BloodHorse Monday Episode 5 | Mar 3, 2025

All right, Little Rock and roll out of Monday edition of Blood

Horse Monday. His name is Sean Collins.

I'm Louis rebel. Thanks so much for starting your

horse racing week with us once again.

You can find us every Monday in the afternoons doing this thing

Sean. 3 Derby preps over the weekend.

Torpedo Anna's coming back. We're just this is it, man.

This is the good stuff. It really let's allow you sports

is we had some great performances this weekend.

We get to see the you know, the the three-year old champion from

last year this week. I mean, just what a great we're

just if you get if you get into this thing, it just the horse

racing's the opposite of an onion.

You peel back the layers. That smells even better.

Exactly. I'm doing fantastic.

We're in that time of year. I always feel like that first

weekend of March is kind of that starting point for the year.

This is when all you see all the like, the big two year olds are

typically coming back in their three-year old races.

Now you're getting some top level performances on the trail

to Derby and you're seeing Thorpitoanna coming back this

weekend. So as you said, so can't get

much better than right now. Springtimes coming around.

Starting to get a little warmer here in Kentucky.

It's not as cold. Hopefully it stays like that.

Wash your mouth. I know it's probably just jinx

it. Hopefully jinx.

Yeah, hopefully Punxsutawney Phil is not correct because we

don't have a couple more weeks yet, but it's the end of that

time of year. Horses will be back at Churchill

Downs soon. That's the official starting.

Today you can actually apply for a stall at Churchill Downs for

this meet. So that means we are in that

season, like you said, obviously still running the turfway here

in the state of Kentucky, but lots of other good racing

happening around the country. Will start with the Fountain of

Youth. We'll go down S 1st to South

Florida. The return of sovereignty.

I talked with Brian Nadeau who sets the morning line at

Gulfstream Park. This was the horse.

He didn't know if they were going to try to fire right away.

You know, we talked with our colleague Frank Angst a couple

weeks ago. The importance of that first

race back as a three-year old. Let's see the stretch run here.

Piniello on the call of the Fountain of Youth keep it easy

as between horses and Sovereignty tries to motivate

himself. He's underway now in the blue

colors. He's within 8 lengths of the

lead through 3/4 in 1-10 and three Neoequos stretching out

River Thames. Sovereignty warming to the task

for Alvarado. He's on the far outside into

third gate to wire finds his best ride.

Burnham Squares bit is stalled as River Thames has made a clear

lead off the turn in the stretch drive in the Fountain of Youth

and River Thames he has the lead by two with a 16th to go.

Sovereignty begins to get on track, but time is.

Sticking away River Thames, almost there.

Sovereignty going to dive at him late.

Here comes sovereignty. We're going to hear 3 very

different callers today on these races.

Thank you. By the way, to Gulfstream Park,

great YouTube page. You can go check out all their

replays. There we get Pete in New York,

we get Chris Green or Griffin, excuse me.

And I've worked with a guy named Chris Green and I always mix

them up for no reason. I should be using the Family Guy

reference here. Then Frank Bare body out West,

very different styles, all very, very fun.

I love that thing about our sport.

I just wanted to mention that before we talk about the fact

that sovereignty is a beast. That's a grade three win as a

maiden in the street sense. Last out this time, turns it

around, wins the Grade 2 fountain of youth.

Look, I don't love the deep closing thing, but this was a

mile and a 16th. We're going to talk about 10

furlongs in a couple of weeks here.

He looks every bit of 10 furlongs.

Yeah, this win, the best way I can describe this win, was

scary. It's scary how good he ran in

this race because the whole thing we heard the entire week

leading up to it, especially from Bill Mott, was we're not

really expecting to win this race.

You know, he's coming back off the layoff.

We just need to get him a race to get him on the Derby trail.

We don't think the track layout's going to work out for

him. The way the mile on the 16th is

set up there at Gulfstream. It took him a while to switch

his leads in the stretch. It didn't look like, you know,

50 yards out and he was going to get there and he did anyway.

So the fact that he won this race, I mean, how good can this

horse be when he's fully cranked, fully ready to go, gets

a track set up like like Churchill Downs, like he got it

in the Street Sense Stakes where it's going to be a stretch

that's more favorable to his running style.

How good can this horse? Actually, get I, that's a very

legitimate question. The other part about him that I

think is an interesting question.

Is he better fresh? Is it worth it for them to try

to skip a prep here now? I doubt Bill Mott's going to

skip a prep. I think he's going to want

Sovereignty to be third in this form cycle for the Kentucky

Derby. Like I think that's obviously

the goal here. It's why you start racing in

early March rather than in January or something with the

horse. You give him that time off.

Sean, we haven't seen a thing from this horse going two turns.

That gives us an idea that he's not going to be ready.

He definitely looks the part. I thought River Thames, by the

way, running a good second there.

I thought first try going two turns, it was really, really

good. Gets caught by a horse that

already has the experience. I think both of them could take

substantial steps forward. Yeah, I think both of them as

well. And River Thames, I know they

came out of the race saying that they felt like he maybe started

to get a little lost out there when he was by himself in the

stretch, kind of was waiting on that company to come.

And sovereignty got him right at the wire.

So he didn't really have much time to respond.

You know, there's some distance questions there with him.

I know you were a big fan of his allowance victory, So what do

you think as far as him stretching out?

I didn't see a thing there that didn't because I agree with the

assessment. He's he's, I don't.

I want to say he's loafing. He ran a mile in 1:36 and 2:00.

And he was up there on the pace all the time.

The pace wasn't wasn't slow. It was not slow and and look, we

we've seen historically the Florida Derby is a good

predictor for success in the Kentucky Derby.

So if river temps could bounce back and run well in that race,

I'll feel really good on the 1st.

Saturday and he's got Todd Pletcher in his back pocket, so

you know that's gonna when you're looking at the Florida

Derby, you know he's gonna be ready to run.

The connections make sense for sovereignty and I don't think

he's going anywhere at all. Sean Collins Luir Beau hanging

out with you Blood horse Monday we head up or out West.

Excuse me to watch the San Felipe here.

Do want to mention hanging out with us on this show and for the

foreseeable future. Our friends at OBS and grade one

winners, Grade 1 producers. Legendary sires at the OBS March

Sale of two year olds in training.

Success is found across the board and in 2024 graduates of

the March Sale accounted for 62 stakes victories and 12

Breeders' Cup entrance. Wow.

In the breeding shed. The March Sale ban banner

continues to reign with graduate and world's leading sire into

mischief for precocious stars to enduring champions.

OBS is the two year old source to the world.

Come find your future star at the OBS March Sale March 11th

through 13th. My birthday's on March 11th.

How about that? There you go, little OBS.

You're going to go get a horse's birthday game.

That's a birthday present. Somebody else pay for it.

I imagine that's usually how this has to work, but let's head

out. Lastly, aforementioned Frank

Miramati with an excited call of the of the San Felipe there at

Santa Anita Park. Barnes starts to Sprint for home

stablemate Rodriguez trying to make it interesting in second in

Journalism 4, off the pace in 3rd.

They're followed by smooth cruisin.

Mellencamp. They're 1/4 of a mile from home,

and Barnes is widening. Journalism now swings into

action on the outside. These are the two as they come

to the 8th pole. Barnes in front by three.

Journalism, chasing with determination, getting closer

with every stride. And here comes journalism.

