Dan Issel ahead of KY Derby 150

Hi, welcome back in Mike Andolfo and I am alongside him.

My name is Louie Ribeau. You can find him at Big Mike

Andolfo on Twitter. Find our show at Horse Happy

Hour. I'm Louie Ribeau at Radio Louie.

So, so thankful to be here for historic Kentucky Derby 150.

And I we want to welcome in our favorite 150 year old.

His name is Dan Issel. Good morning, Sir.

How are things in Denver? Things are great watching the

horse racing FanDuel and hopefully cashing a few tickets.

There you go. Hike.

Yeah, man. All right.

Well, you were at Keeneland recently.

How did Keeneland treat Dan Essel?

Keeneland always treats Dan Essel spectacularly.

I like that. He got the picture of Mark Pope.

Man, he darned right. He got the picture of Mark Pope.

Do you know you went viral on Twitter about your handshake

with Mark Pope? Yeah, and I'm guessing it wasn't

me. I'm guessing it was Pope.

I don't know, man. I don't know.

I'll take big ass over pump. Let's do that.

All right, There you go. Well, he is.

Dan Thistle joins us here on the Horse Racing Gappy hour on Derby

day. Race three is off here.

Dan, you know outside of the Derby, is there a race on Derby

day that you always look forward to?

Well sure, I always I love grass racing.

We might be we might be seeing the best 3 year old in the

country in this third race at Churchill right now.

Yeah, this Constitution cult is awesome.

Yeah, we were just talking about mind frame, yeah.

It looks really good right now we.

Were thinking Dan, you know and just trying to figure out like

what his future trajectory might be.

Do you think he, you know, this is the kind of like a traverse,

maybe Pennsylvania Derby kind of horse?

Well I absolutely, I mean we'll we'll we'll have to see how he

progresses. But I mean, his first race was

spectacular and, you know, I, I don't know, what do you think

about the Belmont with this horse?

Well, especially since it's 10 furlongs at Saratoga, right?

Yeah, yeah. And so we'll, we'll have to see.

You know, I've seen a lot of maidens that were spectacular

for the time out that didn't get it done.

So we'll have to see what happened.

Well, I think he's about to win by about 20 here, so we talking

about this guy for a while. Holy.

Crap. Whoa.

He's. Jeez, OP man.

Well, there we go. Well, the first pick, three in

the book is hit. But my, I did not have him on

top. I was going to try to beat him

today and that was a massive mistake.

So there you go, mind frame. I'll pull it away.

That is. Let's see. 123456 He won by 7.

So there you go. All right, Dan Thistle with us

here on the horse racing happy hour.

That race is done. You know Dan, every year this

this Derby City Distaff turns into a nicer and nicer race.

It is race 6 today, the grade 1,000,000 bucks here Dan,

they're they're lowering the purses again here at Churchill

Downs. I really wish they would stop

doing that. Yeah, I was surprised what that

the race that Idiomatic won yesterday was $1,000,000.

First two wasn't. It yeah.

The latch, right? Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. You know what we didn't get to

ask you about yesterday? Thorpedo Anna wired a wire.

And I was saying earlier in the show, Dan, you know, sometimes

jockeys don't get the credit for getting the lead, slowing the

pace down on the back and then, you know, saving their horse

with a stretch like Brian Hernandez junior did yesterday.

Yeah, yeah, I mean it was it was some kind of impressive, I

believe this idiot texted a friend of mine who said that was

the most over bet horse in the oaks yesterday.

She she looked like she was one to two coming down.

This, yeah. You and I disagreed on the race,

but we didn't agree. We agreed that she wasn't going

to win it and then she just ran away.

With it so there. You go.

She looked very impressive. She actually ran a better number

than idiomatic. How about that, Dan?

But of course, idiomatic. First off, the bench there when

you watch a horse, like Idiomatic.

You were there at Santa Anita when she went to the DIS staff,

you see her winning the LA Troy in yesterday, Man.

We say on this show fall in love with the Phillies and Maris

'cause they run longer. Idiomatic.

She's moving into that conversation, huh?

