Dan Illman | Clark 150

All right, off of his perch from Talking Parks All day, Dan

Ellman joins us here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

It is a night before Thanksgiving edition of the

show. Dan, did you know?

Keeping with the happy hour theme, this is one of the three

biggest drinking nights of the year, alongside Saint Patrick's

Day and New Year's Eve. Were you aware of that?

I was not aware of that. Thank you so much for telling me

and I'm happy that you you did inform me this.

But I think that for you, Friday might be a big drinking day,

because something tells me that you're doing your two hour show

of these. If this little Twitter poll that

you conducted continues on its way, you'll be sitting in the

frozen tundra under the twin Spires.

So a little, maybe a little hot Toddy.

I will put it this way, Kevin Kerstein, good guy, helps out

with the other media stuff as much of their releases over

there. Made sure I had an outdoor space

for Friday. So I'll be there.

It's happening. Yeah.

These are things. Yeah.

So I'll be there on Friday if you want to hang out, of course,

at Horse Happy Hour, horse racing, happyhourgmail.com.

Thanks everyone who pinged us to get a free sweatshirt last week.

And so we we sent out those this week as well.

So hopefully those will be in your mail sometime very, very

soon. I even sent one to New York.

I don't even know what to do about that.

You're going to have to put away the Nova SE.

I'm just kidding. You're always going to wear that

on the show. Proud of Nova Southeastern, I

mean two years ago undefeated national champions I believe

they were in D2 basketball, and then last year they made it to

the beaten in the buzzer beater in the national championship

game. But unbeaten this year, making

me proud again to be a Nova Southeastern shark.

Although of course, when I went and graduated in what, 97, we

were the Knights. Oh, is that right?

OK, all right. And is like Sharks, like it

applies also to the women's team kind of thing.

Was that the idea that like Knights was not applicable to

women's teams? This is kind of.

Like, I guess it was on Lady Knights back then and now

they're, I guess there's the Sharks still.

So I, you know, it was, you know, it was, there was a

different era. It's a different time, Dan.

Yeah, a different time, if you will.

He joins us from New York. I'm here in front of my.

This is a this is a, there's a fireplace, Dan.

Are you allowed to have those in New York?

I actually don't know the rules anymore.

Is that the? Thing we are allowed to have

them out in the burbs and some people are very bourgeoisie.

They have fake ones in their giant apartments on 5th Ave.

Speaking of bourgeoisie, we'll talk and and 5th Ave. we'll have

Steve Kornacki on next week to preview the scar model.

So we'll talk to there it is. It's perfect, perfect segue

there for sure. Dan joins us.

You know, I was out there last week for both the Shaluki and

for the Commonwealth turf. Last week we saw frankly too

sharp win that Shaluki. I have no idea where Zach is on

replays and getting those together, but that was a horse.

You know all the questions, Dan of the stretch out the distance,

all of those things answered all of them with absolute

perfection. Frankly, anything to say about

Too Sharp other than wow Wow. I mean, it was a super

performance. Yes, she did get an easy lead in

that race, but it never looked like she was ever going to lose

from six strides out of the gate.

She just looked very comfortable.

And I think at around the five sixteenths poll, you're saying,

well, she's going to start getting tired, right?

She's never really gone this distance.

Here's the question. She's going fast on the lead.

She was great in the stretch. She looked tremendous.

Phil Bauer's just doing a sensational job.

Jonathan's way. Of course, he's going to have in

the Kentucky Jockey Club a little bit later this weekend.

Hoping to continue a fantastic year for the Bauer barn and Too

Sharp and Jonathan's way they were, they worked sort of in

company last week. We'll talk about that in a bit.

Yeah, we'll get into that race when we get done with the Friday

card. I'll be out there, like I

mentioned for the Clark day, frankly, you know, it's Clark

150, Dan. And I think in horse racing we

sort of just take for granted that there's things like 150

that just happened in our sport all the time.

What did we just run? Belmont 154 or something like

that? I mean, just these, you know,

these sorts of incredible numbers and, and the Clark, you

know, it's been run every year that the Kentucky Derby's been

run since 1875. When you think of these older

races and and we'll get back to the Commonwealth Turf in a

second, where does the Clark rank on your, you know,

obviously the Breeders Cup Classic's gonna be number one of

those two turn dirt races for older horses, Suburban, the you

know, the Jockey Club at at now at Saratoga, that kind of stuff.

Like where does this one rank? Is it a top five, top ten tiny

race? It was probably a top five kind

of race 910 years ago, maybe a little bit more 15 years ago and

blame was winning it and you had Bill take charge win this race

and the Clark was a legitimate grade one.

I think the Breeders Cup is kind of watered down, unfortunately,

the Clark a little bit as it's watered down the Cigar Mile

towards the end of the year because after the Breeders Cup,

a lot of horses are simply knocked out and they're just not

ready, you know, to go another demanding route, race against

top competition. For me, the Clark is, you know,

it's such a historically important race, whether it's,

you know, whirl away winning from all the way back in the 40s

to Giant Oak winning the only way Giant Oak could know how,

and that would be by disqualification.

There's been a lot of happy Clark memories over the years.

I would say it's still one of my favorites, the Clark, the

Stephen Foster. Yeah, that's right.

The Stephen Foster for sure. Every summer.

It's so funny too, Dan. I think this year we had

reasonable weather for this Stephen Foster.

This year it was only like the 8° or something and it's going

to be like 28° on Friday. So there you go.

A little full Kentucky experience there, if you will,

between the summer and winter months here, getting into the

end of the, you know, sort of big time graded stake season,

moving our, you know, attention to places like Gulfstream and

all that other stuff. But first, we did have something

happen and I'm on the wrong stream here, but we got a

comment from a local guy here. Steve watches the races out at

Churchill. Baffert gets that win today at

Churchill. He was there, frankly, you know,

Darren Rodgers tweeting out about it.

You think fences mended here? How did the horse look?

All the things fences better be mended because he's going to be

here and he's going to be here to stay.

I have a feeling this time around, I mean, it's nice for

Bob that he doesn't have to pay to get into Churchill Downs now

if he wants to go. Barnes, of course was the well

hyped 2 year old today, the big expensive purchase and he

scored. I think he got an 87 Byer speed

figure. I think Andy Byer already has

sent that out and Daily Racing Form has tweeted that out.

But he had to work today. He beat a pretty decent Wayne

Lucas 2 year old and I know that horse has already run four or

five times, but look at the competition that horse was in

against. He was in against Chancellor

Mcpatrick up in New York. So that was a battle tested

horse. I'm sure a lot of folks were

thinking Barnes was going to win by the length of the stretch

today and people are going to go crazy about the Kentucky Derby,

but an 87 buyer in the 1st career start is nothing to

sneeze about. This is a horse I have a feeling

is real serious. Yeah, no, that's right.