Right on. By Barnes and it will be

journalism striding away powerfully to win the DK Horse

San Felipe Stakes. Appreciate all the folks there

at San Anita, their great YouTube page as well.

Frank Miramati on the call of that Fountain Views or excuse

me, the San Felipe Stakes out West.

Okay, so we have Aaron Wallman on last week.

Yeah, we're like, hey. Eclipse, Sir, But hey, can we

talk Bill, Okay? We're talking journalism, right?

Yeah, we're gonna talk journalism, right?

Yeah, he was very excited to talk about journalism.

That was the first thing he asked us.

Are we gonna talk about journalism too?

Goodness gracious. Now we know why.

Yeah, certainly we saw this in the fall.

We saw the flashes for sure with him again, our colleague Frank

Eggs writing about that first start as a three-year old.

Journalism checked every single box in this one.

He did. He did not have, you know, an

easy scenario that he encountered as they came down

the stretch. Barnes was running an A+ race.

He was getting the distance. He was pulling away from his

competition. Journalism sat down and ran him

down. That stride was impressive.

The way he just lengthened that stride coming down the stretch.

This looks like a legitimate threat for the Kentucky Derby.

The other thing is first, first start as a three-year old, how

almost naturally he switched leads.

He gets to the top of the stretch and it's time to switch

and he does right away. Very comfortable in that mile.

In the 16th race out there. We talk about the 10 furlongs

all the time. Another one that seems to check

the boxes here of being able to get the distance and not have to

worry about it. Of course on the journalism end

of of the breeding we talked about this with them is the

Curlin. It's an Uncle MO on the damn

side. Mobitism.

We know her. She was she was a 2 Turner

herself. Everything about this screams he

should be great. It's it is rare, though, Sean,

that we get sons of these, especially sons for some reason

of these great brood mares that are just this good this early.

Yeah, this is. Exciting.

I know it's always 4th start too and coming off that layoff and

Aaron told us last week about how he kind of had that little

bit of an illness after the low self futurity and this is how he

comes back from that and he runs this big of a race.

And you know, I also want to give credit to Barnes too.

I don't think if you're a Barnes fan, I don't think you can jump

off the bandwagon after that performance.

I don't think that was that. Five and six pattern from Bob

trading up and to the to the San Anita Derby up for for sure.

But now it's like, you know, journalism's conquered getaway

car gaming, He's conquered Rodriguez and Barnes.

Now I want to see journalism versus Citizen Bowl, and that's

San Anita Derby. That's going to be 1.

Hell of a race going to ask you, does this set up?

How do we do we think we know the hierarchy of the potential

Baffert Derby starters? I think so at this point.

That's what's interesting, actually, that came out of this

weekend, right? That Barnes is clearly the

number 2 Citizen Bowl's the established #1 he's in the he's

in the starting gate. He's done all the right work,

whether it was last fall, this spring, whatever it is, he's

done everything right to this point.

There's no knock on that horse other than if you want to get

into speed figures or something, whatever that is.

There's no knock on him as far as what he does on the track.

He goes out there and he wins. He and it's an honest effort

every single time. You know what you're getting

from him is Barnes #2. I think so at this point, yeah.

I wish we had another one of the future wagers this weekend to

see where everyone else thought because, you know, Barnes has

been kind of leading that. But Citizen Bowl has been

leading in the NTRA poll. I think the NTRA poll comes back

out tomorrow. I'm sure we can ask Frank later

how he voted when he's on the show, But I think that's going

to be really, really telling to see where people are stacking up

these top three-year olds. We mentioned the OBS sale and an

OBS grad goes ahead and wins the Gotham that was up on Long

Island at Aqueduct. Chris Griffin on the call on the

Naira YouTube page. It's flood zone to the outside.

Sand Devils battling on Mimatoli is ranging up three wide.

Garamond is looking for a way through.

McAfee is launching a rally from the back of the pack.

Pagode Sacrosanct trying to run on 2.

They reach the top of the stretch and Sand Devils trying

to keep the undefeated streak going.

Flood zone is challenging towards the outside, but the.

Gutsy New York bred is battling on, but flood zone is now edging

clear. Here is flood zone out in the

center of the racetrack. Garamond is trying to make up

some ground. Also Mimatoli Sand Devils

battling on but flood zone is now weaving through this

stretch. But flood zone is best.

Flood zone is going to win the Gotham.

Flood Zone wins it over Sand Double, Garamond and Maima Toli.

I have a lot of things to say about this race, Really.

It's a very strange thing to say #1 I love the Tarpon Aqueduct.

It always says winter to me. I don't know why #2I the one

turn mile thing at this point in the Derby trail is very

difficult for me to dissect as to trying to figure out how good

a a horse like Flood Zone's going to be because this is a

style that can win the Derby. We have seen it where they

justify. We have seen it with an

authentic. We have seen it with horses that

get the lead, keep the lead right, usually Baffert Barnes,

not going to lie, Like that's what they do, right?

But Flood Zone for a Brad Cox, an idiomatic, got to the front,

stayed out front. Is there a chance that this is

the next one? It is telling to me.

He flew in Ray Lou Gutierrez to ride this horse.

He obviously thinks something. I I think once in a while till

we get caught up in the 17 to one rather than what the horse

actually did. I thought this was a fine

performance given where he's at in his career.

Can he build on it when the wood?

I don't know, but did you see anything there that looked

negative? I didn't see anything.

Regular had to do very little work.

The horse is just ready. And on top of that, this was the

horses first start with Brad. They just acquired him.

The fact that Waffen racing, you know, they're trying to get

these top level horses. So the fact that they saw

something in this horse to go after and purchase him and then

immediately point him to a Derby prep race makes me wonder what

what they saw because obviously they have some high

expectations. You mentioned that, you know

that one turn mile, you don't really know what you're going to

get from the Gotham. But pedigree wise, I mean his

son Frosted Kerlin mare. I think pedigree wise, the

distance should be there as we're going forward.

And I, I remember seeing Brad talk about him, I believe on

FanDuel TV right after the race. And he said, like, you know, we

still are kind of learning him at this point.

You know, he just got in the barn.

So in fact, he's able to put forth that that performance.

It was only his third start, first, first time against

winners. I think we could definitely see

him build forward. We'll see if that translates to

a Wood Memorial win, but I feel like in a lot of recent years

we've seen where the winner of the Gotham, we kind of throw out

almost immediately because there's some distance questions

there. I didn't see anything from his

race yesterday. He was up, he battled on the

lead and he still had enough left to kind of draw off at the

end of the race. So I like to see that.

If they've got another eighth of the mile, do you doubt who wins?

No, I think he wins by a larger margin.

Now the other question on that is a lot of the horses that were

behind him, I feel like are more those one turn, those one turn

horses. Yeah.

So it'll be interesting to see him kind of going up against

some, you know, kind of more distance horses in the Wood

Memorial. But right now you can't really

fault anything like that. And he's got a spot in the

Kentucky Derby starting gate if they want it.

So, you know, if he runs well enough in the Wood Memorial

where they say go forward with it, he's going to be there.

So you have to consider him. Fusaiichi Pegasus, the last

winner of the Wood in 2002, also win the Kentucky Derby.

He also won the San Felipe that year.

Can you name the other two Derby winners since he won to win the

Kentucky Derby? To from the San Felipe

California Chrome. Yep.

Very good. Wow, right?

Away. Yeah, right away.

I knew that one that one was easy.

Gosh, now I gotta did authentic get the I was wondering.