Yeah, no question. And you know great great that

Judd Mont brought her back for another year.

They they could have easily shipped her off to the to the

breeding shed but good for them for keeping her in and I don't

know Louis she seems to you know whether she's on the lead or Yep

she showed yesterday she doesn't have to be on the lead and and

still ran a spectacular race so I'd I'd like to see her take on

the boys at some point Oh wow. How about that, Yeah.

Dan Issel with us. Yeah.

She she's, I mean synthetic slob dry dirt any and she's wins.

She's the winner. It's unbelievable.

Nine of her last 10. Now unreal.

Eight over nice last night. I think we got a better chance

though, seeing seeing Torpedo Anna take on the boys.

Maybe little talk about her going to Preakness.

Maybe. Yeah, I I that kind of got shot

down yesterday by Kenny Mcpeak but 10 for a long Belmont.

I don't know why that's out of the question.

Yeah. Yeah.

No. Would you try Torpedo Anna

there? Would you scare toward the

Acorn? No, I I I I wouldn't.

I I might try. You know, you've got Baffert,

who's sitting there loaded for the Preakness, and I wouldn't.

There's no way I'd I'd run her in the Belmont, but I'd I'd, I'd

keep her in those. I'd keep her in those grade

ones, especially as a three-year old.

Now if you want to take on the Colts, you know, do it.

Do it next year. But why?

Why? Why take them on now when you've

got all these grade ones for three-year old Phillies that are

worth a lot of money? Yeah.

Fair enough. Dan Nestle with us.

Of course. Here horse racing happy.

I'm Mike Andelfo. Next to me I'm Louis Rebel.

Thanks for hanging out with us live section 322 here at

Churchill Downs. Dan let's handicap, buddy.

You and I get to used to get to do this a lot on Fridays and I

have by the way, I would. I think you'd be happy to know

we've kept that tradition going on the 11:50 show over at 680.

Got those handicapping sessions every Friday.

All of our horse racing talk by the way presented by our friends

at the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com get over there today.

You can check out those workouts, the videos and all the

articles by our friend Jenny Reese over there as well.

KYHBP a.com We're going. To talk about race.

Six. Let's go to race 6.

Race 6 is what we're going to do 7 Furlong One Turn Sprint.

The Derby City Distaff Stakes presented by Kendall Jackson

Winery Of course a favorite of Dan a Roman Serva.

This is a grade one and is $1,000,000 purse for Phillies

and various 4 year olds and up. Dan, where did you land on this

one? You know, I I landed on the 10,

you know, I know that. Yeah, I know that Albastar beat

her last time, but that that first weekend at Keeneland it

was impossible to close from more than, you know, three or

four. There was one point where there

were three, like through the through the third weekend or

there were like three horses that that came from off the pace

at the head of the stretch. Sierra Leone was one in the

Breeders Cup. I forget who the second one was

but our Philly Saint Benedict's prep was the third one.

And so I I think that I think she turns the tables.

I'll tell you, don't sleep on red carpet ready because she

absolutely loves Churchill and she's and she's going to be up

close. I think she's 3 for 3A lifetime

at Churchill. So you know, if you're doing, if

you're doing horizontal wagering, don't.

Don't leave her out. Yeah, Dan and I have the exact

same two horses on top. It's get out front, see out

front so far, is Baba going to be able to?

You know you say that the first race was not, it was, it was it

was stalk in the first race. But yeah, getting out front is

totally OK. I think Baba's going to be close

enough. 2 lengths that kind of thing.

Dan. Right about two lengths off that

lead red carpet ready though is ready to set the pace if she

wants to. And I agree with Dan. 3 for

three lifetime is impossible to overlook.

You get Rusty Arnold here, you get Luis Saez though that's an

absolute must use as well. Dan.

My long shot in here is 3 witches on the inside.

Flavia and Pratt. Mike McCarthy did win that Santa

Monica last out once in a while. Dan.

I just trust that California speed and sometimes you know

coming out of Santa Anita they really do translate on to

Churchill Downs. You get 3 witches.

