

well. I saw him Thursday, an opening

day. He was picking everyone's braid

as much as he could about the turf condition.

It obviously did. But the other part is, I mean,

with with the irrigation, different things.

I asked him about it, if it if it changed things for him.

And he's like compared to Europe, this is still very firm.

Like this is still very firm go compared to what we're used to

doing, especially in England in those sorts of places.

But I yeah, no, I enjoyed the interview.

I thought Adrian was great. I really appreciate him jumping

on. Hopefully we'll catch up with

him at Breeders' Cup as well. So there you go.

Futurity debutanted Del Mar this weekend.

Of course, Kentucky Downs their bit last big couple of days will

be this weekend as well. What are you most looking

forward to? I'm not going to lie, I think

it's actually the Del Mar races for me.

Yeah, I'll be at Kentucky Downs this weekend, so I'll definitely

be having a larger focus on those.

But you know, you know, I love me some 2 year olds.

I love to start thinking about the Triple Crown already.

And we saw. So I didn't want to do this, but

do you know what's in 12 days? The Iroquois.

The first Kentucky Derby so if you are a.

Human, I'm ready. So if you are, I don't know

dating Sean Collins get it all in right now because you got 12

days until he's unavailable for eight months.

I'm looking straight into the camera for this one.

If you happen to be I don't know his mom, text him now because

he's unavailable starting, you know, in September here.

So you know this is. This is when it gets fun.

Oh man, that's the good stuff for.

Sure. So you, you know, I'll be

watching those that Delmar Futurity with great interest,

even though there's no points on the line because those horses

will be Wheeling back most likely the American Pharaoh and

the Breederschip Juvenile I. Was going to say they have

plenty of chances. Oh, yes, yeah.

Well, shut up. Well, there you get into that

time of year. Get into that time of year.

Man, it's almost Derby. Could you believe it could?

You stop the but no, you know, it's interesting because, you

know, we had I Jason be him on a show last year and I asked him

when do you start really paying attention to to Derby preps and

he essentially said it's got to be worth 50 points.

I think of when Del Mar closes and when Saratoga closes as when

I really zoom in on the Breeders Cup.

Like right now, this time of year, we've got two months now

I'm like, OK, who's coming from Germany?

Who's coming from, you know, who are the Irish horses that are

going to make the trip? Who's the 2 year old on the

Philly side that's this year's Lake Victoria?

Like who's that horse that's going to be coming over invading

Del Mar that way? And so this is when I start to

really dig in on it. And frankly, I think it's partly

because Kentucky Downs makes me think about those horses.

Like is a Wimbledon Hawkeye going to make the trip to

California? Because he should, he should.

That horse has got a shot for sure, especially at a mile and a

half, especially going flat. I think he's got a real shot.

So just try to start to, you know, sort those things out.

Is Forever Young going to make his trip over like Larry

mentioned earlier in the episode as well?

I think those are interesting questions, but there you go.

And you're thinking about the Derby.

Well, yeah, because I mean, we got we got the hopeful coming up

in like 1/2 hour here. So yeah, well, hopefully it's

Derby time. Thank you.

Thank you. That's the.

Important that, you know, the Breeders Cup.

Breeders' Cup Friday is just, you know, Derby prep, Kentucky

Derby prep, you know, for me, at least.

Well, if you want to find Sean, he's sleeping in a tent on the

backside of Churchill Downs, so that's where you can find Sean.

He's ready to go that Iroquois stakes.

That would really help me out. Who?

You got Iroquois, that'll probably be drawn by the time we

get back to this show next week. But there you go.

We will. We will summarize the end of

that, that Delmar meet with you and of course, go over the

winners at Kentucky Downs next week.

Thanks to Larry Thomas, Adrian Beaumont for joining us on this

edition of the show. Of course, we encourage you to

check out the magazine bloodhorse.com.

Go check them out the magazine tab at the top of the homepage.

Or if you happen to be watching on YouTube or Spotify, there's

QR code at the bottom of the screen.

Go ahead, pause the episode right now.

Grab that QR code and check out the magazine.

Ship to your house every month with those beautiful photos from

around the country. All the great photos, the great

people, the great horses that make our sport go at Blood Horse

magazine. Of course, bloodhorse.com.

Check out the tab for daily at the top.

If you're not getting the daily e-mail every morning from Blood

Horse, you are missing out. Start your day with Blood Horse.

Start your day with all the headlines in our great sport.

Certainly the best way to start your day is with Blood Horse

Daily. Well, for Sean, I'm Louis.

We'll be back in a week. Couple more days of Kentucky

Downs for you and me. Yeah.

And then we're going to be talking about Churchill Downs.

I can't believe we're already back to that.

This year's flat? Well, you can.

Apparently because of Derby time.

That's true. No idea.

I didn't say I was upset about us.

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.