Breeder’s Cup Review

All right, welcome in. It is a a micless edition of the

horse racing Happy hour. Louie or Beau hanging out with

you. Producer Zach alongside.

You can find a mad Zach Zayner on tune, or you can find me at

Radio Louie. I am in fact not a doctor.

Very good to be with you this evening.

I was just looking at the Twitter feed for one.

Steve Kornacki is more of the a friend of the show, Steve

Kornacki, I should say as more and more of the political polls

start to hit and different things ahead of next year.

How about that. Obviously had our elections here

locally in the state of Kentucky yesterday.

So it's been a fun fun day kind of chatting with people and

figuring out how people are doing 2 days ago I guess.

Gosh wow, where did the time go? My in laws get to town, Zach and

I forget what day it is. What happens to many of us, I

imagine. I was going to say on a personal

note, how many credits are you away from being a doctor?

All right. So obviously we're going to have

a pretty fun show here in that we're just going to tell stories

and there's two races at Churchill I'm going to look at

and then we're going to call it a show.

I am part of the promotion tomorrow if you are able to get

involved. So tomorrow will be the 10th

veteran's day. We're going to be getting into

it at Horseshoe Indianapolis. I've been really blessed this my

4th year doing this, putting together a pick five ticket.

It's third or fourth year. We hit it last year, a couple of

us, me, Ellis Starr, I think Sarge hit one last year.

Dan Torchman's going to be up there.

I think Matt Carruthers has put a ticket together, all of us

trying to raise money for homeless veterans in the

Indianapolis area. And so if you are able to give

money, that'll be really easy to find on all of their social

media. Eric Hallstrom, the VP of Racing

up there, puts us on very near and dear to his heart and I

always look for that e-mail at some point in October.

Got it this year again, which is fantastic.

So yeah, really, really honored. Frankly, they keep coming back

to me and I'm hoping part of the reason is 'cause I keep hitting

the bet. So that's the money to give to

homeless bets. And so hopefully that's part of

it. But hey, a really, really good

'cause. And if you're a veteran, you

listen to the show, man. You're welcome to Hit us Horse

Racing happyhour@gmail.com. I'll give you a shout out next

week if you wanted to do it that way again at horse Happy Hour on

Twitter for our show. But Zach, we have plenty to talk

about. We go out to Los Angeles, we go

to Breeders' Cup and I I think we did some stuff really right.

And then there's a couple things that I think we didn't do right.

And then I have comments about Santa Anita that will get me in

a lot of trouble. But luckily we're going to Del

Mar the next two years and I don't have to worry about that.

But look, I think a couple of the things we did really right.

So obviously it was just, it was you, me, it was, it was Big Mike

and then our guy Kevin Kilroy came out with us and.

He treated so, was there too. And and biggest of course you're

right and so just but staying in the house with the four guys

less than 75 years old and then it's got a hotel room with his

wife as he should and it's so I think one of the things we did

right first was the accommodations.

I think we did the right thing by staying in a neighborhood.

You know being around you know the I thought it was really

quiet where we were, which is sort of stunning and then like

real easy jawn up and down to to Santa Anita.

We found great little restaurants.

Was it Burger Box? Was that the?

Name No Burger Basket Basket. That's right.

If you ever find the burger basket and you are out near

Pasadena in in Temple City, it is amazing.

It is such good food, super nice.

People had a great double cheeseburger there.

The the the fries there were onion rings.

I I tend to two things that I judge those places on are the

the the fried sides and the burgers and that's it.

That's all I care about. Even though I had AI think I had

a root beer just to have one. You did.

You had a root beer? Yeah, whatever that is.

You know, not drinking. Louie likes root beer,

apparently. And so, yeah, no, it's it was

very good as well. So that worked out.

And then we went to a place called Chef's Coffee House.

We did it for breakfast. And I thought man, that was just

one of the very best decisions we made as well because it just

allowed us to be in the neighborhood like I said and

just have a normal diner experience.

I think our waitress called us Hon, you know, more than one

nice and everyone working was really nice which is you know

because when you you know and Zach especially, you know where

I live in the country in in Kentucky or in you know this non

ocean touching part of the Deep South or the mid South or

wherever the hell I live, whatever people want to.

Call it you even have the Saint Louis Seaway.

Come on. Yeah, we got rivers that go to

the ocean, but that's about it. It's so, no, it's its own.

It's its own thing. And you hear about the coastal,

the people aren't nice. They're too busy.

It's too fast. It's this, this and this.

Number one, even when we were in traffic, I didn't think it was

that bad driving in Lai thought people were actually like fairly

courteous and like, let us get over and I mean those kinds of

things. And I thought that wasn't going

to happen. And then the other part was just

once we got in the neighborhood, everybody was really nice.

We went to a little Japanese joint as soon as we landed right

and and rented the car and got there and we didn't really know

what we were doing, but they were super nice.

And then we end up at these other places that we're in

grocery store, all this kind of stuff and I.

Want to be clear that Mike thought that was a American

steakhouse because it was called the Barn.

But he didn't click through to the website, which made it

obvious that that was not an American steakhouse.

They they did not expect people that look like us to walk in and

all the other folks in there not, not looking like us.

Yeah, No. It was like K Pop and and

Sapporo and Sake and it was like the local joint.

It was the place that people of the Korean and Japanese

persuasion go to and totally hang out spot.

That's exactly right. And so I did have some really

delicious spicy noodles. Those were.

Great. Oh my gosh, killers.

Mike got a little rice dish that was really great.

You ended up with what, Edamame and oh man, we have something.

Anyways, food was really good. That worked out well as well.

So just this just this really positive experience and and

look, I know when you're in big cities like that, you can just

go to one neighborhood and have an experience in that one

neighborhood. Well, that's what we did.

We went to Temple City. We were in, you know, the

Pasadena area like Zach mentioned, We were in that

Arcadia area. We had a terrific time.