And frankly, at some point when the purse is almost 2 1/2 times

what you can run for out West, we're going to just see more

Bafferts here. Is that right?

I mean, in my opinion at least. I don't see why not.

Again, it seems like if Baffords not running against Bafford out

there, who's he running against? We've even seen it the last few

weeks in these two year old races. 5 horse fields.

Baffords got 3, Baffords got four.

And you've mentioned it on this show many times in the past.

Now the point races are going to be skewed where you know, we've

got these short fields, it's going to hurt them.

Bob's going to have to move things around.

We know he likes to run at Oak Lawn Park in the winter.

That's really a basic operation for him.

But why not get his two year old started at Churchill Downs and

get experience over the track where they run the Kentucky

Derby? That's exactly right.

I think we're going to see plenty more of that.

Zach, do we have the Commonwealth turf?

You can jump on the show, it's totally fine.

We're very professional here, obviously on the horse racing.

Happy. Hour one of.

US is I wear a sweatshirt with a smoking horse on it that also is

on the microphone here. He's smiling because he just we

have we have no replays. One day, one day we will be

famous and sports. Wait.

I boy, I disagree. I disagree that one day it's

going to work for us. Yeah, I just I disagree.

I'm going to get rid of Zach. There we go.

OK, so the Laganos wins the the Commonwealth Dan, I gave him out

last week. Do I get credit for picking an

over 9 this year? Horse you do because you kept

the faith on a horse that I personally had trouble keeping

the faith with. I've lost a lot of money on

Laganos this year because I think like you, I saw the

potential and like you, I think I saw some troubled trips and

excuses and some really good efforts and he just couldn't

breakthrough. And I think for some

handicappers, whether you're right or whether you're wrong in

a situation like the Commonwealth Turf and you were

right and I was wrong, you have to cut bait sometimes with a

horse which just cost you money. You see them in the peepees all

the time. It's like the siren song.

You're called to them and you just have to resist.

And one day they're going to score and they're going to win.

But more often than not, not in the case of Laganos, credit to

you, more often in the case not when those horses do, when they

win it under late odds, you don't need them.

Yeah, I purely went on his last effort at Keeneland where he

finished like 7th, but he was behind like eight horses for the

whole ride, was trying to make a trip.

And I know you saw all these things for sure, but I just, I

thought, you know, OK, switch to Pratt.

Pratt's, you know, he's doing the thing right now.

Maybe he'll keep him closer to the pace.

I don't know. I'll just give him out on top

and there he goes. So there you go.

And we had another situation that with at Zia Park earlier

this week, Dematic. How many times do you lose money

on Dematic? And he finally comes through and

finds the right field. That guy Asmussen knows how to

spot his horses. That's one thing.

He understands talent and understands how to make money

with what he's got. The you and I have not, you have

not been on the show since I saw you at Breeders' Cup.

I was looking actually. Last time you were on was in

early October. You gave out Sierra Leone.

Great call, by the way. I didn't, by the way.

I, I talked to you and then 20 minutes later ISIL was on the

show and he gave out Sierra Leone and I still didn't, I

didn't like land on that horse in any kind of good substantial

way. And I'm like, well.

It just shows me back like. Open and ISIL, what am I doing

here? Yeah.

I think the minute ISIL put you on, you got a little sour.

I don't blame you, OK? I mean, listen, Sierra Leone

must be a nice horse because that's a lot of weight to

overcome right there. That's a lot of weight now.

I was at a local I went to my buddies kids like Little League

game once for some reason and Marty Brenneman was dating a

woman who had a kid on the team. Do you do you know that name?

Is that the Reds and. I know.

Marty Brenneman. Yeah.

Oh yeah. And so Marty's there and his his

soon to be step kid or whatever the kids relation is to him is

just dogging it to first base and he yells out in front of

this entire group of parents, Hey kid, drop the refrigerator.

And I'll never forget it, Pam. And and that's it.

When ISIL picks a horse, the horse has to drop a

refrigerator. You're totally right.

Thank you, thank you. And you're man enough to say it

and I'm happy that you said it because you'll be sitting in

close attendance stand a lot sooner than I will be and you

might be flat as a pancake next time.

That's. Right.

Oh, we'll talk to you on Friday. That's right.

Yeah, No, it's not good for me at all.

That's right. But no Breeders' Cup.

We haven't talked since, man. Obviously Sierra Leone stands

out. Did he move to the top of the

three-year olds for you? Because he did for me.

I think he moved to the top of the three-year old, so he and

fierceness are 1-2. And again, if you want to make

an argument for fierceness, sure, because he ran a great

race in the Breeders Cup up and on that really strong pace all

the way throughout. He never quit.

He ran great. Both of those horses, they're

they're 1-2. It's a shame Dornock retired

because when you look at the season he put on, he's kind of

the forgotten horse. But he's going to end up, I

think, as #3. We'll see.

We'll have the Remsen next week. A reminder, three grade one

winners came out of that race last year.

Sierra Leone, Dornak, of course, then domestic product was in

that race. We forget he comes back.

He wins over a mile at Saratoga earlier this year as well.

So, you know, look at that race next week and see if we can't

find our great horses for next year.

Just as a fan of the sport, Dan, are you are are you surprised

happy? All of the emotions that we're

getting horses like Sierra Leone for the 4th 4 year old sees, you

know, fierceness. I mean this stuff, this is the

stuff we've been asking for as fans for many, many years.

And it feels like there's different ways to unpack when

you get home from a trip and some people just leave their

luggage and they don't open it up and they don't do those

things and other people, it's right away.

They get it all out. I feel like it's almost like we

had the luggage sitting around and then we decided that we're

going to do the laundry and it all fell out at once.

We got all the great news at once.

And it I got to tell you, just as a fan of of races like the

Clark, frankly, this is such great news.

And just think, you know, you've got a Thorpedo Anna working at

the fairgrounds, you've got Mystic Dan.

Don't forget about him. He's coming back for a four year

old campaign. It's really nice to see again.

We're we've been used to, and it's unfortunate our best horse

is being retired to stud almost immediately after their greatest

successes. And it's very hard for the game

to build a fan base. It's hard for the game to build

a fan base when our top stars run 3-4 times a year anyway.

But it's real hard when they retire right at the peak of

their popularity. So hopefully we'll see Sierra

Leone, hopefully we'll see fierceness in races like either

the Pegasus World Cup. I'm assuming they'll be heading

for races overseas like the Saudi Cup and the Dubai World

Cup because how can you pass up that money?

But hopefully after we get through those races, then they

come back to us here in the States and we get them for a

second-half of the year because that's where the excitement is.

We want a four year old crop that, let's be honest, was

lacking this year in going into the Breeders Cup Classic, which

is why 123 in the classic 3 year olds.