Much shot here. No, because if you look at

Keeneland now, I know Keeneland's different than

Churchill. There hasn't been enough, hasn't

been enough races. But at Keeneland Louie, the the

California horses did not perform.

Very got it. OK.

And so I I I'm, I'm going to Chuck her in this race.

Got it. I have Elvis star third in that

one Did win the Madison as Dan mentioned ahead of Alva and red

carpet ready. But I I agree with Dan.

I think the tables can be turned here.

I also do a great red carpet ready.

Loves this course. All right, we did not answer our

trivia question. Oh, Dan, we asked.

You were at the 1940 nineteen, excuse me, the 1914 Kentucky

Derby. Do you remember the winner of

that race by 8 lengths? I I don't.

I remember the Burgess was exceptional that day and the and

the mint juleps were very tasty. There you go.

I can't. I can't.

You know, I'm 75. I can't recall the winner.

There you go, Old Rosebud in 1914, Johnstown in 1939, and two

horses everyone has heard of World Away in 1941 and Assault

in 1946. All four of those horses won the

Kentucky Derby by 8 lengths. At the time, of course, the the

race was being running at a mile and 1/2 so that you had more

chance to to run away with the race.

There you go. Yeah.

All right. Well, let's go to the 7th race.

There you go. The seventh race is we're going

to get on that turf course. It played, like Louis said,

played very, very, very. The sun just shines down on

what? Is that light?

What is that, Dan? Do you know what this is?

This, this sun thing? We don't get that here very,

very much the last two days. Go ahead, Dan.

I was just going to say the sun has come out at Churchill.

That's terrific. That is terrific, actually.

Yeah. We'll take a lot of sun for like

3 hours here. Let's go.

The long. There's supposed to be is there

supposed to be rain later on this afternoon?

Maybe it's going to be a pop up. It's like a hit miss.

They don't know. Very Derby.

Sort of like 20 minutes. It's a coin flip kind of deal.

They're not sure if it's going to hit here or not, so we'll

have to just kind of. See.

Yeah. So some sun right now would be

nice. Yeah.

Get this thing dried out a little bit.

You know they're still calling the track muddy.

But it's. It ain't muddy, it ain't muddy.

It's. Good at, good at worse.

Closer. Closer to fast AM.

So the the the seventh race is the one mile Longines Churchill

just staff mile. It's a grade two 750,000 mile

purse. Again we will be doing a two

turn mile here on the turf. Louis, let's start with.

You. Yeah.

I landed on the the Honey Fox winner in Chile flag Chad and

Irad can't beat them. Irad did me good yesterday so

I'm going to stick with them in this spot as well.

Does have late kick is probably going to have to do what they

what what she did in the in the honey fox here which is probably

about four lengths off the lead going into that final turn make

the late kick after that so I'll go chili flag on top here.

The three the six is Della Hay. Think this horse is really

interesting at 8:00 to 1:00. It's the other Chad Brown.

How often do we get burned by the other Chad Brown?

Pretty darn often. Three straight wins.

After getting necked out in its first race as a three-year old

last year in February, we took a ton of time off, ran again in

November, came back in a maiden special down there at aqueducts.

Runs over that course. Goes down to Gulfstream.

Wins over that course goes to the Fairgrounds.

Wins over that course. Makes me think that this horse

can win here. Three straight wins as well, and

I love the 8 to 1 price. Chad there, Dan.

Yeah, I'm going to go with the 11 horse Capisce.

Is that how you say it? You you look at the Chad's

numbers with these kinds of horses and look who this Billy

ran against. I mean, you look at her European

form in Spiral, how you say it, Heredity, Nashua and all of

those Phillies would be, would be one to five in this spot.

So I'm going to take a chance on La Franco de Torre.

That's my third pick. It's almost like Dan and I are

just picking up where the other leaves off.

How about that? I mean you, Scott, taught both

you all really well. So we're going to move on then

to the eighth race here, which is the pat day mile.

This is a race that we thought was going to set up to be very,

very strong. I mean, it's not bad.

It just didn't quite shake out the way I guess I thought it'd

be. I agree.