People were great. I thought everything was really

easy frankly, as far as you know, I mean other than just not

knowing at all where I was going and having to get directions

because you can't hold a cell phone in a car in California,

you know that that part was fine.

And so no, it was good to get out there and and actually see

it now for Santa Anita itself. Zach, I'm going to let you go

first because you are you are a guy who you have a an advantage

and a disadvantage. So you get to go to a lot of

cool races, right, because of the show and these, you know,

the, the, the places that we get, you know, credentialed to

and invited to whatever. But you don't get to really do

the down days at the track. Like like, I can go tomorrow

after the show's over and hit the first race at Churchill at

1:00. And if there's, you know,

there's a couple 100 people there and just be there at the

track and whatever, when you go to the track, there's a billion

people there every time, right? It's, it's Breeders' Cup, it's

Derby, it's the Indiana Derby. If it's even a small event,

right? There's thousands of people at

the Indiana Derby. What were what were you

expecting of Santa Anita and what was different?

And was it better, worse, the same?

How did it come out for you? So if someone who has been to a

few race tracks needed a like a a point of of context, Santa

Anita is what Pimlico should be. Yeah, it's exactly what it

should be. It is.

It is the 1940s Orange County Fairgrounds like.

And it's well taken care of. It's very well taken care of.

Like the deco art is very cool and that kind of stuff, but

like, it's got that stuff which Piblical also has on the walls,

right? I mean.

Like there's little sculptures of different things in Biblical

as well. Keep going.

I I was. I I think you know, I you you

forget. When you spend as much time as I

do in the center of the United States and especially in

Kentucky and Indiana, that like other places, horse racing is a

forced thing, right? It's like, it's like, oh man,

California horse racing. But the reality is that, like

when we were at Keeneland, Oh my gosh, it you felt the energy in

the air at Santa Anita, it was like a nice day out at the

races. It was like.

Like the movie version of it. Not like the real like excited

people going crazy screaming. I mean when when I'm a little of

that, that's true. Actually, yes.

When I'm in Kentucky, I don't think that's part Breeders' Cup

crowd or or California or whatever, but yeah.

I get no, man, We were at Keeneland.

It was, it was loud. Yeah, right.

Yeah. And I mean.

You know, people might say like, oh man, well, last year, flight

line and blah, blah, no, no, flight line was one race.

I'm talking the 10 races before that where people are, oh people

booing bafford and getting, yes, doing different stuff last year.

I I totally agree. With you, it was deafening.

When when we went inside to to buy our tickets, the cheering

was deafening. At Keeneland in California, it

was a lot more reserved. Was there cheering?

Sure, that was there like. Big screams like, Oh my gosh, Oh

my gosh, when things happened. Yeah.

And so I think it's, you know, it's one of those things that's

like, like it's a lot more reserved.

It's a lot more chill. And I am not sure that I like

that. I like the, like, rushing over,

excited, explosive day of horse racing where like everyone is

just electrified. OK.

All right. Fair enough.

A couple of things. Let's get these out of the way

because I, you know, if we're going to make a crab sandwich,

we're going to make an open faced crab sandwich, We're going

to start with the crab and the good part's going to be

underneath. OK.

So the first thing is there are parts of Pimlico, excuse me, I

mean Santa Anita that that are very and I'm kidding of course

because it's way better maintained.

But it had the feel of like Zach said sort of a preserved time

capsule, right. And so if you grew up going to

to races there and look frankly there are many parts of

Churchill Downs that are very old and very UN updated, right,

for sure. And especially the in the

original paddock area, in that that Spires area, a lot of that

stuff's really old man and they and some of it isn't going to be

easily changed. And so don't expect that to

happen. There is no moving the Belmont

to Saratoga option for the Kentucky Derby, right, Like

there are some things about which they cannot change, right.

The second part is, is this. So with with Santa Anita, there

are parts for especially from where we were in Media Rd. down

by Clockers Corner. If you've been to Santa Anita,

you know exactly where Clockers Corner is.

I'll get to Clockers Corner in a minute.

But if you look up at the grandstand from there, it's that

the paint's falling off the walls and it's it's doing that

kind of stuff. And it's interesting to me in

horse racing, the conversation that always seems to happen is

if you if your track is nice, you don't care about racing, but

if it's not nice enough, you don't care about the fans.

So there's some kind of middle that horse racing people want

that. I don't know if it exists, but

if it does, it's Santa Anita. Santa Anita's right in the

middle. It's a very good place to watch

a race, lots of different good vantage points to watch races.

At Santa Anita, it's got a little bit of a thing that if

you're down by clocker's corner, the track is is essentially

right at your at your level. So you're not way above it,

you're not, you know there's none of that.

So it's a lot like the 100 level at either Keeneland, you know

that, that grand, you know the the general admission area in

the front of Keeneland or at Churchill or frankly up in

Indianapolis or at at Pimlico frankly where we sit on the

picnic table, right. It's fairgrounds food like at

Pimlico, right? And a lot of it is that kind of

food too, right? But anyways, if if that were

going on a Churchill, I think people would be making fun of

it. Like oh, did they miss a spot

painting or did they do this? And I think it's Santa Anita is

just kind of accepted, which it should be by the way.

That's what it should look like. It's an old building.

You can't paint every part of it every year.

It's just part of the deal. It's horse racing the.

And things are all outside, like it's in the weather all the

time. And the other part of it is I, I

thought of Santa Anita, sort of how I think about Big 10

football stadiums in that it's about that age, all of the Big

10 football stadiums in the Midwest, not the California ones

or the Washington or Oregon ones, but rather, you know, in

the Midwest. So it reminded me of going to

games in East Lansing or in Evanston or Madison or something

like that or Bloomington, whatever, where the stadium's

OK, it's fine, but it's there just to hold people and have a

football game in the middle of it.

And and and sanity is certainly nicer than that.

But it had some of the feel of a Saturday at a Big 10 football

game, which I thought was interesting.

The other part was, and I no one else in the media is going to do

this, so I'm just going to do it.