Yeah, how good was this three-year old class?

That was a good class. I mean, I, I, I think it was a

class that it took a long time for racing fans and myself

included to appreciate. Sierra Leone, how many times was

a close but no cigar, although you knew it was there.

If he got the right set up in a truly run race, which is what he

got in the classic fierceness, you know, had that maybe unfair

reputation. Oh, he's in and out or oh, he

has one good race. He has one bad race.

What happened in the Derby? Oh, he's no good, he's good.

He's very, very good. The Japanese horse I think

validated anyone that liked the Japanese horse.

He ran big in this race, He ran big in the Kentucky Derby and I

thought we had down the road from Mystic Dan to other 3 year

olds sees the Gray. What an underrated season there.

I mean, are you kidding me? Winning the Preakness and the

Pennsylvania Derby, just coming from nowhere to doing it.

This is a very good crop. You know, I, I, I always have

problems, you know, ranking one against the other, sure,

impossible to do error to error, but good crop.

And again, excited to see many of them back at four.

And of course the rapido and excitement personified.

The the thing we tell ourselves, I think, you know, when we we do

this year round and we're handicapping and do those

things, we always tell ourselves we're not going to penalize

horses for how they perform in the Kentucky Derby.

And then we totally penalize horses every time, especially if

it sucks, right? Yeah.

Yeah, no, especially the hyped ones.

I mean, I remember Holy Bull back in the day, and this is a

long, long time ago, and he was going into the Kentucky Derby is

the big, big favorite. And listen, he just didn't run

very well that day. And Holy Bull emerged from that

race and guess what? He won the Met Mile as a

three-year old, I believe. Then he won the Haskell, then he

won the Travers, and he kept on rolling.

You can't penalize a horse for one bad race, especially if,

like in the Kentucky Derby, you can make the excuse that the

pace and and and the situation might have gotten that horse

beat. And you could argue the pace got

that horse beat and the Breeders got classy because they were

really going. Oh, and he did so much of the.

Work, I mean I. Guess just terrific in that

race. You know, I around here they

sell you can get all the Derby glasses.

I even have my Derby 142 pint glass tonight.

Why not from 2016? It's a Nyquist year folks and

the they sell them locally. They're made of plastic and it's

got a cartoon horse on it and it's called the unofficial Derby

Cup and it has all the last place finishers on it.

That's that's cute. A lot of your top picks, I

believe, are on that cup. All of them.

But like, really. Yeah, just all of them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, all of them. Yeah, yeah.

And so I I always remind people, I always say, if you think you

know about a horse after the Kentucky Derby, look at this

name and Whitmore's on that cup. And.

That's one of those horses that they really, it's that kind of

stuff, right? Mendelssohn's on that cup.

Like, there's really, really good horses on that cup.

The Derby is such a stressful race for many horses.

In the case of Whitmore, it was a situation where at that point

in time, the connections, I'm sure had an inkling.

But who knew that he was going to be an exceptional sprinter

down the road? Mendelssohn, of course, made his

bones for Aidan O'Brien overseas, mostly on turf.

And of course, it's turned out to be a really, really good

stallion. The Kentucky Derby just wasn't a

race for him. We saw horses like Thunder Snow,

remember when he threw a fit in the Kentucky Derby a while back.

He only won the Dubai World Cup up twice, so it's a pretty good

group again, Let's not. The Derby's the Derby and you

have to be kissed by an Angel to win the Derby.

Except for Badford, who's been kissed by 17 Angels.

That's right, all the angels and they kissed him today, of

course, with a 2 year old win at Churchill Downs.

He's staying at home and I'm Lou Rabo, thanks for hanging out

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Our guys, Steve still hanging out with the show and I very

much appreciate that. And I remember I got 2 up in

front of me. You say this 3 year old group is

similar to a Football Conference that beats up on each other and

then it gets called a garbage conference.

You don't. I don't hate that kind of

analogy where, you know, you might have a a A2 loss team at

the top of your conference, but boy, you know that it was a

bunch of good football. You know, maybe, maybe Nova

Southeastern is exempt from this, of course.

Right now, they don't win this game.

Do you understand? They don't lose.

I mean, they've lost what, once in three years?

So I don't, I don't really know, You know, I don't know anything

about that, right? Losses.

My days as the radio announcer for WNSU cable.

FMI believe you could get it in the school cafeteria and if you

had a special box that no one installed in the dorms.

And yeah, it was NAIA Division Two back then.

Let's go. I I'm told is it is that is he

what you just described is how many people get to listen to

this podcast. So there you go.

All right, so let's move on to the handicapping portion of the

show. My fake producer that's standing

over fake producer. It is Clark Day on Friday, one

of my very favorite days of the year.

Wake up out of a Turkey coma on Friday.

I do have to ask, Dan, are you a Thanksgiving family?

You guys into it? I am a Thanksgiving family.

We all gather around the good bird, a little bit of stuffing,

a little bit of cranberry sauce, Got to have the cranberry sauce.

That's that's the key. But then, you know, I'm a big

pumpkin pie fan. The family, not really a pumpkin

pie family. They like the apple pie.

And now listen, I love a good apple pie as much as anybody

else, but it's got to have a pumpkin.

Pie, I hear. You.

I hear you. I'm hot around divorced in some

states. The good ones, the good states,

folks. All right, so pick four starts

in a race 9. It's an optional claimer,

$80,000 if your horse is in for the tag, $134,000 purse mile and

a 16th on the dirt. Very one of my, I think, Dan,

I've got two favorite distances at Churchill, the mile and a

16th where it's that quick turn around.

I love the mile and an eighth turf courses where they start

that full stretch at the turf course.

So we get one of those here. This is Phillies and Mares 3 and

up, non 2 lifers. Dan, Interesting one here.

Despite the short field, we do get a short favorite in Amber

Cascade. She's been really good, her last

couple out. Yeah.

She's simply the horse to beat on the cold dope, isn't she?

She's coming into this race the right way for Cherie Devoe.

And I know Cherie's gotten off to a little bit of a cold start

at Churchill Downs, but she's just that a sensational year.

And again, this Philly just seems to be knocking on the

door. Now, she doesn't have a ton of

early speed. Maybe that could work against

her in a short field where the only speeds might be the two

Ichiban and the three Reagan's flame.

But if you're playing this sequence, I think you got to use

Amber Crusade if you want to get a little bit nutty.

I wonder if the four sultry lass is going to improve with the

blinkers off because I'm starting to get a little bit

tired of her act watching her races.

Two starts back she has the clear lead.

She gets beat last time out. It looks like she's got dead aim

turning for home and she just doesn't want to go through along

the inside. Maybe the blinkers off is going

to help get her over the top. So I would kind of use her as a

backup, but Amber Cascade looks real good on paper to me.