This is a great two 600,000. And by the way, I think it's a

harbinger for the fact that the Preakness field might be really

good this year. And we've talked about that for

a. Couple of weeks, right.

I think a lot of those horses that we thought would be in the

pat day mile and just point to Baltimore.

Dan, who did you like in the PAT day?

I I I like Nash you know you look down there he he didn't he

didn't run very well on a sloppy track got beat well he only got

beat a couple lengths by Tuscan sky track Phantom was a phantom

early in in fairgrounds and he and he ran close to that horse

His last race I I thought was was pretty good so I'm going to

go with the 12 Nash. Nashes best speed figure, by the

way, was that turtle down. That's correct.

It is maiden win that blew all of us away.

We all fought like we just saw with this last horse that he was

going to be the next thing, Dan, and obviously hasn't gone that

way. But maybe they find out with him

in a similar way. Gosh, who won the Indiana Derby

last year? I'm totally.

Yeah, yeah. But that Chad, you know, Chad or

excuse me, Brad Cox figured out that that was a horse that

wanted to go mile 16th and shorter, right.

And so Nash might be that kind of horse.

Maybe we do see him in the end of the Indiana Derby.

That might be the Indiana Derby horse for the Cox Barn this

year. I have top Connor on top here.

Ran and broke his maiden in that one turn mile shoot at

Gulfstream Park to open his career.

Tried him in the Bluegrass. Didn't run poorly only lost by 8

lengths in his first time going two turns.

I think getting back to the mile distance here will be really

really positive for top Connor. Other horses to fill out that

spot sees the Grays the five eight to one here you get Torres

and you get the coach. Here was another horse that

coming out of that bluegrass before that though did win it a

mile and a 16th at Oak Lawn High level Optional Claimer tried him

in the Ruby. Ran 3rd so got some Derby points

there. Ran them back quickly in that

bluegrass to try to get points at Keeneland.

Didn't like Keeneland. I you know, Dan, it's

interesting. The Phillies seem to be OK

moving dirt from Keeneland to Churchill, but we don't see that

on the cold side. Isn't that bizarre?

It, it, it, it really is. And I again, it got fairer,

Fairer as the as, as the meat went on.

But early on, I mean you had, if you weren't 1st at the head of

the stretch, you're not winning. So it was amazing, yeah.

By the way, long shot, long long shot playing that Who day the

seven Brian Hernandez junior aboard.

He might just be in the zone right now.

That's a horse that's going to be second off the layoff here

already, one for one at Churchill Downs over that mile

course as well. All right, we're going to go

now. Let's talk about a couple of

Derby horses. Let's get into the Derby with

Dan now. Yes, right.

We left off. We're going to go through.

Dan, I want to get your overall pick here, but eventually, but

we're going to just talk about the four, the five and the six.

Yep, very quick. Yep.

The four being catching Freedom, who of course won the Louisiana

Derby. Louis, where you at on catch?

Not a lot of knocks here. I'll actually let Dan go first.

Brad Cox is his guy. Yeah, you know I'd, I'd.

I'd like to see this this Colt win.

The Albaugh family have put a lot of money in, but I but my

pick in the Derby is 4K. Did he drop the mic and leave?

That would be great. Oh man, What do you think of

this horse? Do you think he's got a shot

though? I want to.

I want to make fun of Mike some more.

Go ahead. Go and make fun.

Forte did not make it to the game we did.

We did eliminate Mage from our pick six ticket.

I knew it was coming up. He.

Made us go too wide against Cody's wish.

It was great. I know.

It's coming up. It's all right.

It's all right. You know what?

The fact that Dan Nelson was making fun of me.

Oh, that's a good moment, man. That's a good moment, so.

Do you think he's got a shot today, Dan?

Where would you put him like like top five, top 10?

Where do you have him for his as far as having a?

Yeah, I I would put him, I would put him in the top five.

You know, the the, the, the race that he ran in the Louisiana

Derby. I thought something was wrong

with him. He dropped, he dropped back to

dead last that that certainly isn't his running style.