There was no water for media until like 7 o'clock 6:00 on

Friday, is that right? When did they drag that stuff?

It was after lunch for sure. So there.

Was. Well, we didn't realize it,

though. There was a single Was that

always in that room? Yes, yes, I confirmed that it

was always in that room in that corner, but it was so hidden

that the servers. Did not know where it was

because a bunch of us were standing there getting food and

we were like, is there water? And she's like, the bar has

water and we're like for purchase.

And she's like, yes, $6 of water.

I can imagine the Twitter firestorm if if Churchill Downs.

Charged. Even if Kingland Keeneland did

that right? Like, for sure.

And I'm not playing favorites here at all.

I just. Know and if if that were going

on if there were one water thing in the whole building that way I

mean they'd be getting murdered. I mean and by by the way

rightfully so but nobody did right.

There's, there's, there's there's an interesting level of

expectation in different places when you travel and and and that

just kind of stands out as one of them you know and.

And so, but also, it was hot, right?

It wasn't like degrees on. Friday, yes.

So it wasn't like, it was like. 50 degrees and we're all like,

oh, I need water, 'cause I'm in the media.

It was like, Oh my gosh, I'm sweating through my suit.

Can I please have a glass of water?

I've been in cold areas for a long time, but I need, I need

water. Yeah.

So, so yeah, I I think that's part of it.

But man, I I just, I just had a great time.

And I gotta say one of the coolest spots I've ever been to

in racing, and I mean ever, is Clocker's Corner.

That was a cool spot, man. Culture down there is awesome.

The people who sit there are are obviously they know one another

and there's a there's a there's a rapport and and so the winners

all walk past that part. You get back to the barn past

there we were down there from media row and what they call the

gap at the top of the turn there and and the runners would walk

by and and everyone would would applaud There was this real nice

camaraderie out of Clockers corner and and everyone would

wave and a lot of times they would stop the horse so that

people could take pictures that kind of stuff.

That's a cool thing to have built into your horse culture.

So I hope you know and and like they had coffee ready for us in

the morning, there were little you know, little.

Little things to eat and stuff like burritos and stuff like

that. Yeah, ready to go.

And they were like, look, it's till this hour and then it

stops. But it was there and it was

ready to go and that was that was really nice.

People were super nice on the end there.

And I just the culture whatever they've done to cultivate that

at the end including during the races is really special.

And I and I hope they keep that going because Clocker's Corner

was was awesome. The people could not have been

nicer like I said and and just made it really easy to have BD

row at the end there as well and.

The winner's circle being dead center like that where you

everyone can see it because it's on the grandstand side.

I mean, I get it, the the Churchill Downs one is

beautiful, it's glorious. But being able to stand there

and watch those horses move into the winner's circle and take

pictures was awesome. Yeah, it was right there.

You're right. It reminds me of the the the

normal one at Churchill. But the the normal one at

Churchill is surrounded by stuff that you can't get to at Santa

Anita. You can get right too like you

just mentioned which is much better.

And so that's what was great. Now Breeders' Cup.

So Jim and and the and the folks over there that help us out.

Whoever. I forget his name now that kept

checking on us Zach. To make sure we had what we

needed and and you know what else ever else.

He was awesome. And so the team out there made

sure we had everything. We had Internet, we had, you

know, blah, blah, all kinds of stuff.

And frankly, on a hot day to have the have the tent and the

shade and that kind of stuff was very helpful.

And so it's very cool. But here's here's what Santa

Anita is. It is a preserved relic with

the, if not the best, one of the very best drop backdrops in

sports. It just is.

And that's why, by the way, we love all the pictures of and all

the shots of of the of the Rose Bowl and those kinds of things,

because that's what Santa Anita is.

It's the Rose Bowl of horse racing.

And I hope that they. And now that now that we've

zillowed some of the houses around there, Zach, I am

terrified for the longevity of that place because that land is

worth just gods of money. And so hopefully Clockers Corner

doesn't clear out and they're able to keep keep that place

going because it was it was beautiful, man.

I mean it's different and like I said, we had such a great.

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.

There you go. I mean, that's a perfect affair

if people like. That is I just there's no view

that's just that's just general admission like people that just

walk in and walk around there that's essentially just where we

hung out and so that was our kind of our spot.

You can see the turn there on the left side of that photo that

Zach just put up. But you know it it just that's

where we set up and and again just getting to meet people and

see those things and and the Clockers corner by the way in

this picture is just to the left as you look at the track it's

it's to the left there and no just I mean just a great

experience and then we and then on top of it Zach we get Friday

and that juvenile day did what juvenile days do and it was good

luck picking a winner. We had one try in the, Gosh, we

left Tamara out. That's right.

And we we hit the try in that race.

But otherwise on Friday, good luck.

And we were not the only ones. And then you get to Saturday and

the best horses win. And on Breeders' Cup Saturday,

that never makes me angry when we go to see the best horses and

the very best beat out the other best, right.

And so that was, you know, to get to see an Augustro down win

a race in person, to see elite power go back-to-back in person.

Good night, Olive. back-to-back in person, those kinds of

things. Getting to see that again.

Elite, elite power. Good night, Olive.

Who am I forgetting here? I'm forgetting someone, but, you

know, just watching really. Really.

Good. Cody's wish.

Cody's wish, thank you, was the third one.

And you know just having and then you know it was

interesting. I went back and looked at it.

So handle was down a little bit from last year and just on the

classic by the way, the handle was down over $1,000,000.

So the individual race for the Classic this year took in about

a million and a half dollars less than it did last year.

So that's going to hurt your handle for sure.

So it shows that the Classic still matters for that day.

People still love that 10 furlong, that mile and a quarter

dirt race. Two turns do the damn thing, you

know, whether it's at Churchill or Santa Anita or, you know,

Belmont or Delmar or Keeneland or wherever you know the

Breeders Cup's going to be, man, people still love that race,

right? I'm interested, you know, now

because I, I think, you know, going to San Diego back-to-back

years, it's clear they're having some kind of conflict with

Churchill. Keeneland's doing the renovation

to make some of those things permanent down there.