I wasn't sure if that one got cancelled before the pandemic

had. There it is, yeah.

Great. It's a great pandemic sort of

question there and all of the timelines rank them last weekend

because I think the top 2 are very difficult here.

I think for now, despite coming out of OBS, I think that flood

zone is in 3rd place here as far as the performance this weekend.

And it's more about the fact that it's a one turn mile, yeah,

than anything else. He didn't do anything wrong per

SE at all. That's not what I'm getting at.

Sovereignty journalism. What about today?

When I'm ranking these two, I'm going to give journalism the

slight edge just purely because when I'm looking at my rankings,

I'm thinking about the Derby. I trust he's going to be closer.

I worry about sovereignty, getting stuck in traffic or

getting stuck wide. So that's that's ultimately, I

think either one of them is a fine top choice.

I know Byron King, he's had sovereignty at the top of his

Derby dozen since before this race.

So I can't imagine he's coming off that top spot.

But I think just the the one thing I would have liked to see

different from Sovereignty, since they did go into the race

expecting to not really kind of run, run as well as he did.

I wish they'd tried to get him to sit a little closer and it

didn't really look like that was possible.

He just dropped out the back. So that gives me, that's the

only concern I have about him going forward versus journalism.

I feel like he can sit anywhere. He was on the inside this time,

believe last time he was on the outside and he won both times.

So I have a little bit more confidence in him going forward.

Sovereignty ends up winning the Kentucky Derby.

I will not be surprised at all. Where do you rank him?

I really want to do the tie for first because despite the

despite Sovereignty's running style off the bench like that,

yeah, at the track he's never been at.

I mean, just it's a really good performance, man.

Yeah. But journalism to do that to

Barnes? Yeah.

I heaps like it was standing still, man.

I mean, that's legit. Nah, they were both fantastic.

I'll go journalism slightly, but Sovereignty's, he's awesome,

man. Yeah, he's awesome.

That street sense was great. And I thought, I thought this, I

thought this fond of youth is really.

Good too. Is it too early to say that

right now we might have one of the best it?

Is too early. But we can see, yeah, we can see

where that might be true, Bones. Are there.

And by the way, let's welcome in our guest for our our our owner

segment here. Aaron Haberman joins us and he's

got one of these three-year olds that we think is really, really

talented joins us from California.

Aaron, good, good afternoon. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me. Yeah, no problem at all.

Welcome to Blood Horse Monday, California Burrito.

You know what if there were a name contest, I think the

Habermans are winning. It's pretty easy.

But you know, man, we always ask our guests and thanks so much

for joining us here on the show. Just how they got into this

great sport, how they got into ownership.

So if you can kind of give folks on the background and how you

got going in the sport. Sure.

Well, I mean, I come from a family that has nothing to do

with horses. Went with some friends when I

was growing up in San Diego to Del Mar Fell in love with it as

a fan, as a gambler. And you realized that it just I

love to hang out with people who loved horse racing.

So through, you know, through the years, you know, went to Del

Mar, went to school in the Bay Area.

I used to go to Golden Gate and Bay Meadows.

My wife, you know, we became friends initially just because

we've got a dollar hot dog and beer night at Bay Meadows on

Friday nights and spent a lot of time with the racetrack and her

family is involved in racing. So was exposed and they were

very gracious for the, you know, sharing their success and being

able to go watch the horses and sort of furthered my bug that

way and eventually got involved in the ownership side.

Sean, you're a young man. Find a woman that wants to hang

out at the track and eat dollar hot dogs.

That is my advice to you, son. That's a.

That's a good. All right, well, Aaron Haberman

with us. We wanted to get into it with

you, man, but just the emotions of of that last run in the

Battaglia. Just walk us through.

You're there. You're you're, you know, you

make the trip to Florence, you're with that guy Tommy

Drury. We'll talk about him in a

minute. But you're there and and Baby

Max is running and Luis Saez has them out and it's and it's all

the things. And you watch Irving finally get

California burrito to switch leads and he takes off from

there. Just walk us through that

sequence there late in that in that race.

You know, going into that race we really thought that there'd

be a little, maybe a little bit more pace.

Tommy worked the horse behind a few horses in the last breeze

there. We talked with Irving before the

race that just to make whatever the outside speed have to earn

it to clear us. And quite honestly, heading into

the first turn, I kind of had to do a double take to make sure

that was us on the lead. It wasn't exactly where we

expected to be, but you know, turning for home, I I knew the

horse was fit. Tommy had a lot of confidence in

the horse and for Irving and the horse to be able to turn back

Sias and Baby Max was pretty exciting.

And I, I talked to Tommy right after the race and he said that

really, this horse seems to have blossomed as he's gotten to Turf

Way. Have you seen that?

What has his development been like for you over the last

couple months? Well, you know, everyone that's

been around the horse always, you know, has said that he

hasn't been a talent. You know, as an owner, you hear

that sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't work out for you.

You know, his first race was unexpectedly poor, but since

then he's just gotten better and better with the start.

Tommy's been happy with him and you know, obviously with the

three-year old colt you start getting insane thoughts, but

just having a good horse is exciting.

We're talking insane thoughts with Aaron Haberman.

He's the owner of California Burrito.

Look, you had this horse in for the tag at one point and I know

it's $150,000 tag. So I'm sure, you know, we, we

might have been OK with a little claim there, but he's in for the

tag. You know, you got to trust, you

know, you got to trust your trainer on these things.

What's the process with working with a guy like Tommy Drury, you

know, deciding, you know, hey, we're going to move away from

the special weight, you know, sort of rankings and move into a

climber? His first race was so bad that

we figured for 150 we're probably safe.

The the work before that race, he worked like lights out.

And so my wife and I were actually on vacation and weren't

able to see the race live. And I was kind of waiting for a

call from Tommy. We were refreshing Twitter and

we saw that he won. But I I mean.

Based on, you know, him winning like he did and that work

beforehand, I have to admit that the first thing I asked him is

if he was still ours once Tommy calm and, you know, had some

relief there. Well, when you kind of look at

you mentioned that first race, he didn't run very well, but I

believe Magnitude, the Risen Star winner was the winner of

that race. So that definitely flattered the

form a little bit. You ran against Magnitude again

later at Churchill and you were just beat by him by about a

length When how do you kind of see him kind of stacking up

against this 3 year old competition right now?

Because when you look at Turfway over the last couple years,

we've seen Rich Strike come out of there, win the Derby.

We've seen 2 fills run second. The Derby sees the Gray last

year ran the Jeff Ruby, won the Preakness.

So I think people sleep on Turfway sometime.

Where do you think he kind of stacks up amongst the best 3

year olds well. I mean, the good news is we know

he likes Churchill. He won in a sloppy track there.

And you know, like you said, he he ran a game second to

magnitude. He's an improving horse.

But I mean, you watched like this past weekend's races and

you realize how tough things really are.

So, you know, hopefully, you know, he shows the stuff again

in the Jeff Ruby. And then we see where we are.

We're realistic. Like I said, having a good horse

for us is, you know, dynamite. But when you see sovereignty and

journalism, you know like how deep the the pool is.

Well, take us through. You know, I'm assuming this is

your first horse that you've had on the Kentucky Derby trail,

correct? It is for us, yes.

So just take us through the emotions.

What is that like? You know, as a fan of the sport,

a long time fan of the sport, getting into it on the ownership

side, to now have a horse, you know, we'll see what ends up

happening over the next two months.