I mean he's not going to be on the lead but he's usually mid

pack in in all of his races prior to that and the way that

he ran now you know the question is what did he beat?

I I don't I'm not a big honor Marie fan and uskin gold.

He didn't beat much there. But in only the 4th start of his

life he was within a length and a quarter of Sierra Leone who's

going to be second choice in the Derby.

So yeah, I I put him in the top five there.

You. Go I agree.

I agree he's a top five type of horse for sure by the way

connections and and if you look at this horse sometimes we talk

about every other types. I think he's got excuses for

every other So when he runs you know that second time out in the

optional claim it's first time going two turns that he wins in

the Smarty Jones he runs back at the Risen star it's sloppy and

he only loses by like Dan mentioned a couple of lengths

there you know and then he comes back in Louisiana.

Derby has a terrible start has to go the furthest he's ever

gone his career and he wins. So Dan, the the the biggest

thing about him for me is in the final fractions theory, he's way

at the top. He's like he's 2nd and he's

already run a mile. In 360 he showed he can go the

distance. Yeah.

No, the the mile and a quarter won't be a problem.

Yeah, There you go. I think he's top 10 for me.

I don't know who's top five. OK.

There you go. Yeah, I think we should toss him

out of our pick six. All right.

I am not doing a pick 6. That was the joke, all right.

The fifth horse is catalytic. Jose Ortiz aboard Saffy.

We had Saffy on the air a little bit.

Talk to him during. This week I wish he were a

little more talkative because he's fun.

He is fun. He's fun.

He gets, he gets that. We're having fun with him.

I think that's probably right. The phone.

The phone makes it hard. It does make it his, Yeah, this

horse came in second in his last two races and the Florida Derby

in an optional claiming race as well.

Really, he's only got 1 stakes race and he's really lightly

raced. You know what's interesting

about him is I, Mike, if you think any other horse was in the

Florida Derby with fierceness, does do they beat fierceness?

Not that day, man. Not that day.

So what if we take fierceness out of that race and we just

have catalytic beating Grandma the First, who also qualified

for the Derby? Do we think of him differently?

Obviously we do, right? A little bit maybe to a 25 to 1

or 20. Here's the case I'll make for

him. I don't think he wins.

I want to be clear. I don't think he hits the board.

Here's the case I'll make, though.

He ran that back after three weeks.

He was sick. They had to scratch him out of a

race for a second race at Gulfstream Park.

They ship him to Tampa. He wins Okay or he runs second

excuse me. Off the layoff October to March.

He comes back and they and staff, he's like, he's in good

shape. Why don't we try the Florida

Derby And he beats every horse in that that field not named

fierceness Okay. It's kind of like when Flight

Line won the Pacific Classic and the other horses didn't know

that he was in the race, right. You know.

And so I wonder in a different year if we're talking about

catalytic in a really different way because it's still a 90

speed figure, it's still those things.

I just really wonder if if it's that again, like I said, I do

not expect him to do anything today of of substance, but it's

still Jose Ortiz, it's still he's going to get a good ride,

right, those sorts of things. I just, I think he's a little

early. Again, if he's going to develop,

it'll be Traverse, Pennsylvania Derby that kind of year.

What do you think, Dan? I think the only reason this

horse is in the race is so his connections can get a box for

the 150th Derby. I give this for absolutely no

shot. None.

But Subversion with some more Dan.

I love it. Who?

What's worse that horses chances in the Derby or Mikes

handicapping? No, my handicapping is good.

I actually agree with that. I agree with that there.

You go. All right, let's move on to the

six horse this is. It's this particular day that he

stinks. The six horse is just deal.

This is a justify. The justifies have been

unbelievable. Right.

So and we got a demand man. Dewayne Lucas here with Kent

Asmussen aboard. Keith Asmussen.

I said Keith, yeah, just steal here.

What do we think about Just Steal Dan?

Here's oh, go to Dan. Yeah, yeah.

Go, Dan. Dan, you know, I don't, I don't

know that that last race, you know, if if Muth was in this

race, would he be the favorite? Oh, second or third at worst, I

don't think. He's the favorite, though.