Yeah, I agree with you. Cats Cave is in here.

I got to tell you. I think the seven to two here,

Dan, it's because Luis Saez is on quite the terror at Churchill

Downs. Many conversations between you

and me and a nice joke with Mike Beer at Breeders' Cup.

Go ahead. That's a humble brag.

You can drink the Then I got to see Mike.

Mike. He's always Mike, isn't he?

There's no other version of that dude.

He's always just the same dude. He's the same dude all the time.

He's cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Where do you where do you think he learned that from?

Who did? Every time I hear Protege, damn

it, come on. Just in the sunglasses.

It's just Bregman. Bregman.

Alex Bregman comes up here. You're my favorite handicapper,

he says. He buys him a beer.

It's great. He's ate.

Beer's just standing there, like, who are you?

He's like. Oh man, these are the stories I

need. I love it.

Oh man, beers out there dominating.

It's great. Cats Cave.

I think it's horses seven to two.

I think he's really a man. Needless perch.

But I agree Cats cave in here. I think it's 7:00 to 2:00

because of the jock. Do you agree or do you think

this horse has a serious shot? Because I.

Mean frankly, I I think this Philly's going to take some

money simply again because we there may not be a ton of speed

in this race. It's a short field and at least

we know she has speed. She has a couple of races that

make her interesting. And I think turning back and

distance also might be what the doctor ordered.

I think last time out it was a little bit far for her, a mile

and a 16th. She'll be in the thick of things

turning her home. But I think you made a good

point. She's 7 to 2 and maybe seven to

two against. This group is just a little bit

light for me, so I would have to need a little bit more unless I

was looking at some real bombs in the other legs of this pic.

But yeah, I'm going to concentrate on the what, the 6th

and the 4th. I know we joke a little with you

about the route to Sprint angle that you or the cutback in

general that you seem to enjoy as a horse like Reagan's flame

that's going to be stretching out here.

Dan, is there anything in particular about this horse's

form that you think will allow that to happen?

Or is this more just, hey, in a race where the best horse is

going to be coming from off the pace, maybe this horse could

just be out front, stay out front.

Well, she's got she has good Sprint to route form in the

past. It's interesting that these

connections and Lindsay Schultz is a good trainer, hasn't been

more aggressive stretching this horse out in the past in the

second lifetime start. I know it was a turf race they

stretched her out in, but she was able to carry her speed a

long way through a long stretch at the fairgrounds.

In her speed plays. I think she is the speed of the

speed. I think she's going to get to

the front and we'll just find out how far she wants to go.

If you want to make just simply an excuse, last time out she

catches a sloppy track and a really hot horse.

The horse that beat her is really really good, but now

she's stepping up, facing older horses and stretching out and

that could be a little bit of a a question as well, taking on

some salty 4 year olds. We saw the Commonwealth last

week. We will see the Missus Revere on

Friday. It is the three-year old Philly

version of that race mile and the 16th on the turf course at

Churchill Bounds, 300,000 in the Kitty.

This is a grade 2. Some interesting horses in here,

Dan. This has been one of the if

we're going by eclipse categories, I guess the

three-year old Philly turf division.

Good luck. It's been it's been all over the

place. Frankly, it's been a really good

betting kind of group of horses for us this year.

Buchu's in here at 5:00 to 1:00 with Irad I, I think she's

really interesting. Keyhoe Beach, who's never been

in stakes company, comes in here at 3:00 to 1:00.

Frankie Dettori in town to ride there.

A bunch of horses that I think are longer odds.

I think Pharaoh's Wine is a very serious, the four horse here, 30

to one serious candidate to be an exacto trifecta kind of play.

Where did you land on top? At least here.

Really wide open race. I had trouble you landing on

only one. I think in the pic I'm probably

going to have to use at least three horses.

I guess if I had to give a tepid nod, it would be to Keyho Beach,

simply because I respect her speed.

I think Frankie's just going to put her up front and see how far

she goes and see how good she is.

But she sure looked good last time out.

I know she was odds on and that was a field she was supposed to

handle and she kind of got loose on the lead.

But I really like the way she was striding home at the very

end of that race. But I can understand anyone that

says she's stepping up in class. She might be a relatively short

price. A horse like Pin Up Betty is a

horse that I really want to kind of focus on in here because they

threw her into the wolves last time out in the Queen Elizabeth

the second against one of the better three-year old Phillies.

The entire crop that's she feels pretty.

The race before that at Kentucky Downs, I'm just willing to throw

that out. I don't trust anything that

happens there, especially bad performances.

And before that she was in good form.

She's a tactically inclined horse that I think will work out

a good trip. I feel the same way with

poolside with Slim. We've got a very good ground

saving trip last time out and unfortunately for her, she drew

post 12 so it's unlikely she's going to get that trip again,

but maybe that just helps her price.

I think from the morning line standpoint, she might be the

best player of them all at six to one on the line.

So I think my players would be focusing on the three, six and

the 12. Yeah, I think the 12, if that

horse is 5 to one or longer, that's the play, right?

I mean, we get Johnny V, it's not as low.

We're going from Frankie to Tori to to me, right?

Not a step down in any way in my mind at least.

I'm interested here, Dan. The Manoushka's in here is one

run, one race stateside, 6 times hitting the board and eight

tries on the turf, one for one at the distance.

Obviously that was last out at Keeneland.

See if that translates her issue, man, Big field and she's

going to have to do all of her running late and I worry about

that trying to make that trip. But we've seen this meet at

Churchill Downs. The only reason I think she's

got a shot here is if you can get to the middle of the turf

course, 5th lane, 6th lane, 7th lane, you're going to you're

going to get good run. That's a spot to be.

We had Travis Stone on a couple weeks ago.

He said the same thing. So if Tyler can get this horse

into that kind of spot, Dan, I think she'll be in a good spot.

I'm really interested in her. Tyler had a nice day today.

He looked, he looked back to being Tyler again, which is

good. I was surprised how much time he

needed off. But that wasn't nasty fall last

Saturday, so not too terribly surprising, I guess.

But yeah, Manouska's an interesting one to me here.

She's a certainly a contender in this race, to be sure.

I mean, just look at the company lines overseas.

I mean, she was running against the best of the best in France,

and she was no surprise when she made her stateside debut.

They bet the heck out of her in a full field.

And like many European horses, listen, they're not great from

the gate at times. It often puts them behind the 8

ball, especially in terms of a full field.

But that's what happened last time.

And you saw that burst of speed that she showed.

She was simply too good for those horses.

And something tells me she fits with this competition. 9:00 to

2:00 is a fair price. I'm really interested to see how

this race is going to get bet. Something tells me that there's

going to be a wise guy horse that takes all the money and

will be like, how'd that happen? Is it buchu?