But just to have a horse that's on the Kentucky Derby trail,

what does that mean to you is? This like having a pick 5 but

for a month. Waiting, exactly.

I mean, we're live the last leg and we have at least another

month two out. You see what?

Happens the swipe. Is it like that?

It is a little bit, I mean, as a, as a horse player, like you

know, you, you know, you got through the last leg and you're,

you know, sitting there. I guess we're, I guess we're

through three legs with one, you know, waiting for the fourth leg

before we get to the Derby. But it's it's it's a thrill of a

lifetime And and but you know, we're realistic.

So I that is the next race that you know that where you've got

the goods for that, for the big one.

All right, I got to ask because I've interviewed both Tommy and

Irving. And if people are wondering who

that is, it's obviously trader Tommy Drury and jockey and

apprentice Irving Moncana. Tommy comes to you and says,

hey, you've got this great horse, I want to put him on the

Derby trail. Also, I'm going to throw him

with this kid named Irving from Lexington.

What's that conversation like going with a guy like Irving

Moncana? And by the way, good idea.

Yeah. Well, first of all, Tom is a

trainer. We trust him.

We were really lucky, like Edgar Morales, who wrote him

initially, you know, did a great job with him.

He works forces for Tommy all the time.

Irving was going to be a turf way.

You know, I, I feel like you as an owner, there's so many good

jocks out there, but we're happy to have someone who's kind of

like on the home team. And Irving and Tommy have been

lights out a turf way this this winter.

Just I watch a ton of races and I I do think that we're, you

know, in on the ground floor with someone who's going to be

like a serious jockey and a serious star in the sport.

So we're happy to go along with it.

Everyone makes mistakes and we have a lot of trust nerving.

So we're, we feel like we, we're in good hands.

I got to talk to him right after that when in the Battaglia.

I was the first time I got to talk to him.

And I mean, he's got a good head on his shoulder.

He he definitely, Tommy spoke very highly of him as well.

He definitely looks like one of these rising stars, no question.

He's a rising star and that's why I asked because I, I have to

imagine, you know, you've got got a son of army mule.

You got a serious, you know, contender on the on the Derby

trail and and he comes to you with, Hey, I got this.

And then you see that stretch out of the Battaglia and

everything's right with the world for a.

Minute. Yeah, well, I wanted to ask you

as well, you know, how did this did relationship with Tommy

Drury come to be? Where did you meet him?

How did you get him as your trainer?

So my. In laws had were partners for a

while with the late great David Richardson who had horses with

Tommy. And in the first half of 2021,

my family spent about six months in Louisville and we had some

horses with him. And I spent a lot of time out of

skylight, became friends with Tommy, just saw how he ran his

operation. And you know, we use 4 trainers.

We have some horses with a few different trainers.

And we have, you know, great confidence in all of them.

But you know, Tommy's someone who is 1 great person.

And two, just watching them around the horses, you realize

what a good horseman is. I don't need all this nice talk

about Tommy Drury on the show. You understand man, that's.

A That's right, keep his feet on the ground.

Here in Aberman. With us odor of California

burrito, of course, on the on the Derby trail.

But take us back, you decide to spend 60 grand on this horse at

the physic Tifted sale and, and you, what did you see?

Who helped you make that decision is $60,000.

I mean, it's a lot of money to be, you know, let's see, you

know, what goes into that process at least.

Lauren Carlisle is a Blood Stack agent.

She helps us select horses. That day we were looking to buy

one. She had a list.

She showed Tommy, you know, list of maybe 10 horses that we are

considering. California Burrito was at the

top of the list. About 6060 thousand is about

like in our budget for like a an individual horse.

But we don't have the resources to, you know, if you like

something earlier on and you get it, then we're done for the day.

And, you know, we're, it just worked out that that was the

last horse that we were going to bid on and dealt to us.

What is that? You know, feeling like when you

win that bid, because I've talked to Kyle Zorn of Legion

Bloodstock about this before and he's like, it's that same kind

of excitement when that hammer comes down and you, it's like

winning the race when the hammer comes down.

Is that how you felt when the number one horse on your list

ends up coming coming down on for your bid?

Oh, you're definitely happy about it.

I mean, there, it's a weird game.

There are horses you think that you definitely are in with a

shot for that may go for way over your budget.

And sometimes things fall to you.

Yeah, in a way it feels like winning.

I think there's a danger of of feeling like that's your win

rather than on the race track. So it's just, it's just the, you

know, the first step to hopefully having a horse that

you're happy with. Sean and I are going to be at

the Jeff Ruby Stakes spelled STEAKS.

Do you like that? Yes.

OK. I'll follow up to that.

Will you be in town? We will be.

OK. And then follow up to that, are

we going swimming in the Turfway Pond if your horse wins and

qualifies for the Derby? I'll follow you in.

OK, All right, done. All right, there you go.

All right. Hey, look, it's just sitting

there. It's got new ducks.

Yeah, it's just there. Like, what are we doing?

Turfway. Come on, let me swim with Aaron.

Like let's. Do the let's turn that into the

tradition. Like you know how Saratoga has

the traverse canoe. We're going to start the Jeff

Ruby swim in the swim. We'll start the well, last thing

I wanted to ask. I just want to know, and I'll

mention why I'm asking this question afterwards, but I want

to know where the name California Burrito came from.

Why was that the name that you decided on?

Well, we went with like Army mule burro burrito and we're

from San Diego. The California burrito, which is

just a carne asada burrito with French fries in it, is

supposedly started by Roberto's, which is the taqueria right by

Del Mar. So it's my son.

My younger son always orders California burrito so we went

with it. Well, the reason why I asked is

there is a taqueria here in Louisville, Bandidos, that has

the California burrito. And that's the thing that I

always order every single time I go.

So what I saw this, Dave, I was like, wait a second, we got a

root for this horse. But I I feel like I've seen that

the Bandido people are Sandy Agans so it makes sense.

Every how that makes sense all right well if we get two months

down the line we end up winning the Kentucky Derby and we have

you on the show we'll all get some California burritos and eat

them on the show here how do you what do you say to that I'm.

Not opposed again for sure, Jared.

Abraman, we appreciate you very much and I the only thing we

ever wish you were out here is is safe trips and so safe trips

for California burrito and everybody else in your barn and

tell Tommy I whatever. Just don't come on.

It's a little much appreciated. Thanks, Eric.

Appreciate you, Aaron. Appreciate him jumping on the

Battaglia winner last week. And I'm with you, by the way,

something you said I think is really true, which is we

overlook that Turfway thing. Yeah, two fills was my pick.

And the Derby, by the way, I looked really smart until the

last 16th. Like really smart, right?

Yeah, I I liked endlessly coming out last year just because of

the track record. He obviously didn't work out on

the dirt, but. Yeah, and everybody forgets the

fact that the great was in that. Release yeah, dude, I think he

runs the previous wins, the Pennsylvania Derby, like these

are serious, I mean serious, serious things coming out of

Turfway. And so and I, and I think look

for a guy like Drury, it's it's it's I don't want to call it

convenience, but I think he's he's running the horse up there

because he he knows he can be competitive in those fields,

right. But he's he's shown it a turf

point, just like Aaron said, right?

Or, excuse me at Churchill. He's he's shown it at Churchill

as well. So I that that horse again,

sleep on him at your own risk for sure.

Yeah. And you know, you're have

developing 3 year olds right now.