So I'm I'm wondering if they think they're going to be one of

the landing spots of the Breeders Cup long term?

But at some point we got to go back to the East Coast.

We just do it with the Breeders Cup in horse racing and I say we

in the Royal we of horse racing we got to go back to Belmont or

Gulf Stream or I don't know could Colonial make it work.

I know Laurel's got a mile shoot you know are are these places

that could hold a Breeders' Cup. Let's figure it out so.

I would love to see Laurel pick that up.

Yeah, it'd be fun. I think the Maryland people

would would do it up. They would do it up.

Yes, that's not even a question. And the other part is you know

like a lot of people have been mentioning Lone Star was there

before. Great.

Figure it out. I'll, I'll go to Texas.

Let's go. Let's figure it out and and

those kinds of things. So no, just just wanted to give

it. You know the the, the fair do I.

Let me speak for Mike real quick.

He didn't make any real estate deals while we were out there.

So he didn't enjoy it. Notice I went got the dark, it

gets dark early so we went dark beer tonight and dark cigar.

How about that a little? Bit That's awesome.

Yeah, I mean the thing for me. About the whole Santa Anita

experience is that there's something about being in a big

city, about being nestled like in there.

It's. It's even more different than

like Pimlico and and and a lot more similar to to.

Oh my gosh. To Belmont, right where Belmont

is in the city, right? This is in the city.

Like, you could go three blocks away.

Yes. Yes.

You, you pass a bunch of houses, a bunch of high schools, and

then you're at the track. Right?

Yeah, Right. Yeah.

And and listen, I I do want to say something that I think is

out of control smart, which is they built a mall next to the

racetrack right next to. It and.

The only thing that I struggled with, and I get why they did it,

is that they don't want people parking in the mall parking lot

and then walking over to the horse racing track.

But they put vice versa between the track and the mall.

If they didn't have that fence, the amount of business they

would have gotten from Breeders' Cup, I wonder if it's always

there or if it's just there for breeders.

Cup maybe. Yeah, right.

Like maybe hey let's fence this off Or you know stop people from

going back and forth because there's going to be we're we're

not going to talk about the attendance.

We don't we don't have to do that.

I already I ran. It well, I mean there were,

there were 43,000 people on Friday, yeah.

And and I have one kid. Some of those people had one or

two fake IDs on top of their regular ID 'cause there was no,

I think it was I actually no 43. Thousand they did ticket Tate no

based on the number of AD WS on your cell phone.

So if you have PVG and Twin Spires and AM Wager your three

people that showed up to to play.

So you forgot first. Come on, strong excuse.

Yeah, yeah. That's all they advertise now,

Everywhere. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, that's obviously, you

know, you got the FanDuel over here, you got the the, the DK

horse over here. Like if you came in with five of

those, you were five people. That's what the attendance

meant. I will tell you that like, I've

seen 43,000 people at Churchill. On a a Wednesday, right?

Like there was maybe 52,000 people on. 30 this year?

Yep. There was maybe 30,000 people

there. Yeah, it.

Was maybe 30,000 that, that's a generous 30,000.

Yeah, I agree. So that, you know and and look

the only thing I'll say about that is we are in a time in

horse racing when the general public tolerance of it is very

low. Yeah.

And the the safety of the animal is something that we're actually

taking very seriously right now. And at a time when we preach

transparency, for us to then turn around and lie about

attendance as a sport, that's not a good look and it's not

what we need to be doing right now.

If you're willing to lie about attendance, what else are you

willing to lie about? If you lie in the little things,

you lie in the big things. And so the attendance number

doesn't matter. John Sherver, the LA Times did a

an interesting thought. You know, essentially a thought.

Experiment where he went to the last Breeders' Cup at Del Mar

and how many, how many people were there and how much they bet

per person for the. Santa Anita number to be true.

The average person at Del Mar bet 350 bucks on track at the

Breeders Cup that. Makes sense.

That's a that's a reasonable number.

The Santa Anita number would have been 135 dollars right now.

I'm sorry, they're not betting 1/3 as much in Los Angeles as

they are in San Diego. It's not real, not a real thing

to do. So you don't need a lie.

I'm not saying it's double. I'm not saying that at all.

But you don't need a lie about that stuff.

That kind of stuff just doesn't need to to happen.

And if you want me to throw on the tinfoil cap, I'll do it

right now. The other reason you lie about

attendance is so that you can say to Churchill, we don't need

you, we've got a very popular. Event in Los Angeles.

That's the other reason you do it.

So I may or may not be right about that, but I I think it's a

very easy thing to do to negotiate with bigger.

Tracks. I very much struggle with the

positioning that Stronic group puts themselves and I feel like

they were the 1 leaning on making sure the attendance

looked up. I'd love to know who does the

reporting, but it's a privately owned track so I can't fool you.

I can't do it for you Information Act request I do

those for every basketball game around here by the way just to

make sure what the real scan ticket number is just because

it's. I think it's part of my job to

to ask those questions. But you know for for Breeders'

Cup man I just in horse racing we don't we don't have we don't

have leeway man we can't we can't be the sport that's like

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 44,000 it's like.

Bro, I've been around like, Zach said.

We've been around 50,000 this year.

We know what that looks like and by the way it involves like

filling parts of the infield. On Thursday, infield was closed

at Santa Anita. So I just, you know those those

sorts of numbers I mean. I went to a big 10 school.

I know what 50,000 looks like. I know what 100,000 looks like.

That's exactly right. So yeah, just, I mean

disappointing in that end, but man, overall just a really

positive experience. It's nice to see everybody.

Those events really do allow us to see tons of people Sherva and

flatter and and Ilman was out there this year which is great

and then you know Danny Breuer down in Tennessee and Jenny

Reese was out there, Tim Wilkins.

