Cigar Mile Day w/ Matthew DeSantis

It. Was a beautiful day, sun beat

down, I had the radio. On I was driving the.

Trees went back. Me and Dale were singing.

You are listening to Ribonco here on ESPN 680-1057.

Now here's Louis Ribon. Welcome.

Back in it is a TGIF edition of Ribonco on ESPN 680-1057.

Do not let me forget to talk about that song before we bring

Matthew to Santos in from naira bets, of course, the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight tonight, 6:00 you'll hear me.

Brian Hernandez junior tonight. Derby Oaks and Clark winning

jockey joins us in the second segment.

My buddy EJ Clark will be around for the third.

You can hear that at 6:00 here on our station.

Of course, right after that, Army and Tulane in the American

Athletic Conference championship as well.

Happy to bring in Matthew DeSantis from up there at Naira.

So that song, Zach, I know you and I have never talked about

it. And sometimes, Matthew, these

things work out the way that they do.

The first show I ever did, the opening song was that one.

And it was a road to the winner's circle.

Ironically, the man who hosts the winner's circle is my guest

tonight on the 6:00 show. Full circle.

Matthew DeSantis, how are you? I'm doing great, and as somebody

who's a graduate of the University of Florida in

Gainesville, FL, I'm a big fan of their native son, Tom Petty.

I always have been. So I had a big smile on my face

when that song was playing coming into this segment.

You know, John Cougar Mellencamp is a big IU guys.

So they have a the building the the field hockey team played in

forever was called the Mellencamp Pavilion.

And for some reason that just made me giggle.

And I don't know why I giggle, Matthew, But there you go.

It's just one of those those giggle moments that failed the

menace on Twitter for the professor, our guy Matthew

DeSantis. Look, not a warm weekend.

Frankly, the whole country's cold right now, right?

We're seeing Gosh, you and I have a mutual friend who lives

in Florida who is just suffering in the 50s.

I mean, just absolutely suffering in the 50s.

I drove my kids to school this morning.

It was 16 here but it looks like look 40s ish.

Probably tomorrow on Long Island.

Yeah, 40s ish. And you know, the most important

part is clear skies. We have a fast track today and

we'll have a fast track tomorrow.

So I think that's, you know, listen, if it's cold, that's not

the end of the world. The bottom line is the track

conditions are going to be really nice and fair, which I

think is an upgrade over some previous cigar miles where we've

dealt with, you know, some sloppy still tracks and things

like that. So just getting a dry fast track

I think is great for the betters and going to be great for the

overall product. If people don't, no.

There's also a Derby and Oaks prep prior to the Cigar Mile.

So the race is 789 All grade twos tomorrow, the Remsen

Demoiselle and the Cigar Mile Handicap.

They dropped the name handicap after the Clark and all of us

are out here know that as the Clark Handicap.

But I know the Cigar Mile, not as the Cigar Mile Handicap.

But now they're calling it the Cigar Mile Handicap and I don't

like any of it. You understand me?

I don't like any of it. I know.

I remember I did a video a couple years ago about the Clark

and I referred to it as the Clark Stakes and somebody yelled

at me and I said no, no, no, this is what it's called.

Now this is what they're doing. That's right.

Anymore. So, yeah, you know, I just

noticed the Cigar Mile. That's, you know, full stop.

That's kind of what I've always called it.

That's what I probably will always call it.

I don't. Know if you have strange things

in your life and Matthew DeSantis with us from Naira bets

that you just equate with the changing of the seasons and when

the, the, the tarp goes over the turf course at Aqueduct, to me,

that is a changing of the seasons.

We had Kornacki on the high pay hour yesterday and I told him I,

I, I think of that as kind of the, the end, not the end of the

racing season altogether. Obviously we've got a bunch of

great action in the state here at Turfway and Aqueduct and

Gulfstream. And you know, New Orleans are

kicking off in Arkansas soon. Of course, they're always

running in Southern California, so there's plenty of good

racing. But do you think, OK, it's it's

winter, there's a, there's a tarp down at, at Aqueduct.

Yeah, I definitely just, you know, even when I'm inside

looking at the monitors, you know, you see a race and when

that tarp is down, it just gives a certain type of feel.