We just, we, he mentioned, you know, journalism and

sovereignty. You see them run this weekend

for some of those big names. How many times have we gotten to

the Derby where it's all the first timers end up winning the

race? It's the first time jockey, the

first time trainer, the first time owner.

And so you could definitely see where he's going to be

competitive here. I'd love to see how he stretches

out here in the Jeff Ruby and go from there.

I think he's definitely. Churchill like it's not Yeah,

this is some this far fetched thing.

Yeah, No, I, I'm, I just appreciated you saying that

'cause that's totally right. Yeah.

How you go, bro? Alright, alright, alright, well,

let's keep rolling here on Blood Horse Monday.

There's his face. His name is Frank Ganks.

He joins us here in front of the beautiful bookshelf.

We gotta should we name the book?

Is it just the beautiful? I don't know.

We might have to come up with a big name for that.

I think every week we should have him take one book out of

the bookshelf and just tell us what the title of that book is.

You could do. That you could do that,

definitely. From 1968, I imagine it's

something like that Frank gangster.

This, of course, he's everybody's friend over at Blood

Horse, bloodhorse.com, Ghost, check out all of his great work

over there and Frank a little bit there for this week.

We're not going to be talking Stallion of the Week, we're

going to be talking with Todd Wojcowski from OBS.

Of course. They're presenting our coverage

today here on Blood Horse Monday.

What did you talk about with Todd?

Yeah, you know, we've been talking 3 year olds on the show

as we always do, but the pursuit of next year's 3 year olds is

going to take center stage for a whole lot of people in the

industry beginning this week as they as they prepare for the OBS

March 2 year old sale of two year olds in training.

And that begins this week with the under tax show Wednesday

through Saturday. And that's different than a

yearling sale, A2 year old sales, you actually get them,

watch most of these horses will work and you get a chance to

watch them down in Ocala. So I caught up with Todd on,

he's the director of sales over at OBS caught up with him on

Friday and and talked about the big week ahead.

And then the sale follows right on the heels of that.

Very good. So let's hear from Frank and

Todd here, from OBS. Safe to say that we are two guys

that have gone through life without anyone ever asking us

about our names. Yeah, yeah, nobody's ever asked.

Same here. Todd has joined us today because

obviously the two year old sales season is just around the corner

and I'm sure OBS is quite busy down there, huh Todd?

Yes, we've had horses on the ground since last Friday, so you

know, the most everyone is here shipped in getting their horses

prepared for the under tax show, which starts next Wednesday.

Yeah, less than a week. And of course that under Tax

show is where they March 2 year olds in training sale which goes

March 11th through 13th and it's less than a week to the under

Tax show starts next Wednesday. Right, Wednesday, March 5th to

the 8th. Then we sell the 11th to the

13th. And that'll be 4 days of the

under tax show starting at 8 each day and. 88 Every morning

we will go from 8:00 in the morning till oh, about 2:00 in

the afternoon. Obviously OBS has embraced

technology in so many ways, and one of those ways is they this

they quit. You guys quickly get the the

replays of those workouts up on your site, don't you?

You know the, the one thing that OBS does well as we do 2 year

old sales, well, we've had now 50 years of practice at it and

we, we keep refining it every year looking for ways to get it

better. Yes, certainly technology is

entered into our game into the two year old sales, whether it

be the videos that we that we put up on the website, like you

said they're up, you know rather quickly right after the horse

breezes, whether it's down to the racetrack.

We have a synthetic surface that we find it works well for what

we do. Given that we breeze more horses

over more days than any other sales company in the world.

It gives us an opportunity to provide a level playing field

for the sellers as well as a consistent racetrack for buyers

to judge horses on. And through, you know, through

that process, it's such a such an advantage.

I mean, each sale has its own thing that's going on, Wheeling

sales, yearling sales. But with the two year olds, it's

really an opportunity for potential buyers to see a little

bit of what, what a horse is like physically and, and how

they, how they perform, you know, how they stride out and

how they. Absolutely.

I use the analogy. It's like the NFL scouting

combine and these, this happens to be the 40 yard dash for these

horses. You know, certainly it gives

buyers more metrics to use in which to choose the horses they

buy. You know, you go to a yearling

sale, you see those horses on the end of a Shank, you see them

walking and you get a chance to see how they move.

This is just an extra level of being able to see a horse move.

Certainly time is one metric, but it shouldn't be the only

one. How the horse moves, how the

horse handles the the pressure or the change of environment,

all of those things are clues as to what type of horse that may

be in the future as a racer. And Todd, you and I were talking

the other day because it is it is a challenge for a horse to go

through a sale like this to keep themselves together.

And then the perform on the track.

Sometimes you'll hear people say, oh, there's those horses

that go through the two year old sales that they put all their

effort in into performing well at the sale and the under tax

show. And then you don't have a whole

lot left. But very much in the spirit of

dollars and cents. I like what you you guys did at

OBS. You really looked at the numbers

and tried to see if there's any truth to that and tell us what

you found. Sure.

I I've heard those same comments and, and decided that why don't

we look at the performance data of horses that go through the

sales ring and see if it's borne out.

And quite frankly, it isn't, you know, appealing to Equine Line,

the Jockey Club to gather that data for us, categorizing horses

by the type of the last sale which they went through and

putting them into either A2 year old weanling, yearling or not

through the ring or homebred. We, you know, what it showed was

2 year old sales graduates have a higher percentage of starters

from horses sold. They have a higher average

starts per starter and a higher average earnings per starter.

And I really like to focus on those three because while it's

easy to focus on the big fancy horses and the the fancy graded

winners and stakes winners, you know, this shows as a whole

these horses are showing up at the racetrack.

They're have a higher percentage of starting than the other

categories, and they're also showing that they have a higher

number of starts, average number of starts, and a higher earning

average earnings per starter. It's really the things that a

buyer would look for, and in the state's categories they fare

very well as in those categories as well, don't they?

You know, and it just makes sense.

I mean, we're, we're one step closer to the races here than a

yearly. So like I said before, there's,

you know, an extra layer of metrics that the buyer has at

his fingertips that he doesn't have it any of the other sales

of. Course, yes.

Did the numbers point to anything else for you or I mean,

I think we covered it pretty well, but anything?

Else. Well, I mean.

You can go down the line, the higher percentage of 2 year old

starters, higher percentage of 2 year old winners, you know, they

are able to start early. But I've also ran some other

numbers and I didn't give you that piece, but I also ran it

versus 3 year olds. And because, you know, they may

argue well, they they do it all as 2 year olds and then they

never last. While the three-year old and up

categories held up just as well. That's great.

That's great to hear. Really good stuff.

We're getting prepared for the sale as well.

Our sales editor Olivia Newman will will be down there on the

9th ahead of the sale and three days of the sale March 11th

through 13th. So she's going to do a great job

and we'll have great coverage at bloodhorse.com and BH Daily, our

newsletter. And I was going to your site to

you know, just schedule things out and I noticed the just the

open ladder. Is that the right description on

decoupling that obs? Obs is really being a leader on

on opposing that this? Well, I don't know how anyone

that is involved in horses, let alone the horse racing industry,

could be for the decoupling of racing from the ability to race

tracks, to have card rooms or slot slot machines.

You know, it just doesn't make sense that that type of

legislation benefits 1 entity and hurts many, many people that

are involved in this industry that make their living, Maybe

not directly with a horse, but they raise hay, they, they sell,

feed, they, they transport horses.