I think Buchu wins this race. To me, Buchu's always been like

a Keeneland lover. Evan Joe has been like, oh look

at look at Buchu. She won the jessamine as a 2

year old. Look at buchu.

She won the Appalachian as a three-year old.

But she did run well in the regret here, I'll give her that.

When she was beaten by Pin up Betty.

I don't know, I, I I've always wondered about her that to me,

she's kind of always reached this plateau and she's never

really, you know, gotten a lot better since late in her two

year old earlier in her three-year old campaign.

I'm getting to the point if I'm wondering if she ever is going

to get better. She is a closer in a big field.

She should get some pace, but is she the best closer in the risk?

Would you rather take her other than the French Philly who to me

has more of an explosive burst of speed while Buchu could be a

plotting type. Yeah, I, I think it's Manushka

that that's why I brought her up first.

But yeah, I just it's it's the Butchu pick, by the way, is

partly because I think I'm gonna leave her off my tickets, which

means for sure she's gonna. Win.

It's really, it's gonna go off too.

So we're so we're down to a daily double, I believe.

The Daily Double does begin in race 11.

It is the Clark, the 150th running of the Clark.

No longer the Clark Handicap, even though it's a handicap.

Don't let anybody confuse you. You like handicap Stan?

You feel OK about him? Listen, I have no problem with

handicaps. I I think that's the way to one

of the reasons that maybe horses aren't running that often,

though, is because of the handicap system.

I like throw, throw 130 on a horse if he doesn't want to run

against grade one. Do you want to run them in a

grade 3 and pick your spot? Oh, I'm going to pick my spot.

I'm not going to run against the big boys.

I'm going to find a nice easy grade three stake where I'm

getting equal weights with inferior horses.

Now load the grandstand on them. 1200 LB beasts.

Yeah, pick up the refrigerator is what you're saying?

Pick up the refrigerator, pick up hissel, get him on his back

and. Let's go poor Dan 69 Dan that

guy did illman. I got to tell you that guy doing

radio with that guy at least once a week.

He would just have a cut on the top of his head from where he

bumped into something. I mean just at least once.

He's so tall. It's the world is not made for

him at all. I'm they just it?

Yeah, I see he's had it tough. That NBA pension's really taking

them out. Race Levin is the Clark.

We try to do something fun for these races and in this Case No

different. So we will be in the theme of

the holidays. If a horse has a chance, we're

going to save the neck and if the horse doesn't, we're going

to not save the net. Clark All right, so we'll go

with that. We will give this a chance.

By the way, we're not talking about the horses.

We're simply talking about the movie Mile and an eighth on the

Derrick. Churchill for the Great 2.

Clark $600,000 in the Kitty here for this one.

I thought this actually turned out to be a fun field, Dan,

because like you said, with all of the other race options now,

either overseas, Breeders' Cup, whatever it is, this race falls

in that middle sandwich of, of, of whatever else the tracks are

trying to figure out with a Cigar Mile.

You know, the race is on December 26th at Santa Anita.

There's so many things in the middle competing for this spot,

The Clark. I thought this was a pretty good

field though. I I think it's an excellent

field and what I like about it is not only the overall quality,

the mixture of three-year olds and older horses, but the fact

that you've got several speed horses and you've got several

deep closers and this could become a really tactical race.

So we'll go through this horse by horse.

We've got how many 12 to talk about or 10:10 to talk about

with Uno Moss Bourbon in the 10, but we'll start with ballsy

Frankie Torrey gets them out here.

The number one horse, Dan, we save in the neck or no?

I'm going to save the neck with this guy.

I just have a feeling he's a little bit under the radar

coming into this race. It looked like he was starting

to figure it out in the spring at Oaklawn when he ran 4th in

the Razorback. Tough post wide trip and then

all of a sudden he disappears. He comes back and they're asking

him to run a mile and an eighth at Churchill over a sloppy track

against Hit Show. I'm willing to forgive that

effort. Boy, Frankie rode the hair off

this guy last time out on the lead.

I thought it was a great ride. It took Hit Show the length of

the stretch to beat him. They're putting the blinkers on.

I don't think he needs the lead. I have a feeling he's getting

good. He's going to be a price.

Whether he's good enough to beat this field, I'm not sure, but

save the net for me, Clark. There you go.

Just like his dad maybe doing his best running at 5.

He's the son of gun runner here. Look, two wins and 10 career

starts. I'm going to not save the neck

here, but this is one where if this horse wins, I'm not going

to go, oh, how the hell did that happen?

It doesn't feel like that at all.

It's so I think he's one that, like you said, Frankie Rd. just

perfectly last time at Keeneland, third in the form

cycle here. All of the things seem to line

up that he would have his best effort here.

I just happen to think there are other better horses in this

race. I do think though, that he's a

must use in an exactor trifecta kind of play.

Grand Aspen is the two horse here.

Gerardo Corrales gets them out for Jonathan Thomas was not very

good in that aforementioned Fayette last time out.

Are we saving a neck here? I, I can't save the neck on this

one. Don't save the neck for Grant

Aspen, even though he had the excuse from the Fayette.

It was his first start off of a lengthy layoff in a very tough

spot. But and you go back to the

Pegasus. What real chance did he have in

that race? All things considered, looking

back, but just he had to run better in one of those two races

for me to like him. He does have some tactical speed

and a little bit of back class. I mean, that number three starts

back puts him squarely in the mix.

But just I I I wish he had better current form.

Yeah, I agree with you. Even second off the layoff, I am

not going to save the neck for the number 2 grand Aspen here as

well. I'm with you.

I'll be interested to see because the Harlan holiday is

actually coming up in a couple of weeks.

We'll see white barrio in that race.

I had the Pegasus as well. And so I I was a little

surprised to see him in this spot.

But frankly, I think it's probably 2 1/2 times the prize

money. So it makes sense that they'd be

running here at Churchill at least trying to pick off some

kind of check their croupy is in the three hole here.

I'll go ahead and go first. This is an interesting one to

me, Dan, because this horse, it so much of its recent form was

over wet tracks and we're not going to have that here, but

we're we are going to have cold weather.

So it's it's interesting how much is this horse going to be

comfortable with the track. Here's never tried Churchill

Downs before. I'm a guy who personally really

trusts Todd Pletcher to place horses in good spots for graded

races. I'm sure I'm not alone in that

one. I'm going to go don't save the

neck. I I think we see his best

running later on in this form cycle, but I'll go ahead and

very reluctantly tossed croupy in this group.

I had similar trouble, but I'm going to go the other way and

say save the neck for two reasons.

A, this distance is what he wants.

A mile and an eighth or longer is what croupy wants.

He's going to get the pace he needs and that's key.