So lots of people that we've had on this show that are you know

or are good, good supporters of the show were out there.

So it's nice to see everybody that way as well.

Zach, do you want to put a bow on it any any part your your

favorite that you can remember. I do think, by the way, our

little courtyard we had at the Airbnb that we had was actually

kind of underrated. Oh my God, it was amazing.

Just so little, so simple. But it was very nice, yeah.

So I'm I'm going to say my favorite in a way that might not

sound exactly right, but it's the only words I have.

My favorite actually came the day after when the namesake of

Cody's wish passed. Yeah.

Like the fact that they were able to pull off what they did

and. Man, it was just.

It's one of those moments where, you know, some people lean on

their religious beliefs, some people believe in a universal

whatever. But if you could put a picture

perfect moment together, that was it. the IT Cody's wish ends

on. The tightest race he's ever run

wins by the thickness of a hair, if even and just before.

The the, the kiddo who make a wish got named after him passes,

and right after they after. You know the interesting.

Such a great moment we had. We had James Walsh on the the

Monday of Breeders' Cup like we always do, and from Scotland,

and he talked about a ghost for a Damn the Horse and the Irish,

how they talk about horse racing and they talk about bloodlines

they talk about. Yeah, so different, right?

And and I was talking about this with actually with Ron Flatter

on a phone call the other day. And I said, you know, the thing

about Cody's wish is he's going to have a bunch of babies with

the word with the name Cody in him, and that's his bloodline.

That's the legacy. So, So you know, Cody Dorman who

passed away, his legacy is, is in that horse's name and then in

all of his progeny, all of his kids, right.

And there's something legitimately special about that

and different from other sports that you can't recreate in

another sport. And and so I'm with you.

It was, it was it was tough to see that news the next day.

But at the same time his name's going to be around not forever

but for a century. I mean something like that his

legacy is going to be there for an extraordinarily long time and

at least we have that. And so I mean I'm I'm trying to

come up with with reasons to be positive about it.

That would be it. That would be what I would lean

on if I were trying to be positive and and that's that's

essentially all I got. My favorite thing was Clockers

Corner and I don't think it's close I just I love everything

about it. I love the early mornings there.

Getting to watch the sun come over the mountains when we did

the show Friday morning for the first time was really special.

It was special. It was beautiful and and so

watching the horses out there when it's dark and you get to

start to see the the outlines of the same the same Gabriel's and

that kind of stuff is just yeah man.

I mean it's it's a different that's a great picture.

It's a different that. So we were down there that's

where we were. Clockers court is that little

gate right there in the picture. That green there.

And and so just a just a different experience shout out

to all the people who were in the vending business there

because they were all setting up right next to us as well.

They could not have been nicer And so y'all don't drink in

California is what we learned. Beer people were not happy with

you So there you go. I don't know how our numbers are

so good out there but there you go.

The. Yeah.

So there you go. Yeah.

My favorite thing not even close Clockers corner.

Just having that that morning. You know that group that's

always out there. That group that was there during

the races. The applause for the winners

that kind of stuff. And I want to say something too

So something that I hate that we do in horse racing is we we have

events like the Breeders Cup Classic or the Kentucky Derby or

whatever. And we we decide based on

whether we like who won or not, if it was a good version of that

race. Yes, that is absolutely true.

When Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby, everyone was

like, that was a horrible Derby. I was like, what are you talking

about? That was amazing.

No, it's the Kentucky Derby, and that's what happens with twenty

horses that are three years old in the spring.

In the British Cup Classic, you can only race against the horses

that you're up against. Yep, and Whitebaro was the best

horse, and frankly, it wasn't very close.

And there were Ushbin. Tasur is a fine horse.

There were a lot of good horses in that race.

Didn't matter. He was easily the best.

And so I I will not look back on this with any kind of asterisk

or whatever other people might do.

Oh, he's a crappy blah, blah, blah, whatever this is.

They're already talking about him coming back and racing next

year and I'm seeing people whine about how much he's going to

race, shut up, be better, he's going to race next year.

The idea that we get a classic winner back ever doesn't happen

anymore and the ownership group is leaning into racing again.

You go straight to the straight to the breeding shed, you win a

classic, it's over. You're like, we're done,

Archangelo. They didn't even think about it.

The horse won the traverse. Yes, please.

I don't. No, don't do this to me.

Don't, don't. Don't be.

Those people wait about it. And.

We we talked about this a bit when we talked about European

horse racing where like it's the Royal Ascot and it's like.

Oh, here's a 7 year old horse that's won three ascots and

you're like, what? Like that would never happen to

the United States. You'd win a single Ascot and be

like breeding for the rest of his life.

Never gonna run again. We wanted two, so we're gonna,

we're gonna. He's gonna go have a bunch of

sex. Yeah, right now.

I'm with you, man. I seriously, I I just.

Look, you know, we can't even get our gangelo back.

And we're whining about White Abario only running a few times

next year. Shut up.

Just shut up. Let.

Me get it? All right, That's all I got.

I told enough people to shut up. That's a huge group, by the way,

if you are a poor. Person it's also like what I

love about horse racing and I don't think a lot of people

appreciate the way they should and and you do that you

appreciate this and and you know I think you know some of the

people that we have in the show really appreciate this is that

horses are like kids they develop at different rates.

And so yeah, White Abario was good in his first three years,

but in his this year, his 4 year old year.

Yeah, he is coming around like, yeah, he's better.

His stride is way better, you know, his timing's better, his

pacing's better. Everything.

Yeah. Now you're telling, yeah, he is.

He's, you know, and he won a grade one as a three-year old.

So he's got, he knows nobody anything, right.

I mean. So he has a three-year old as a

four year old, by the way, and he's coming back.

This is my Zach's, Megan. My point.

Shut up. You got a Grade 1 winner at 3:00

and 4:00, and he's coming back. I mean, shut up.

I mean, that's great. I mean, shut up.

Who cares and shut up. And I will say 111.