You know, the economic impact. I don't have to tell anybody

that's involved in the industry that it's a very resource

intense endeavor, whether it's money or human, the the

resources needed are is significant and that

significance has an impact on every state, not just Florida.

In that regard, I don't see how anybody could before the idea of

of decoupling. So yes, we we are a a strong

opponent of decoupling. How big has it been to see not

just Florida racing entities and breeding entities come together

to oppose this, but even beyond the state?

Well, it's been extremely gratifying to see.

It has been a rallying point for the thoroughbred industry.

The the amount of outpouring of support from, you know, people

in the industry, not just in Florida but around the country

has been strong and vocal. And it it one of the great

positives that we can take away is that it has really created

some unanimity and and getting everybody on the same page,

pulling in the same direction. That's great to hear.

Well, Todd, thanks so much for your time today.

Hey, Frank, Thank you. Look forward to seeing you in

the future. There's Frank's interview with

Todd Wojciechowski there down at the OBS sale.

A bunch of stuff in there Frank that I wanted to get your

reaction to and by the way he said he stole my Thunder.

I but I'd love that he said this something so people don't know I

get I host a a general sports talk radio show five days a week

here in the Louisville market and I try to just weave horse

racing in and out of the show. I try to put it just alongside

the other sports. I love, LOVE, love that he

mentioned the NFL draft because that's absolutely what the sales

are. We're trying to figure out if

the college prospect is going to translate to the next level.

That's all we're trying to figure out and by the way, in

the top ten of the NBA draft every year, 5 bums.

It's how it works right. So like, this is an inexact

science in basketball, in football, whatever.

It's going to be an inexact science in horse racing, except

with a place like Obs. Frank where they've got the

statistics to back it up, You're best off doing it this route.

Is it always going to work? Maybe not, but your best chance

is with a 2 year old sale at a place like OBS.

Well, in our industry you have a lot of opportunities at that

draft is a way of looking at it. You can buy in a lean, lean and

lock down that horse, or you can buy in a year lean and lock down

that horse. But the horses that aren't

locked down or horses that are even bought and then sold again

at 2 year olds, which we call pinhooks in this industry, they

show up at the two year old sales and at those sales you

have the added advantage of actually getting a chance to

watch the horse work. So in that way, it's very much

like the combine, the NFL where they watch these guys do 40

times and vertical jump and three cone drills.

So doesn't go on as long. It's usually just a few seconds.

But you you at least get to see the horse on the track.

And it's not just the time that the horse is working either.

Usually it's the 8th of a mile, sometimes 1/4 mile.

You're also watching, you know, how the horse Revs, prepares,

how he gets going, how he gets in the stride and also how he

strides out. So it's a few moments, but

there's a lot going on and a lot of lot of observations.

And we'll get started Wednesday. Yeah, they're getting going very

soon. That's exactly right.

Sun's going down at Obs and Olivia Newman, of course,

anchoring our coverage for Blood Horse.

Is she the Mel Kiper of Blood Horse?

Is that, are we, are we doing that now?

Is that what we're doing with Olivia?

Is that? I think so, yeah.

We should go ahead and that sail in for us and she'll be down

there and ready to go. So tons of coverage, of course,

at bloodhorse.com. Frank, I also appreciated the

the conversation about decoupling.

And I know it's not on the show sheet and it's not something

that we've really talked about in the show.

We don't always do full blown industry issues on this show and

not yet at least I'm sure we will at some point.

But it is interesting in an era, Frank, where there's a lot of

movement right now, the Kentucky circuit is, is more prominent

than it was 5-10 years ago, those sorts of things.

We, you know, the, the legislation in this state around

historical machines and those things.

It's a great point that you made earlier, which is this has

almost been a touch point for different jurisdictions around

the country. In an era when everybody's

trying to figure out what's going to work for them and, and

what might work in New York is different than what works in, in

LA or something like that. It has been nice to watch a

nationwide and frankly continent wide effort to fight decoupling

in Florida. Yeah.

So I mean, for those that don't know, great racing has largely

been a state to state regulated entity.

And a few, I mean more a decade or so ago, actually in the late

80s and into the 90s, tracks started to realize that, you

know, people also want casino gaming.

But in usually the the tracks had they were the only

recognized forms of gambling in a lot of these states.

So state walls had to be be changed and racing, if they

thought, you know, it was worth doing, they made, they said,

hey, we'll support changes to those rules to allow casino type

gaming, but we need to be included because we're the ones

that are supporting the change that is frankly going to add

competition to to our product. So racing's did a good job job

with that. And in the case of Florida, the

casino type licenses were tied to racing licenses, tied to

highlight racing licenses, dog races, highlight racing,

highlight greyhound racing. Some of those have been have

been decoupled, which means that a track no longer has to have

that greyhound racing or highlight license to have racing

to have the casino. I'm sorry, but Thoroughbred

racing said, hey, we, we were the ones that helped get this

done. So they, they kept that in

place. So if you want, if you want, and

really it's down to one track at this point.

Gulfstream, they're the ones that are backing a decoupling,

which would allow them to have the casino and not have racing.

Obviously having racing in South Florida is hugely important.

So the industry is opposed to that largely.

Other than in Gulfstream Park, which clearly is speaking up on

the casino side of its interests.

Tampa Bay hasn't really asked for it.

Tampa's in a little bit different situation anyway.

They just have a card room which is a lot significantly smaller

on on the revenue side and you know, basically slot machines

that are running almost constantly, you know, so, but

beyond that, Tampa is also opposed to the decoupling

overalls. Yep, that's it.

It's a an important endpoint there on the the coupling

conversation. But yeah, just the OBS sale.

Yeah, give everybody the dates again and check out

oliviascoverage@bloodhorks.com. Yeah, the, the sale gets started

March 11th and it'll go 3 days and the breeze up show which you

can watch the videos at, at OBS Sales and I believe Blood Horse.

We'll I'll have to see if we're actually for sure OBS Sales.

You can go on there and, and see what you think of how the horses

are working. And that starts Wednesday and

runs through Saturday. I, I encourage anyone who's

listening, who hasn't watched those works before to watch

them. They're fascinating, frankly,

because they're just little sprints.

But like Frank said, there's the lead up to the, when they start

the actual clocking of those. There's the, the gallop out

essentially after, you know, the horses hit that furlong or

whatever it might be. And it is, it's worth watching,

especially, you know, like Frank said, doing the, you know, the

40 yard dash or doing the, the, you know, the, the, the standing

jump or whatever it is at the combine.

It's a lot like that, but frankly it looks a lot more like

what the horse is going to be doing than just running in a

straight line on a football field, which almost never

happens. Yeah, yeah.

So go check it out. Go ahead.

We've mentioned bloodhorse.com and BH daily.

Of course, we also have our traditional platform, our most

traditional, the magazine and the March issue just came out.

I'm sure it's arriving at many households this week if it

hasn't arrived yet and it's a jam packed issue.

Lenny Schulman does a nice feature on Ned Toffee.

It was named Kentucky Farm Manager of the year.

That's over at Spendthrift where he's been farm manager for 20

years. And of course a lot of good

things going on there with multiple leading siren to

mischief and beyond. I took some time to document

some of the changes, changes that Heises helped put in place

on on the safety side and how they are using increased data

points and data collection to make the sport even safer.

I subtracts in 2024 enjoyed the safest year on in U.S. history

in in the 15 years of it that we've been following equine

fatalities during races, the I subtracts have cut that number

in half, more than in half, Yeah.