And I'm not sure he got that in the Arthur's ride Race 2 starts

back in the Whitney where that horse just wired the field and I

don't think he had a fairly run race last time out in the

Windward Woodward 4 horse field. They were really intense on

trying to keep him as close to the pace as possible because in

a four horse field, how fast are they going to be going?

And unfortunately for them, they actually ended up going pretty

fast and I think getting into the race early worked against

them. I think he's going to run on

like you. I kind of think maybe he's

better as a second or third candidate, but I wouldn't be

surprised if he runs over the top of all of him in the

stretch. Oh sure, that makes sense to me

as well. Parolee's the four here, 20 to

one. Edgar Morales for Mike McCarthy

here did win last time over the distance at Keeneland comes into

this one essentially 4th in the form cycle.

How about this for the last three tracks, Pleasanton,

Charlestown and Keeneland And he wins at Keeneland of all things.

Dan Hubbard at. Pleasanton Yeah, yeah.

Listen, he's a high class. He's a high class son of Battle

of Midway. He doesn't want to win in

Northern California. He doesn't want to.

Win. That's quite battle midway, you

deal with that. How about that?

Exactly the neck for him. How about that?

For I'm not saving the neck for him because I think this is just

a little bit too tough for him and I don't think he has the

right running style. I do respect the fact he was

second in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita at this distance last

year. But that $100,000 optional

claiming win, I'm surprised you and Thistle didn't sort of pony

up and and with that pension money and then just bring it and

run in the Clark under your colors.

But you know, Yeah, well, don't say the neck for me.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm saying the same thing.

How about that? Sorry Dan, that we didn't claim

parolee when he was not available in there.

I guess he was available in there.

I saw about that. Could have bought him for a 5

year old gelding for 100K. You know, that's what everyone

in horse racing wants to do. Most Wanted is the first of the

two Brad Cox trainees here. He'll be on Rebo and Co with me

on ESPN Louisville 11:00 on Friday.

You can talk or hear Brad talk about both Most Wanted and Hit

Show. Then no reading behind between

the lines is I no longer do that.

Dan Ellman with the Cox trainees, do you make anything

of I know this is horse racing and not jockey racing?

Of Florence Giroux staying on Most Wanted but not on Hit Show.

No. OK.

All right. Next question.

I I don't, I don't make anything.

I oh, thank. I I now I noticed it now thank

you. I I appreciate it.

I I don't, I don't, I don't follow.

OK. They'll follow the jockeys at

all in that situation. Who knows if Flo picked him or

Brad said Flo, you're riding this one.

Yeah, we have no idea. By the way, when you talk to

Brad, ask him about Idiomatic's half sister is debuting on

Saturday in the first race. Supposedly the word is out.

That's all I'm going to say. The word is out.

Most wanted save the neck for me.

Unbeaten from 4 lifetime starts, I liked his performance in the

Oklahoma Derby. He never got a breather at any

point in that race. He took pressure and they went

23 and change, 23 and change, 23 and change.

That's pretty quick for 1/4 time starter going a mile and an

eighth for the first time and he was real game to win.

Now it wasn't the strongest field in the world.

He's going to be facing tougher from a pace perspective as well

as a class perspective. But I have a feeling this guy's

pretty good and I think he's going to give a good account of

himself and kind of looking forward to seeing if he's one of

these late developers that becomes a nice handicap horse

here where everybody, somebody else goes to Saudi and Dubai to

play next year early. Yeah, He could add, frankly the

son of Candy Ride, Most Wanted, he could add to that list of

those four year old horses next year, Dan, in these kinds of

races that are going to be really, you know, at the top of

the heap. I totally agree with you.

I think he's absolutely a save the neck kind of horse.

I agree very much about the Oklahoma Derby.

I thought that was wildly impressive.

He fought. Not only is he very fast, he

also has a ton of fight in him, which is it's not always the

case that both of those things in a single thoroughbred.

But yeah, had to do a ton of work against EJ, won the cup.

Are we worried about saying things like he had to do a lot

of work against EJ, won the cup? Not necessarily because of the

way the race was run and that he again had to do a lot of the

heavy lifting from start to finish.

And that could have compromised maybe a situation where after

that sort of race flow, you're not going to go off and win by

10, especially only your fourth start trying the distance for

the first time. Is it a class test?

This is a huge class test for him.

And if he goes off anything shorter than maybe 3 to one, I,

I think you're supposed to be a little bit leery betting him to

win. But from a pure contender

standpoint, he's one of the ones.

Owned by the West's is most wanted.

So all of the connections we would expect to win the Clark

with him. We go to the six horse.

It is hit show. He'll be the morning line

favorite. I'm guessing probably the

betting favorite as well. Dan for this one, given the

connections Tyler rides for Brad Cox here has won his last three

grade three, grade two, grade 2 Mountaineer, Churchill Downs and

Keeneland. We've heard of those places.

Dan, I assume you are saving the neck for hit show?

Don't save the neck for me on Hit Show.

Listen, he's been managed beautifully by Brad, just like

Asmussen has been managing his sources beautifully.

That's why he's running in races like the West Virginia Governor

and they found the Lucas Classic and they found the Fayette.

I will give Hit Show his props for several reasons.

A he's good, B, he's gutty. He really wants to beat you in a

head and head fight and C, he's the more tactical horse in this

race, the most tactical horse. You've got your speeds, you've

got your deep closers. He's going to be sitting in the

middle ready to take advantage of the tired speeds while

getting the jump on the deep closers.

There are lots. There's a lot to like about Hit

Show. I just wonder if this is one too

many a hard campaign so far for him.

His buyer speed figure plunged 7 points in his most recent start.

This is a good field. He's going to be facing horses

with perhaps a little bit more upside.

And then when you factor in the price, and I agree with you, I

think he's going to be the favorite in this race.

I'm willing to take a slight swing again, so don't save the

neck. It's a complete and contrarian

opinion. Got it.

I'm not going to be a contrarian here.

Please save me the neck in this case on it.

So I think what the gritty part is what really does stand out,

he is very fast, he's very capable.

But you're right, if he gets next to another horse, he wants

to be ahead of that horse that there's a lot of value in that.

So I'll definitely be using him on my tickets come Friday.

I I just think, you know, we've seen it at Churchill last few

times out. He's won at the distance, 4 for

eight at the distance lifetime. This is something that he just

does. And so 4 for five this year.

I'm with you. Maybe it's a lot of a campaign,

but frankly, we're talking about his last four races being

stretched out since May. And so it you know, it's not as

though it's it's too, too much, but I get it.

It is. It is all was running since May,

frankly. So there you go moving on to

rattle and roll a horse that we all fell in love with last week,

last week last year because he ran on short rest and went ahead

and won the damn thing at Churchill Downs in the blame

after winning the Pimlico special, of course, to try the

Foster came up second last year has not really been part of a

big factor in a race frankly, since that time did run the one

time in that Lucas classic in the slop.