And you expect to see Kendrick Carmouche and Manny Franco and,

you know, those guys riding their horses to victory.

And you just get to know those winter jockeys and connections a

lot more obviously that time of year.

So it is, yeah, it's definitely a changing of the seasons.

And I feel like the Cigar Mile weekend is also kind of that

moment where it's like, OK, now we're really into it.

Like after the Cigar Mile, it's kind of like, OK, we're really

into winter. Because then I think, you know,

a lot of people, obviously, like you said, Oak Lawn Fairgrounds

kicking off, Championship Media, Gulfstream Park.

But I think the next big thing is then going to be like opening

day at Santa Anita and things like that kind of after

Christmas. So I think that's kind of the

way a lot of racing fans at least think about it, is there's

a little bit, you know, this kind of crescendo after the

Breeders Cup and then you have the Cigar Mile, and then it's

like, OK, everybody's got to do their Christmas shopping and,

you know, get their holidays sorted out.

So, yeah, definitely changing the seasons.

But I love seeing the tarp, and nothing makes me happier.

And when there's a little bit of snow on the rail, I love it.

That's the best. There you go.

Matthew DeSantis texture. It's brutal down here in

Florida. Looney with a screenshot of 71

where they are a high of 75 today.

You Sir, your I hope your feet are very warm if you know what I

mean. How about that texter?

Holy crap, thanks for bringing on Matthew D1 of my one of the

few dudes like yourself that gets this great sport.

That's our guy David on the text line.

Appreciate him very much. Let's get into that Derby prep

up there race 7:00 tomorrow will be the reps and starts the late

pick for their leg 2. If you wanted to try it out that

I think tomorrow's one of those days, the Grand Slam might be a

lot of fun because I think the the Cigar Mile is a bit of a

toss up as far as trying to pick a winner there and then you get.

22. Year old races right before that

might be a spectacular day frankly to start in race six

with that Grand Slam bet, but who did you land on in the

Remsen, IA? Little surprised to see Kei

waiting at such a short price given the other options in here,

but I think a worthy favorite from David Aragon up there.

Yeah, worthy favorite. I mean, running at 91 buyer

speed figure last time out really.

I think, you know, certainly put notice that this is a pretty

serious horse for trainer Chad Brown.

It's coming out of that debut race at Saratoga as well where

he finished third by a neck and lost to tip top Thomas, who came

back to run second in the champagne and actually finished

ahead of horse Sovereignty, who then won the street sense for

Belmont down at Churchill Downs. And that was a very key race out

of very productive race, I should say, coming out of

Saratoga then wins last time. Very short field, very short

price, perfect trip. And the horse that finished

second to him, Bolt, who finished about a little less

than two lengths back, ran back since that race and it ran

terribly. I also have some questions about

Key Waden's pedigree. You know, sired by Instagram out

of an officer mayor. It doesn't scream 2 terms and

distance. And so at a short price, yeah,

I'm going to be playing against. I ultimately landed on Tux as my

top selection for trainer Bill Montt, Junior Alvarado aboard.

I love the pedigree of Cap it up top out of the money was there

and this one, I think, you know, Mott does not make this move

often stepping horses up to great stakes races in their

second career start. But over the last five years

he's winning at a 28% clip. And under those conditions.

And I just need to get the inside rail there.

This horse has good speed going to get out there close to the

front end or sit a pocket trip. And the other horse that I

really like that I will absolutely be including in my

you know, horizontal ticket is going to be studly do right.

The Maryland bred for yeah, John Rob.

I just I also love the pedigree here.

Nyquist up top out of a kerlin mare and outside of the hopeful,

which he had a really tough trip that day has never been out of

the exact. This is a horse that when you

see him in person, he is physically built.

He is a big horse and he looks like A2 turn horse.

So I think he's going to appreciate the stretch out maybe

more than anybody else in this field.

So those are my top two. I'm going to try to beat Kee

Wade in this leg. Matthew DeSantis with us up

there at Naira Bets on Long Island this weekend at Aqueduct.