So it's really impressive work that's occurred.

And that that was occurring before Heise even came on board

and Heise's taking it to another level.

They've really run with that. And nothing but good can come

from improved safety. I think everyone agrees on that

for sure. And then the always important

MarketWatch Freshman Sires preview.

So for those looking even beyond the two year olds and really,

really into the future, find that perfect sire for for the

mayor you might have. Man, just great stuff,

bloodhorse.com. Go check out all the great

stuff, dollars and cents and styling watches, all the sales

coverage down at OBS with our own personal Mel Kiper.

So get down there and check out bloodhorse.com and of course,

our friend Olivia Newman on all of that coverage as well.

Thanks to Todd for joining us. We're down there at OPS as well.

And just a reminder from our friends at OBS Man Grade 1,

those Grade 1 producers and those legendary sires all at the

OBS March Sale for 2 year olds and training success is found

across the board. 2024 alone, graduates of the March Sale

accounted for 62 stakes victories and 12 entrance in the

Breeders Cup, the breeding shed. The March sale banner continues

to reign with graduate and world's leading sire into

mischief that Frank just mentioned for precocious stars

to enduring champions. OBS is the two year old source

to the world. Come find your future star at

the OBS March sale March 11th through 13.

Sean Collins lawyer Beau final segment here on a blood horse

Monday March 3rd edition of the show looking forward now Tampa

Bay Derby this coming weekend and odd prep.

Frankly, I don't, you know, and I'm not just because hit and

miss on who wins it. It once in a while you get a

King Guillermo or something making this kind of stuff kind

of jumps up. It's still a 50 point prep.

It's close enough, I guess, that you could skip and say, hey,

we're just going to train for seven weeks and try to figure

out the Derby. A couple interesting runners in

here. Yeah.

And one make it his debut. Yeah.

Well, you know, this is that race that you never know what

you're going to get from the winner.

Is it going to be somebody that sits out like domestic product

last year? Waits until the Kentucky Derby?

Is it going to be somebody who comes back in a race like the

Bluegrass? That's another example.

Domestic product goes back, wins a Grade 1 / 1 turn.

Yeah, right. I mean, so you never quite know

what you're getting out of the. Yeah.

And the interesting thing I think about this race is

typically I feel like the trainer who does that the most,

where if he wins this race, he kind of sits out until then,

would be Chad Brown. But Chad Brown's bringing back

Chancellor Mcpatrick, I can't. Would you see him doing just one

race leading into the Kentucky? His his dilemma is going to be

because he's starting at March 7th or whatever it's going to be

here. It really does cut down the

amount of time between races. Now the good news is March is a

full month of days. I guess you could run back on

April 5th and be OK, whether that's in, you know, the Wood or

in the San Anita Derby or here at the Bluegrass or in the

Florida Derby. Would not have a month till the

Derby. He has and then a month off,

right? So you could get those three

starts in. It's just later than starting

this last weekend, right? And I'm sure that's what they

were thinking with sovereignty, for example, was like and

journalism, just get him back on the track.

Now. We'll figure it out at the big

prep if we need to. Both of those horses happen to

win. What chancer you like his

chances? I like his chances.

I feel like sometimes though, at Tampa, you don't always see

where the closers, at least in some of these big races, where

the closers really kind of have that much of a presence in the

race. You saw that with the Sam Davis,

the Sam as we're calling it. You saw that last time where it

was the two horses that were up on the lead, Owen Almighty and

John Hancock just kind of battled it out the entire time.

We will probably see Owen Almighty back in this race as

well off that narrow defeat. But so I'm interested to see,

you know, he's a deep closer. I would have liked in the

juvenile. I know Del Mar's track can be,

you know, a little funky for the closer sometimes and pace held

in that race, but I would have liked to see him progress a

little bit more in the stretch in the juvenile.

So I don't really I was a big fan of him.

I was at his maiden breaking victory at Saratoga last year.

It really impressed me. We talked a couple weeks ago

about how that when you see a horse winning person, we need to

come up with a name for what that Angel is called.

But he ran really well in his next two races.

And then I was left questioning after the Breeders Cup juvenile.

So I think this is an important race to see where he is.

I don't think he needs to win this race necessarily.

First off, the layoff. But I just need to see more of

that closing kick, more of that sustained run as a they're

coming down the stretch. We're seeing his Aqua base speed

figure get better at each start as well.

So this was a horse that was developing, broke his maiden

late July wins, back-to-back stakes in September and October

at Saratoga and at Aqueduct, respectively.

Of course, they try the Breeders Cup Juvenile, which they should.

Didn't work that day yes, interesting to see him back.

And frankly, you, you asked a question earlier in the show.

Is this how talented is this 3 year old class?

If he shows up on Saturday, goodness gracious, it's just

going to add another fold to this.

And in a, in a class that already feels spread out and

deep. It really does in every, every

locale. We just talked about a 17 to one

horse in the Gotham that did nothing wrong in his prep.

I mean this is how deep we're talking about this 3 old field

and chancellor certainly would add that Owen almighty expected

back here as well. ADQ win 2 back in the Oh gosh,

what is. That Pasco, I think that's.

The Pasco. OK, yes, I had Pasco in my head.

You know what I putted on? Shame on me.

I had the right answer in my head and I went to the wrong

place. Owen Almighty gets to come back,

obviously runs second last out in the Sam.

What do we expect from him on? Saturday, well, he's a horse

that always shows up no matter what.

So I imagine he's going to be up there pressing the pace.

I know there's a lot of people who question his his distance as

we're going forward, but I think the mile on the 16th this

weekend, he's obviously he handled that last time in the

Sam Davis. I think we he'll be fine with

that and it's just a matter of we don't have entries until

Wednesday. So we don't know exactly who's

going to be in this race. That's just a matter of who's

going to be up there with him. But if you are hesitant on a

horse like Chancellor Mcpatrick coming from the Clouds, Owen

Almighty is going to be the one who's right up in there.

You know Brian Lynch is going to have him ready for this race.

He's a horse that shows up every single time he runs.

Owen Almighty, of course, maiden breaker at Churchill now, so a

chance to get back for that spot in the Derby and of course won

the Elms Park Juvenile over the summer between a couple after

and then of course came back this year.

DQ and then a second place finish so far this year of those

two. If you're looking at it long

term, For me, it's Chancer that I'm watching more.

I think eventually Owen Almighty will end up, and I didn't ask

you this earlier. And I think I'll be honest, I

think it might happen with Barnes.

Certainly it'll happen with the other Bafferts that were in the

San Felipe this weekend. I think the Pat Day Mile.

OK, yeah, here's what I do every year.

I need you to know this about me.

If we're going to do this show for a while, I get more excited

about the Pat Day Mile field than I do about the Derby field,

and I don't know why. I love that second tier horse.

And then, by the way, Cesar Gray makes me feel really smart two

weeks later. Right.

The interesting thing about the Pat de Mayo is it's all the

horses who, you know, you've been watching in these prep

races and haven't been winning because maybe the distances have

been getting too long and it's like now they're in a now

they're in a race where it's them.

And so which one of them is it going to fit the best?

You've been watching them, you know, not to be mean, but you've

been watching them lose for a couple months and so now who's

going to have the who's going to have the chance to come out and

win? Now that the races, now that

you've kind of gotten off the Derby trail and now you're kind

of starting to point towards where that horse is going to end

up. I could definitely see Owen

Almighty being a big factor in a race like that.