Final thing I was really excited about is that there were no

major injuries during those two days of Breeders' Cup.

So we didn't see a well. We didn't see a horse carted off

the track. Well, Mountain Bear was carted

off on Friday. Oh.

Whoops, missed one. Well, we haven't heard anything,

so who knows? I I don't know.

There's no transparency on this belief.

Anyways. All right, so let's go out to

Churchill. We'll get going on that.

The Churchill on Saturday. With the Derriere of the Downs,

Derriere of the Downs, I'm Louie Robeau, 2 Stakes out there on

Saturday. I want to talk about four races

today, Zach. So we're going to talk about

race for the Dream Supreme and then we'll talk about the late

pick three because I think there's a a strategy for this

Saturday at Churchill that I think can actually pay a fair

amount of dividends because the the grade three out there, the

the turf race there, there's no great horse in it.

And so once we're going on mile and an eighth, we're going two

turns at Churchill on that turf course.

I think it opens you up for the opportunity to play against the

favorites and and work on that. So we'll get there in a second.

Let's start, though. You didn't have enough of that

on Breeders' Cup Friday. Yeah, start now with Race 4 at

Churchill on Saturdays. Dream Supreme solicited stakes

$300,000. Six furlongs on the dirts for

Phillies and mares for go to the girls here on the dirt and we

get the return of Wicked Halo here, whose 2 for six lifetime.

The five horse on on your Saturday card out there at

Churchill six to five on the morning line as Mussin.

This is what he does best. The six, the six Furlong Sprint

and he gets Tyler aboard here, the two of them massive massive

combination number at 20% overall but 24% at Churchill.

So the idea that, you know together they're hitting,

they're winning one in every five races.

But then in this case they're, you know at Churchill almost one

at 4:00. That's a remarkable difference.

And so horse ran last time lost to you Giri by a nose in the

thoroughbred thoroughbred Club of America at at Keeneland Grade

2. By a nose.

Like I said, you Gary just ran second behind.

Good night all up in the Breeders cup.

So I'm going to hold. I'm going to hold that against

Wicked Halo exactly 0. And so I think she's got

obviously a very legitimate shot here.

Daughter of Gun Runner. His stud feed.

Stud feed for sure is going up. Tyler's jumping off of little

Prankster who's trained by Phil Bauer, a local guy here in

Kentucky having an incredible year by the way smaller barn.

So he's had 100 and three starts, 27 wins.

Man's winning at over 25% right now, 40% at Churchill.

Limited sample size, but that's what Phil does, Limited sample

size. Four of his five runners have

hit the board at Churchill this year.

A little prankster, I expect to absolutely hit the board.

Johnny V in for the day, which is awesome for them.

The two of them hit last time at 19 to one with a horse, almost

20 to one that they hooked up at Churchill, one for five.

Overall, their last five races. Look this is a horse that's

never run without Lasix. Has always had Lasix on last

three races. Maiden win at Saratoga going 5

1/2 when they were taken off of the turf, they were going to try

the horse on the turf. She stays in the race, runs,

wins the race, they try her again.

It had rain but it was still OK in an allowance for non non two

winners, right? Never won two races also at

Saratoga. Comes back, wins again for a

long longer at six and a half. Was a little closer that time

obviously but then runs to Ed Keeneland in an optional

claimer. Goes ahead and wins that one as

well in 110 going 6 furlongs. Very, very good time.

Problem for her I think is that at Churchill Downs Wicked Halo

is going to go faster than 110. If you're playing this

especially early part of the card here, I think you either

you have to make your decision. Is this the race where you make

money or is it the race where you try to pick the most likely

winner? Wicked Halo is the most likely

winner here. I don't think it's much of a

question, but if you want to make money on the early sequence

or this as a part of another sequence, I think this starts a

sequence. It starts to pick five here in

the middle of part of the card. If you want to get into a spot

where you're, you know, you're pressing on horses that aren't

part of the normal equation, that are different than what

other people are playing, this is where you would go against a

wicked Halo would be that horse. All right, let's go ahead and

move forward. Then Zach to race a nine.

It's an optional claimer going a mile and an eighth on the dirt,

so this. Is talk to me about the River

City. Yeah, we're not there yet.

We're going to talk about an optional claimer right before

it. So this is for 134 grand and

mile and an eighth for three and up through horses that have

never won it at a higher level. So if you have, you have to be

in for the tag of 80. If you never have, you get to be

at a lower number. So Magic Tap is in here, which

is interesting. Magic Tap ran in the

Pennsylvania Derby and if people remember, God smoked

Philadelphia that day and it was so wet that every other track

within 100 miles, it canceled. Didn't run, Delaware didn't run,

Penn, didn't run, etcetera, etcetera.

So everybody canceled except for except for parks because they

had to run. I mean it's not an option.

It's their big day. So he runs in the Pennsylvania

Derby as a three-year old, right.

Obviously Saudi crown goes out, gets out front, wins, man, Magic

chap was part of the equation there until the very, very end.

That was a mile and an eighth but that was going over the

slop. Before that though in an

allowance at Saratoga the horse won going the distance.

I think magic tap ISM must use here especially because we are

at Churchill. This is Tyler again.

It's an Asmussen but look it's it's Tyler.

And the horse has it has significant for a horse that has

not run very much it has a lot of experience at the distance.

A three-year old who has even more experiences in the Kenny

Mcpeat barn is the three horse here.

Long shot play of the day is escapologist won his last two

the first in a maiden going two turns at Churchill and a $75,000

Excuse me, loudness. Last two the 1st and a claimer

at Churchill mile and a 16th going two turns.

Julian Leparoux aboard. Comes back at Keeneland.

Does exactly the same thing. Wins twice, going a mile and a

16th. We get to stretch out a little

bit here, which I think will be to the horses liking.

He's going to be. He's going to have some horses

to run at in this field as well. There are several horses going

from Sprint to route in this race.

I think we'll give him something to run at in this company.