The Demozelles Race 8 Muhema comes in as the four to five

favorite. I'll ask this a slightly

different way. Something I try to key in on,

especially on the happy hour show, is this the horse we have

to beat in the late sequence if we're going to get a big payout?

I think if you're going to get a big payout, probably because I

think she does look pretty serious in this spot.

And I think one of the things that I really pay attention to

is when jockeys follow horses. And you know, Florence Drew is

coming up from Kentucky for this mount, and it reminds me a

little bit of when Manny Franco went down to Kentucky for

Immersive going into the Breeders Cup.

And you know, this idea of like, I'm not giving up this mount.

This is my horse. And Brad Cox obviously has

arguably the top 2 Kentucky Oaks contenders right now with good

cheer and immersive and Muhima certainly very, very impressive

combined 13 length victories in the first two starts.

Like I said, Braun drew up the horse, draws a perfect, you

know, inside rail position, stretching out good speed, going

to sit that pocket trip at worst has shown the ability to rate.

There's just a lot to like here. Certainly Bill Montour's beauty

reigns is a serious contender as well in this spot.

But I feel like a lot of people are going to try to single

Muhima. So if you got to, if you try to

zig and where others are going to be zagging, that's how you're

going to have to be able to make a little bit of money in this

late pick 5 sequence, I think. Who's the horse that beats her?

Yeah, I think if you're going to try to beat Muhima, I do think

Mott's horse makes the most sense.

Beauty reigns. I think this one, again, good

pedigree, Mott stretching out in these sorts of situations, I

think is really good. The other one I'd really keep an

eye on is The Total X Factor. And if you're going to take a

shot in the dark, it's #10 Ballerina Doro 4, trainer Chad

Brown trying dirt for the first time.

Blinkers are coming on, Dylan Davis aboard.

There's a lot going on there. This horse has never tried the

turf or the dirt I should say, but I think the blinkers on is

going to be advantageous get this horse out in a good

position. And the other thing to point

out, this is a 10 horse field. Chad Brown didn't need to

supplement this horse into this race to have it make.

It's very intentional that Chad is putting this horse in this

race. That makes me think this ones

pretty live in this particular spot.

Am I crazy to like Bless the Broken in here?

This is a horse that didn't show too much and that short stretch

at Keeneland, Frankly, if you go back and watch that race in

mid-october with Bless the Broken under Jose Ortiz horse

just didn't break well, wasn't ready.

And frankly, you know, gets out and he realizes this ain't the

day. Pulls her up essentially and

lets her kind of trot in. She comes back out of Ramon

Vasquez at Churchill Downs. Longer stretch, more of a set up

like we're going to see at Aqueduct.

Runs a really good second on at that mile on a 16th distance.

You know, Uncle Moe in the in the dad's side, tap it on the

mom's side. This seems like the kind of

horse that could stretch out. Am I crazy to like her at 12 to

one? You know, you're not crazy at

all. You got Manny Franco up on the

mound. So you know Manny's going to

have Manny's going to have this horse well positioned, sitting

that more kind of mid pack tracking trip blinkers off.

So I think that's also good stretching out, going a little

bit longer. And one thing you have to like

about this one is she's already done the two turns a couple of

times as opposed to most of these others who are just one

turn horses. And that's something I should

mention too about, you know, Ballerina Doro is because she's

been running on the turf, she's been running two turns as well.

So really those are the only two horses that I've experienced

going two turns. I don't.

Do you think there's anything wrong with putting your eggs in

those baskets at all? Matthew DeSantis with this, he's

at Failed to Menace on Twitter as well.

You can go find him there. Naira bets at Naira bets as

well. Cigar Mile will be race 9.

They're the one turn mile at Aqueduct like we have here, or 1

1/2 turn like they have at Saratoga Ellis Park.

Book of Dano in here, Some fun older names that I'm really

happy to see like Areppo Rocks and those kinds of horses.

Mulliken's going to be in here, a horse we saw really, really

performed well as a 2 year old and Locked is back here late in

his three-year old career. Where did you land in this one

man senior buscador post time on the outside.

Frankly, a lot of quality for this field.

Yeah, there are four grade one winners in this field and a

bunch of horses coming out of the Breeders Cup.