We talked to Romo quit on the show.

Do you think any less of Whitmore because he finished

last of the Derby? I don't, no.

He went on to his career. He's totally fine.

I that I want, you know, I just want to do a clue.

We're not putting anybody down. Yeah.

It's just you're trying to figure out what kind of

three-year old you got and frankly, what kind of four old

you might have that sort of thing and and I don't know,

Mighty Bite end up on the turf. We're talking Bryan Lynch.

I'm a big believer in, you know, they're only three once.

If you have a good horse, take your shot at the Derby, take

your shot at the Derby trail and you know, if it doesn't work

out, then you reroute in May and you start finding something

else. And who knows?

Owen Almighty could surprise us and maybe as the distances go

longer, he's going to, you know, kind of, you know, progress with

that. But we'll have to see what

happens this weekend. I think this is a good stepping

stone that will be a good decision maker for you.

You know, if he runs well in this race, but he finishes

third, do you come back in a prep or do you start rerouting

to the Pat Mile at that point, the Pat de Mile?

So, you know, I think this is going to be an important race

for him. I think this is a very important

race for Chancellor Mcpatrick. We've been talking every episode

about the importance of that first start as a three-year old.

So it'll be interesting to see him.

And then also, you know, I've seen on and a couple of the

potential entries were Hill Rd. as well, the horse that ran

third in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, which is interesting

because I talked to boy that. I mean, not only did the the top

2IN that race make for a nice exact point, did he help out of

the try? Huh.

Yeah. He did, but you know he.

And I had it, but yes. You know, I talked about not

liking Chancellor Mcpatrick's close in the race.

Hill Rd. was the only one who made-up any ground.

And it's interesting because I talked to he he's he was coming

over from Europe at that point. That was his first start in the

US. He's now switched trainers to

Chad Brown to stay here in the US, US obviously, he ran well

enough on dirt to wear in that race where they want to keep him

here. And when I talked to Chad a

month ago, he said he was behind Derby because they kind of had

to pause on him after the Breeders Cup.

So the fact that he is now popping up, if he ends up

running on Saturday, the fact that he's popping up, that

signals to me that from a month ago being behind to make the

Derby but maybe not the Triple Crown, to now being in a

Kentucky Derby prep race, he must be doing very well.

Yeah. And you know, with Chancellor,

for Chancellor Mcpatrick, the fact that all of the works are

at pace in that he's got the horse S he doesn't want the

interruptions of a New York, He's keeping the horse in

Florida. You can watch the progressive

works where he goes from three furlongs kind of easy, gets into

4 furlong workouts a little easier and they get a little

tighter every time he's working. So obviously the hope is that

he's going to fire this Saturday.

We also get to have something very, very cool on Saturday,

which is the return of Thorpino Anna.

And we don't have to pretend that this isn't awesome, more

exciting or whatever else it is. It just is.

And and at a time when we're all celebrating how good this older

dirt male two turn. We didn't talk about mind frame

today, by the way, came back awesome.

You know, all this kind of stuff, The older dirt male, the

two turn thing. We've been so spoiled by the

Phillies and mares the last couple years just over, over and

over and over again. It's just been spectacular.

We get Thorpedo Anna back this year.

She draws the rail for the Azarian Oakland Park.

I just what a gift that we just get this horse.

I mean, I, I think there's a chance we got it for two more.

Years, yeah. And I mean, in recent years, how

often are you seeing the horse of the year come back the next

year? When's the last time we actually

had a legitimate shot for somebody to go back-to-back and

horse? Idiomatic.

I mean literally, that that's the one.

But on the male side, almost never but the horse of the year.

Yeah, to get a horse of the year back for a follow up season, I'm

really excited about this one, you know, and she's got some

good competition in here. Remember she this is only going

to be her second start against older Phillies and mares.

And, you know, the the Breeders Cup Distaff, you know, some of

the top horses kind of got taken out of it leading up to the race

with scratches and it, you know, small little injury things that

popped up, you know, idiomatic wasn't there.

We had that really impressive horse from Japan that had to

scratch out of the race the day before.

So you know, we see we saw her take care of olders in the

Breeders Cup, but now she's going to start to meet some of

these kind of hard trying Phillies and mares that have

been in this division. A horse like free, like a girl

who has a 19 time stakes winner. We're still looking for that

great at stakes, but hey, that's a high quality horse and so

you're going to see her face off against her this weekend.

You have wild that Hillary who came out and won the Biocoa in a

really close finish last time and is now kind of looking like

one of those horses that's on the upswing.

You saw with Rachel Alexandra when she came out of that

three-year old season, that 4 year old season was that's not

as impressive. So I'm expecting big things from

Torpedo Anna, but you know, this is going to be really exciting.

Kind of see her start taking on some of these older Phillies and

mares that we've kind of seen against each other now, kind of

throwing this new shooter in there, Torpedo Anna, the horse

of the year in there. That's a pretty good news

shooter to have and. We saw, you know, we saw the

peak navigator rattle and roll. We've seen him navigate older

horses as well, certainly through Louisiana, different

places. I just don't doubt him at all

with with her and just, you know, you've been there too.

Just being, she's so different as a personality.

She's just always ready. She's always ready.

And it's it's so different being around her.

So it's just exciting to get her back.

And I mean, those of us who love this sport love horses.

Like it's just such an honest, but again, we're just so spoiled

with the Phillies and mirrors, man.

It's just it's, it's been spectacular.

Now my question to you, if she comes back and she runs the way

we all expect her to run on Saturday, obviously I think next

start start would be the Apple Blossom if you're going to Oak

Lawn route. But by the end of the year, if

she comes back in these two races, the way we expect her to,

the way she was last year, by the end of the year, has she

started more races against Phillies and Mirrors or against

the boys because, you know, they're willing to take the

shot? They're willing to take the

shot. I think that was a three-year

old thing. You think?

I think that was a three-year old thing.

I think you try the traverse because it's the traverse.

Yeah. Right.

They didn't try the Pennsylvania Derby, they went to the

cotillion, right? I, I think it was a three-year

old thing. And by the way, there's nothing

wrong with winning the Apple blossom for 1.2 or whatever it

is nothing wrong with that. And so I I think with them, they

know if she runs against Phillies and Mares, she's going

to win over half the time. They just know that.

Probably more than that. Right over half and horse

racing, by the way, an absurd number of course, right.

And so just I think they know what they have.

I think they know they can go get 6 and $700,000 checks over

and over with her and they're just.

Going to do that the man. Would it be nice to throw

Breeder Step Classic? Put her in the Whitney.

Put. Her, yeah, Met Mile, that would

be. She would.

Crush in the Met mile? Yeah, she'd be great.

Mile of the 16th. Oh my.

God. Well, Kenny Mcpeak, if you're

watching this, here's my pitch to go back to the 1930s and 40s,

where the top Philly mare was always running against the boys

every start. We will see how that goes, but

we'll wrap the show here on another edition of Blood Horse

Monday. I want to thank our friends at

the OBS sale starts on March 11th.

Make sure you are down there for that.

And of course, check out the OBS website for all the great

workouts for all of the the two year olds as well for Charlotte

College, my name's Lou Aruba. We'll see you next week on a

March 10th edition of Blood Horse Monday.

We hope you're here. Have a great rest of the week,

everybody. The Blood Horse is dedicated to

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