So I think you leave the three off of your tickets at your own

risk here, but I just wanted to point that out because the horse

is 15 to one in the morning line.

I think that's long for this horse in particular, but I get

why they did it because he is going up against winners against

horses like like Magic Tap and so it will be interesting to see

what ends up happening there. Some other cool horses in that

race. By the way, Mr. Big News is in

that race. If people remember, he was on

the Derby trail, ran in the Kentucky Derby, and actually ran

third in the Kentucky Derby in 2020 in September, then ran in

that Preakness the next month and was up the track behind

Swiss Skydiver and Authentic, but then came back.

Hasn't won since since qualifying in the in the Oak

Lawn Stakes. And then you know for that, for

that Kentucky Derby and so interesting that his career has

really faded out 20/21/22, didn't run in 22, comes back in

23, hasn't won this year. Interested to see if they're if

at some point they just have to hang it up with this horse

because he is the son of Giants Causeway.

I think they were hoping for some breeding out of him but

he's 2 for 15 lifetime. Probably just not going to

happen. Creative Minister is in that

race. You might want to use him the 10

horse on the outside for Kenny Mcpeak.

I left him out only because he's over 5 this year and his 2nd

place finishes aren't exactly by a nose and so interested to see

if he can get back. He does like the distance, he's

just never won at it. Sometimes horses just aren't

winners and it's OK to say he did win the Bourbon Trail at a

mile in three 16th or ran second in the mile in three 16th

Bourbon Trail black like black black type race at Churchill,

but really hasn't done anything since then.

We go to the River City though as Zach mentioned this is the

grade 31 and an eighth miles. My favorite course on grass in

the United States is that two turn grass course at Churchill

Downs. Hopefully it'll be a turf race

on Saturday, $300,000 in the purse.

That's a joke about the turf course, not about the weather.

We'll be fine that way 3 and up here.

We give horses in here that people know about including the

one horse cellist who's in here. I think other people have heard

of Rock Emperor Kid and Dan's in here smoking tea.

Who else is stitched is in here. A Harlan estate is in here.

On the also eligible list alone are St. ready beatbox and a

credit. So this is the win once in a

while don't win. Other times horse race of the

grade threes on Saturday and so look this is where I think you

need to get creative and you have a real chance to miss the

favorites who are like 9:00 to 2:00 and 5:00 to 1:00 and that

kind of thing and go after horses that are going to be

longer prices. Cellist is is the one here 5 to

1. Martin Garcia I think because

Martin's aboard that horse is going to keep its spot ran last

time out at a mile and 1/2 at Keeneland and got caught at the

wire by bold act. If that race is any slower, the

horse wins the race. And so I'm wondering if we won't

see a translation from Keeneland on the firm go at in the

Sycamore grade 3 back to this race only having to go two turns

instead of three. I do wonder if we'll get a

better race out of Cellos. I think he's gonna include

another horse That I think's gonna include at 12 to one is

James Graham and F5. The two horse here for Brian

Lynch. Excuse me, this is a four year

old, has only raced five times in his life, but it's won 3 * 1

for one at Churchill and that was going a mile and 3/8 over

the turf course here. So actually three turns.

James Graham aboard horse seems to be doing just fine.

Runs a mile and an eighth at Ellis last time.

Wins the race right? So this is a horse essentially

getting a little bit of a layoff here, but Brian Lynch's horses,

remember, win at 21% when they won their last race.

Huge number there. James Graham having a pretty

good start to the to the Churchill meet through last week

or through Wednesday I should say, excuse me, 19 races hit the

board in seven of them. So he's having a good run as

well. He is Red Von and this is a

horse at 12 to one for Mike Maker and Ricardo Santana

Junior. He is entered in the stakes, the

Grade 3 at Aqueduct as well on Saturday.

But the horse has been training at Churchill so I wonder if

they're just going to leave him here after he ran in that

Sycamore really well, two back though he did win over this

exact course under Tyler in an optional claimer at Churchill

Downs. But I think I looked through

this with him. He's never won without Lasik.

He's only won once this year. Red won a nice horse.

I think it's one I would use underneath Rock Emperors in this

race. For Chad Brown and Tyler, I

think he's probably going to be the favorite 4:00 to 1:00 in the

morning line. I think I'll end up a lot

shorter, say 7 to 2, three to one, getting into those numbers

because of the connections. But frankly, outside of a good

run in Canada last out, I'm not sure that he's the kind of horse

at a mile and an eighth that we want to trust.

He's won for seven lifetime, hasn't won this year, one win in

five runs last year. This is a cool chance to play

against, I think the kind of horse that I think we can beat

in this spot and one that we should go after if we can.

Louis, where are you going to lean instead?

I'm going to play F5. The two I am going to play

cellist. The one if the 13 draws in here,

which is a credit I think you have to watch him for.

Luan Machado as well. Ran really well at Keeneland

last time in an allowance. Just lost the highest

distinction and beatbox was right behind him.

Beatbox in this race gets Christian Torres if he draws in

from the 14. For Cherie Devoe.

All the numbers there also make sense.

But man, if a credit draws in on the 13 at 20 to one for Pablo

Mateszka, that's one to watch as well I think.

So go ahead and watch if he draws in one to use Dude the

horse. I don't know what to do with.

Here is the 11 siege of Boston who ran previously on the East

Coast, mostly at Laurel and different places started his

career. However, up there at Horseshoe

Indianapolis moved out after leaving the the Shook Mcgahee

barn, interested to see if James Turner, who's bringing in his

jockey like he did, and the handicap at Kentucky Downs where

the horse ran really well if that horse can hit the board.

But at 9:00 to 2:00 for a horse, that's two for six life this

year and its last win was at Gulfstream in a $25,000 optional

claimer. I just don't know.

Again, This is why I'm going to try to beat the favorites.

I think a junction is really interesting here.

Lost by a head, last out at Keeneland in an allowance.

Sometimes these two turn races, the horse just ran out of time.