I know people have different opinions on this in terms of

sometimes you play against that Breeders' Cup angle, sometimes

you lean into it. Last year, of course hoist the

Golden Senior boost score finished 1-2, both coming out of

Breeders' Cup races. So you know, it's not

necessarily a bad thing, although I don't know, I don't

love the horses coming out of the Breeders Cup in this spot.

I ultimately landed on locked. I think this is a horse that was

incredibly promising as a 2 year old, ran huge race winning the

Breeders future. He came back I thought ran very,

very well to finish third in the Breeders Cup Juvenile.

And then, you know, had that a little bit of a set back

preparing for the Fountain of Youth.

And you know, Pletcher put the horse on the bench, came back

with Johnny Velasquez aboard, who by the way, we should

mention won this race last year with Voice to Gold.

So you know, Johnny got this horse to show a little bit more

speed last time out. I think if that's the key, if

Locke can show the speed to sit maybe 4th in this race, I

absolutely love what this horse can do at night, 9:00 to 2:00.

This horse has a big future. Pletcher's already talked about

pointing this horse to the Pegasus World Cup.

So there's bigger and bigger, you know, races coming up in

this horse's future. I think there's going to be a

very aggressive 2025 campaign for this horse and I think, you

know, the horse ran a career best buyer speed figure off the

bench. I think has another ability to

take another step forward here. So that's where I landed.

I also really like Book Em Dano in a lot of ways.

This feels in some ways like a microcosm of what we saw in the

Breeders Cup Classic where you had these kind of warhorse older

horses. But it was really the three-year

olds that really took the, you know, really took the situation

to hand, you know, with the fierceness with Sierra Leone.

And I feel the same thing here. Bookham Dano locked 2-3 year

olds stepping up I think will be announcing themselves as very

serious older horses next year. All right, well, you said

everything I was going to say about this race.

So did you just watch the episode yesterday and decide to

come on and then just steal all the stuff and then do all the

things and we have the same horse on top?

I was going to make the comparison of the Breeders Cup

Classic. That's nice to have you,

Matthew. What else is going on that you

want to talk about? It's just fantastic.

Can you give Molokin a shot here?

Flavian Pratt gets the mouth. This is a horse stepping into a

mile. Hasn't gone this far before, but

does have four wins at five tries this year, including and

frankly at 7 furlongs was going to win if that.

If, for example, had the Forego been in a mile, the horse still

wins. I'll put it that way, right?

One still 1. Absolutely not an impossible

outcome for Mulligan to win this race, yes.

No, not at all. Anytime you have Flavian Proud

up, it's always got to be a horse you take seriously.

The other thing to mention, this horse really fits Hoist the

Golds profile from last year as a horse that you're like, can

you get the mile? Like I'm not really sure.

And that he's coming out of the Breeders Cup Sprint and you

know, Hoist the Gold got the distance.

And I think the key with him is just going to be the trip.

If Pratt can get him out up front and he can get clear of a

horse like Nelson Ave. or Repo Rocks or Pipeline, then he might

be able to just cruise away up on the front end.

The question is if a horse like Pipeline really presses him, if

Nelson Ave. on the inside presses him, does he fade that

last half furlong a little bit? And I'd also question how good

were those fields in the Porto in the neighborhood?

You know, he beat horses like Gun Pilot and Coastal Mission

and 90% Batty. I mean, those are perfectly good

horses, but they're nowhere near the level of competition that

he's going to be facing on Saturday.

So I do think there's some questions you can make with a

horse that is 3:00 to 1:00 in the morning line in your

current, you know, very tempted morning line favorite.

I like another horse in here and I and I need, I need you to be

honest with me, Matthew, because I feel like you've lied.

You've lied to me this entire interview and I don't appreciate

that. Coastal mission is 12 to one

here. 1 the prep for this, the 49er right it in $1.36.

All of the fractions are what I expect to see tomorrow.

Why can't this horse win tomorrow?

He absolutely. So it's funny, I just finished

doing an episode of Cap in the card where I go through and get

my top pick and top value plan every single race.

Coastal Mission is my value plan in this race is 12 to one.