I think he's more capable than what he showed in that Lucas

Classic. Dan, do you have him saving the

neck or not? Save the neck, absolutely for

rattle and roll. I'm expecting a gigantic

performance from him in here because I think the pace is

going to be fast and his last race showed he could still step.

It was the Lucas Classic. It was his first race in what,

about a year? He catches a wet track going a

mile and an eighth, and it's not like he was beating a million.

He was running on at the end of that race with a sneaky little

gallop out after the fact. I think he needed it.

I think it was really interesting that Kenny Mcpeak

skipped the Fayette because he thought he could get this horse

into the Breeders Cup Classic. And if you were, remember he was

on the AE list in the Breeders Cup Classic and they really,

really wanted to run. And it would have been

interesting to see how he would have fared considering the way

that pace shaped up. I think he's going to get pace

here. We know he likes Churchill

Downs, and I'm just not betting against Kenny Mcpeak and Brian

Hernandez Junior anymore. Burned these.

Days you stole one thing from me there and that's that.

I think you're right. I think Kenny really wanted this

horse in the Breeders cup. He really did.

He meant it. It like all the things.

I think he thinks he's got something and I who the hell am

I to tell someone said I'd break it down more than that, but

there's nothing to break down. That's it that's that's the

whole thing. That's it.

Oh man all right, so some horses that I do like coming up here.

Red Route one is the 8 horse that is a save the neck for me,

almost a no doubter here for me, frankly, this is a horse who's

had no success to Churchill Downs.

But hear me out with the chord. Oscar last out in the grade 3.

Before that though, here's here is my one legitimate concern

about Red route one. But I think he's got a shot here

at least. He seems to need medication to

win these races. Lasix, you know, whatever it

might be, he seems to need some kind of added thing to win at

this level. I'm hoping that we get some of

that form like he had, you know, in the Oklahoma Derby or

something like that where he ran without Lasix, lost by a neck,

that kind of thing. Hoping we get back to some of

that form. I worry about the medication

angle here, Dan, but I do think he's a really talented horse.

I think there's plenty of speed out front for him.

Who's going to be mid to back of the pack, frankly, to close into

that long stretch of Churchill Downs.

He's to save the neck for me. He's a don't save the neck for

me for several reasons. 1 personal reason.

And before the Pimlico special this year I was standing just

outside the paddock in this nice giant little ledge and Red route

One decided he didn't like the cut of my jib and he took one

look at me and kicked back and left an imprint of his of his

heel plate right in the wall about 6 inches away from my

face. So I decided I didn't like Red

route one after that and was very pleased when he finished

fourth. That being said, he then came

back and he got the better a hit show in the Cornhusker last time

out. I've never liked this horse.

He's talented. He's been managed very, very

well. I generally hate horses with his

running style, which is odd that I like to roll.

While I don't like Red route one, I just think Red will

enroll is a better horse than Red Route one and I think this

layoff is a little bit concerned and we haven't seen him since

July. Now maybe just Steve decided,

listen, we're going to avoid the big heavy hitters in races at

Saratoga. He can't compete with those

horses. We want him fresh for the dark

and early in the year, but I'm going to take a wait and see

approach. OK, all right.

Next up is the 9 horse Cook Creek.

Lucius gets about here 6 to one on the morning line from Mike

Maker. This horse last four out Dan

win, win, win second. That second was in the Lucas

Classic in the slop with hit show by a neck.

It gets a little bit of a freshening here.

That's a good angle with the Mic Maker horses.

The good thing about Mic Maker, by the way, as far as the past

performances are concerned is you always have 300 of

something. As an example, it's one last out

335, you know, 61 to 80 days off 708 examples like you always

just have those things. Seems to be a good angle for

him. I think just because this horse

is one that's been showing a proclivity for being near the

front and wanting to win, this is a save the neck for me.

Luis Saez also having a really nice meet at Churchill Downs.

I know that doesn't matter to you, but for those reasons,

look, he's a gamer of a horse and he's got a great jock.

I'll take, especially if I get 6 to one.

My goodness. I agree, save the neck for me on

Cook Creek as well. Maker has a knack for claiming

horses and usually what he does is he claims them some with back

class like Cook Creek. When you go back in his PPS

you'll notice that he was great at Steaks place as a 2 year old.

He went a little steak at Delaware as a 2 year old and

usually what he does is either switches surfaces or stretches

them out drastically in distance.

With Cook Creek, he just said I think the source is OK, took him

off the layoff and look what he's done with them.

I liked his Lucas classic. He fought very hard.

I am concerned that as he's gotten older he's turned into a

need to lead type and with a horse like Ballsy, get it with

the blinker switch and a horse like most wanted, I wonder if

he's going to get cooked up in a hot pace going a demanding

distance. But I think if he can sit a

little bit, a nice three wide tracking trip, he'll be in the

thick of things at a price turning for home.

So he's a contender. Yeah, I agree with you. 10 is

Uno Mas Bourbon. That is a three-year old son of

Macho Uno, probably the cheapest bred horse in this race.

No offense to any of the connections there, just hey,

this is a no, but this is horse of a lifetime stuff, man.

When you can breed a horse for 10 grand and he's well over a

quarter, $1,000,000 in earnings as a three-year old, that's what

I'm talking about. Those are our favorite horses

here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

Francisco Arrieta keeps them out here, 20 to one.

He's a don't save the neck for me and it has a lot less to do

with the horse himself. I actually think he's a four

year old. We're going to see him in a

bunch of either grade 3 or high level allowances, that kind of

thing. I think this is just a little

bit too much for him. I think he's a fine horse.

I think he's a four year old. He's going to be totally fine.

Rack up a bunch of checks, Don't save the neck to on Friday.

But man, next year I'm going to be looking for him.

I was going to say, don't save the neck for me this year.

Save the neck for next year's. Clark, maybe we'll see, you

know, Omas Bourbon in this race next year as a four year old

because distance is there and he's slowly figuring this out.

And I think Ian Wilkes is slowly figuring out that maybe this

guy's better on dirt and it took him a few races to figure this

out. Yeah, I think this is a

situation of too much too soon against a very salty field.

But yeah, I think next year he could be a really interesting

horse if they manage him right. It's the kind of horse that

blows up the trifecta too, isn't he?

Oh, because he's going to be picking up pieces in the stretch

and you know, he's going to be trying hard.

And if these feeds come back, you can see a wild result.

I mean he he could be a 20 to one with the same running style

as croupy and he might have more upside.

Saturday we'll have the Kentucky Jockey Club.

It is a a Derby prep. It is all the things.

A couple of years ago we had the top three winners of this race

were White Avario and two other horses that ended up in the

Derby. It was it was the rents in of

that year. We're getting into that time of

year, Dan, where we start to have to watch these races.