You get Rafa Bay Hirano here who's at 25% winners here.

I would include the 10 as well. At 15 to one, I think he's a

total live play as well. And then the one, I don't know

what they're going to do because they ran in the Turf Classic

last time and it was wet at Aqueduct is Grant Sonata.

The eight, six to one Luis Saez. Saez is off to an all time

terrible start at Churchill Downs one for 24 after winning

the after winning the Keeneland meet title.

That's hard to do. Frankly I don't think that

stays. I think Luis eventually figures

it out and I would use grandson out of here.

Total wild card one last time at Kentucky Downs.

We have seen a lot of those Kentucky Downs horses translate

well to Keeneland Dominican pioneer the seven under Gerardo

Corrales who just won with no balls at the Breeders cup.

The guy can ride you get 12:50 you ran it.

Kentucky Downs was lost by half length then went to Pimlico.

Seemed to not like it for some reason but before that won the

lure at at Saratoga the horse can win always there at the end.

I think you include smoking tea with with John Velasquez as

well. So interested to see when I was

up there. So I would use some version of

12678 and probably 10, something like that.

I mean I know that's a lot of horses but man I think it's that

wide open and all of those will beat the top two favourites and

will get you paid in the last race.

It's a maiden special. We're going a mile and a 16th.

So that's the race at Churchill Downs where they have the

starting gate just behind the the starting gate, excuse me,

the finish line. And then they do the two turns

on the dirt. There a lot of interesting

horses in here. It's 120K for two year olds, by

the way, for Phillies who have run either once or twice,

something like that and are coming back to run again.

Loveland's on the inside. For example, the one horse she's

got a lot of early speed and she's stretching out from a

Sprint to a route. This happens a lot with horses.

If they don't win their first time and they have the kind of

breeding that she does, Munning's on the top, strong

mandate on the bottom. If she's going to to to excel

long term, she's going to be a two turn horse.

In this case Norm Cassie has her stretching out from six furlongs

in Keeneland to a mile and a 16th at Churchill Downs.

I think it makes total sense. I have her on top or one I think

is also a really fair price. And the two of them by the way,

Norm, Cassie, Ricardo Santana Junior 34% winning right now

together, which is an incredible number to win a third of your

races together. Brad Cox has a second time

starter here, even though they started at Kentucky Downs on the

grass or whatever you want to call the grass at Kentucky

Downs. He's got Florin Giroux taking

the Marines again. Second time starters for Brad

Cox winning 29%. That's an obvious include.

One and two are in for our purposes here.

Let me pull up the rest of my handicapping the three horses.

Interesting with Murphy's gift because you get Tyler Gaffe

Leone on a 10 to one shot with a second time starter and Brendan

Walsh, The two of them together obviously very prolific and

capable of winning a lot of races.

I would include the three here as the daughter of St.

Sense Esquende. Esquende on the bottom I think

has a real shot here as well, going from that one turn mile at

Churchill to two turns. She might really like the added

distance. I would then look down after

that to the seven Louis Sighs again.

This is the second time starter for Todd Pletcher.

Todd Pletcher wins those at 24%. So I think that's an absolute

include as well. And then I went down toward the

bottom here and I think there are a couple interesting horses,

the nine horses genetics, that's John Velazquez and Bill Mott

here. The two of them have won one of

their two at the meet so far or I was actually at the two that

was at the Derby meet in the spring.

And so horses coming out of a race at Keeneland has the two

turn experience now sometimes it just takes the experience for

horses going over two turns to figure it out.

Daughter of Tappet, royally bred.

They paid over a half $1,000,000 for this horse at the Keeneland

sale in September of last year and so interested to see if she

snaps out of it or or builds on what she did last time at

Keeneland. Has been training really well

actually at Churchill Downs should be a a factor as well in

the last. And then Carrara the 10, Brian

Hernandez junior Kenny Mcpeak hasn't been terribly fast.

I think this would be the one that I would leave out, but I

also wouldn't be surprised after her second place finish in that

exact race. I was just talking about with

genetics. If she did something here as

well, I would lean, I think on the inside horses more between

enigmatic Loveland, the two and the one, maybe the three even

with Tyler. But I think there's a chance to

that we could beat some of those favourites with maybe a class

act in the seven or Genetics or Carrara in the 9:00 and 10:00.

So good luck with those wagers out there at Churchill Downs on

Saturday. I think that late sequence is

fascinating. And again if you're trying to

make money in that dream Supreme you got to go against the

favorite there in the in the She's the Five Horse Wicked Halo

Zach. I think that's it.

I think we did our job. We're.

Going to pay the tab. We're going to pay the tab.

Get out of here. Thank you to all the folks at

Breeders' Cup and at Santa Anita.

We had a really, really good time and all the very kind

people. That little Taco joint that we

went to at the end too, even the nice people around the

neighborhood, you went into a smoke shop that was maybe legal,

maybe not. That was also very nice.

So yeah, that was that was good, man.

They had these hop these non alcoholic hot drinks that I that

I have been scouring Louisville for and it's just not going

well. So I'm probably going to have to

have to make. Some You have liquor world.

Yeah, it's not liquor. That's kind of the point.

It's it's a liquor world. What was that?

Is that a is that a Justin Timberlake Saturday Night Live

skit where he's like, this is the liquor empire, this is

liquor universe. I can't remember now, this is a

pretty good one. Point out what it is, but I

think that's it, man. Let's get out of here.

Let's pay the tablets, play some music.

We'll catch you next time. By the way, we're getting into

the nitty gritty of of winter. We'll have a couple more shows.

There'll be a little bit of Churchill centric, but of course

we'll look at some of the events out of Del Mar as well as racing

shifts further South and South South Southern California to San

Diego for their Bing Crosby meet, frankly.

And so we'll get ready for that as well.

Zach, appreciate you man. We'll talk next week, man, it

might feel better. This has been the I'm Louie

Robo. This has been the horse racing

habit.