So I don't think you're crazy at all.

I think the biggest issue is maybe he needs to get a little

bit faster. If you look at the buyer's speed

figures, you know, the Nehru at the 98 is probably what he would

need to run back to his last couple over 9295 S.

Maybe he needs to get a little faster to win this race.

But here's the thing, he's an honest horse.

He's going to run his race and he's had a little bit of a

breakthrough. I feel like where he started out

his career, obviously as a Charlestown horse.

And over the last year though, he's been winning at Laurel,

he's won at parks, he's won at Aqueduct.

So he's starting to take his, you know, show on the road.

That was a big breakthrough, winning the 49 last time out.

He's the horse. I don't know if I'm including in

my, you know, late pick five. I'm including though, if I'm

playing this race vertically, I'm absolutely including into my

trifecta, my superfecta, those wagers because I think at 12 the

one who presents great value. Because I do think otherwise it

could be a little bit of a top heavy race with some horses like

Locked Mullican, Bookham, Dano, even post on, you know, running

all well. But those are all horses that

are 9 to two or lower. I think Coastal Missions the one

really big price in this race, that could run up into the

trifecta for sure. Yeah, I if people look at his

Charlestown classic and go man, it was only an eighth of a mile

longer. That's a three turn race at

Charlestown. Just just a reminder for

everybody. This is a 1 Turner.

Last time he did that in the 49er he was he was very much the

best beat Nelson Ave. who's also in this.

He bit repper rocks before that in the park stirred Mile and

then in that neighborhood that you mentioned earlier on, he

lost by a a length and a half. That's 7 furlongs.

Maybe with the extra furlong it's enough to catch up to a

horse like Mulliken. I don't know, 12 to one just

seems like awesome, awesome value for me that way.

Is there a horse we need to know about in the last?

In the last, yes, there actually is a horse you need to know

about in the last and that is Air of Defiance is a horse that

I like quite a bit in this last race #5 for Chad Summers, This

is a horse that actually finished second to Fierceness in

debut last year. Now granted that was second by

11 and a quarter lengths, but still came back to then win next

time out of Keeneland. Then went to the bench for

almost a year and went from Brad Cox's barn to Chad Summers last

time out. The horse, you know, showed a

little bit of early speed, chased the pace and then faded

as you would expect coming off of a year layoff. 8:00 to 1:00

in the morning line. Now we're getting second back.

I like the company that he's running against here in terms of

this is a beatable field. I feel like 8:00 to 1:00 in the

morning line. I don't know if we're going to

get that, but that's a horse I'm absolutely including in my late

Pick 5 ticket. All right, tell us, Tell us why

to sign up for naira bets. Well, we got a lot of great

promotions going on every single day.

Just today, in fact, we have a $3000 late pick three hit and

split both Aqueduct and Oaklawn Park.

So a lot of great stuff here. But you go to

nairabetsnairabets.com, download the app, promo codes get you up

to $200 batch deposit bonus, plus a lot of great free

resources. The YouTube channel is up there

completely free. Tons of handicapping and betting

tutorials, race previews, the whole 9 yards.

So we got you covered if you're a big fan of racing.

And we cover tracks from not just Naira, but all across the

country. There you go.

That's what it sounds like. If someone works hard.

People. That's what it sounds like.

How about that? Yeah, You hear me on this show.

Very little work. You hear Matthew?

He's got 35 things going on. So there you go.

Have a great weekend up there at Ozone Park, buddy.

We'll catch up soon. All right.

All right, warm thoughts, brother.

I'll talk to you later. Warm thoughts indeed.

Matthew DeSantis. There you go.

Crowd Florida alum, There you go.

Zach shakes his head. They have a different version of

cold than we do. It's very different.

Oh, if it gets. Below 50° there, get out the

thermal coast. It's on Long Island, to be fair

to my guy Matthew DeSantis, and that is an old cavernous horse

park. It just is.

That track is cavernous, man. It's going to be cold tomorrow

in the shade there, but they'll get a it'll be a fun day.

That's a that's a really, really good card up there at Aqueduct

tomorrow. So thank you to Matthew for

joining us there. We'll wrap up the hour.

We do it next.