Certainly the maidens as well at places like Gulfstream and

Churchill Downs and all of those things.

Is there a horse? Obviously the return of

Jonathan's Way here. We saw him in the Breeders Cup

Juvenile, it just didn't happen for him that day.

Do you make much of a race like that for a Jonathan's Way or are

you going to be using him on Saturday?

I think you have to use them. I think it has to concern you a

little bit. I would have liked to have seen

Joelle be a little bit more aggressive out of the gate with

the Source as he was in the Iroquois.

I think they were very, very patient with him in the Breeders

Cup Juvenile, and I think that worked against him the way that

race was run. He's obviously very talented.

I remember before his debut at Saratoga, I mean I was there

that day, the Clockers were buzzing about him like he was a

good fan and he ran like a good thing because he misses the

break and he makes this big sweeping move and wins.

I watched his workout on November the 23rd.

It was a really interesting workout for Phil Bauer and that

he put Jonathan's way in behind two Phillies.

One of them of course was too sharp and the other one was a

Philly that ran today at parks and got beat at a short price.

So I'm not sure to make it that and Jonathan's way boy was

really urged along to keep up with those two.

Now those two are older quality horses, but to me, Jonathan's

way and I know he's a good workhorse because the Clockers

love them at Saratoga. Just he was being urged along to

keep pace worries me a little bit, especially at a short

price. I do think he's the horse to

beat based on his prior credentials, but I want to take

a chance with the rail horse. He's not joking, he's trying

dirt for the first time. Josie Carroll is a very good

trainer up at Woodbine and she is very cautious with her

horses, so the fact that she's here I think is an extremely

good sign. He's bi practical joke as Dan

was a stakes winner on the dirt. You go back a few generations,

there's a lot of class and dirt in this family and this horse

just turned the corner going two turns.

Last time out it went by and I mean he just cruised up with a

BIG4 wide move on the turn and kept on rolling.

So we're going to learn a lot more about this.

Source. Obviously trying dirt and

stepping up in class, but he's battle tested.

He's got 4 races. The buyer speed figures are

moving the right way and I think he's tactical enough to work out

a trip. He just thinks like he's

maturing from start to start. There's a couple of interesting

ones that are deeper in the in the past performance this year.

First resort here for Ian Hardy's coming out of that

summer stakes, the grade one up at Woodbine, but before that ran

a really good second behind showcase in the Saratoga special

over the summer. Gets to try the two turn dirt

route for sure. I'm fascinated by Dapper Moon in

this spot because that's a horse that try the two turns last time

in the street signs for get getting out to that distance

after being in that breeders fraternity and just gets a

little closer and a little bit better every time is going to

try to be part of that early pace.

If Ricardo Santana junior can keep that horse away from you

know, 22 and change or 40, you know, 6 and change something

like that. I think that horse has a chance

on Saturday for Dallas Stewart, who I I hold in high regard with

two year olds for sure. And so I, I, I think there's

something there, it's just a horse that they very clearly

think can do the two turns, can do the route that way.

And so that's a horse, especially at an 8 to one price.

I think we might get longer than that by the time we get to, to

the gate. I think that's an interesting

play here, Dan. I I think it's a very

interesting horse because he showed he's fast enough to win a

race like this already. Just look at that speed figure

from his second lifetime start at Saratoga and I think he has

excuses for his last two races and the Breeders futurity.

Remember East Avenue took that field wire to wire.

Dapper Moon was the one doing the hard lifting, chasing the

source all the way around and I just don't think that's his

preferred running style and last time out in the streets since

that was not a good trip, kind of in tight, made an early move

and then tired. I think this time around he's

going to let the speeds go. He's going to sit back, he's to

try to make one run and yeah, if he can get back to that race at

Saratoga, he's a strong contender and there should be

speed for him in here. Yeah, we saw the very best of

the two year olds this summer. Was that Saratoga?

The Ellis program has become very, very good, very

competitive, and I expect it to get even better in the coming

years. But certainly this year all the

talk was about those two year olds, including East Avenue,

they own Jonathan's Way and all those kinds of horses as well.

Well, here's Dan Elman. Where do people find you and all

the very professional videos that you make?

Well, our professional. Well, they played Mike Beers,

really the question, isn't it? I mean, that's.

Well, Mike Beers, the star of the show.

Everyone knows that. That's why they TuneIn.

But you know, every, every great, great, you know, kicker

needs somebody that's going to hold the ball.

That's right. And that's me.

That's my job. You know, home.

That was me with Gandolfo. And now we don't have a kicker.

That's right. Yeah, well, I don't have a

kicker, so that's fine. I mean, we, we, we got to do all

the time, all the time. You got to kind of go for two

all the time. You can find the great Mike Beer

and I'll be on those videos just setting them up Daily Racing

forum, YouTube channel, really nice content.

Plus we got some other really great handicappers, David

Aragona, Gino Bicola, especially Twitter at DRF under score, Dan

Omen. I'll be covering up a lot of the

races like parks today and we'll be looking at Laurel Racetrack,

one of my. Back to Laurel this weekend.

Yes, they've okayed the track and all that.

Well, no training tomorrow because they've sealed the track

tonight because of the incoming rain which could cause a little

bit of a problems, but fingers crossed we'll be back in action

because there are some stakes races on tap Friday and

Saturday. I'm terrified of what Zach wants

to say here. I just want to want to say that.

Clarify for me again that you both confirmed your excellent

ball holders, very good at holding balls.

Got it. So basically we just pulled a

Kelsey, what's her name, from the Indiana Fever.

She said that I believe you know, when with Caitlin Clark in

the press conference. That was a shame, but so then

you've done it. You won my reputation again.

My reputation already took a hit coming on this show.

And now And now that's it. Thanks.

Hey, at least I'm getting a sweatshirt tomorrow.

Great if you get. Deliveries on Thanksgiving.

I'd like to I'd like to know your mailman that would.

Be spectacular. I have to wait.

Thanks. Thanks so much for.

Forwarding that out to the fan. I appreciate it the one fan

thanks the. One fan, Mike Beer's like, I'm

done working with that guy. We're out.

Here, absolutely not. Well, look to his Twitter feed

for when he burns our our hoodie on Friday in the middle of the

street where he lives, there where he's allowed to have a

fireplace. His name is Dan Ullman.

Follow him on Twitter at DRF under score.

Dan Ullman. Dan, we appreciate you, buddy.

We'll talk to you next time. Yeah, I'll talk to you soon.

All right, there you go. Dan Ullman joins us here on the

horse racing Happy. I appreciate him very much.

Zach, I'm adding you to the stage reluctantly, but just play

the music and get us out of here.

We need to say this is bad stuff.

I have a question for you.