Second or third? At worst, though, he's top

three. Yeah, I agree, Dan.

And and you know, Wayne's horses, he runs them into shape.

I mean, you know this, this horse has made four starts

already this year. He's made eleven starts already

in in his career. If you look at some of his other

races like the Rebel, the Southwest, the The Smarty, the

Smarty Jones, I don't think he give much of a chance.

But then look at that last race. Where did that come from?

He only got beat 2 lengths by move and he was 32 to 1.

So this would be a great story. I'd.

I'd love to see this octogenarian win who win the

Kentucky Derby with you know a kid that's just getting his

writing career started. But I'm I'm using five horses in

my horizontal pets and just Steele is not one of them got.

It yeah. I think Dan's point about how

well he ran in the Arkansas Derby isn't worth.

We shouldn't overlook it if If Mage can win the Derby running

well in the Florida Derby last year and is working toward being

better, that just Steel may have done exactly the same thing in

the Arkansas Derby this year. I'm I'm more nervous, Dan, about

trusting Keith Asmussen in a first Derby right at that age at

this stage. All those things.

I talked to him. He's a very nice guy like all

those things. But I just, I wonder if the

stage for some of these guys is just a little bit too much and

that's all I would push back on. Obviously the coach.

I'm not worried about Lucas the good guy really doing here, like

0% son of justify. Obviously all those connections

make sense. But no, I I'm with Dan here, not

a likely winner for me, but I think just steals in my top 10.

How about that? Oh yeah, I think he's in my top

10 most likely winners. All right, the first stakes race

is getting ready to go again. This is the Knicks.

Knicks go overnight. Yes, it is.

If you were listening to us earlier, we gave out the the you

gave our best actor, is that correct?

Yeah, I have Best Actor and Oscar Eclipse 1/2 here.

Dan, in race four, I hate to make you flip back, but do you

have a pick for Race 4 for our listeners?

You know what, I thought this was the most competitive race on

the card. Looks very fun.

And and I know that best actor, but look at the horses in this

race that have to be on the lead to run a good race.

I mean, there is speed after speed after speed horses in this

race. You know, obviously it's 7 to 5,

Brad figures to win it. But I thought.

I thought this was the most competitive race on the card and

I spread deep on my pick five ticket.

I'm liking a little bit of a price here with the 8 horse

Strava. Let's see what happens.

Interesting one If Dan's right in the pace, falls apart out

front, look for Dennington. The two possibly on to pick up

the pieces here 8 to 1. Brian Hernandez, junior.

OK. So so Dan, you mentioned you had

five horses that you're using. Yeah.

What are those? Who are your?

Who are your 5 Derby horses? My fight.

Well, first of all, you know if fierceness gets a clean trip and

everything goes his way, everybody else is running for

second. How do you how do you how do you

trust the horse in a 20 horse field that needs everything to

go perfectly for him to win and and so you know based on that I

I use I use both of Cox's horses I use the Sierra Leone and my

long shot is the other Chad Brown horse who.

Domestic product won the Tampa Derby.

Yeah, yeah, that's those are my horses.

A lot of. Lots of.

Product talk a lot. Of the best of product talk,

Yeah, Daniel, my back to the final fractions.

The final fractions. He's the best horse.

Danny, the best late kick of any Kentucky Derby starter.

How about that all? Right.

The horses are getting ready. Now and and listening to people

who were there, he might be training as well as any horse

coming in the. I mean he walked a couple days

ago. He walked off the track on his

hind legs. He's he's feeling good, for

sure. Imagine you you can't get Tyler,

so you have to downgrade to Irad, Ortiz Junior.

How about that? All right, fourth race horses

are coming on the track. They just played the the Call of

the Post. Louis, let's get to our trivia

question. Well, let's let's have a, let's

have Dan, a kind of, you know, walk us through here, Derby 150.

You were at Derby 100. Yep.

That's not a. That's not a.

That's not a joke. That was.

No, no he was he was really there.

And so I it's it's certainly, it's certainly cool that we get

to be here for this one and we get to talk to to Dan who was

there for the Hunt Earth and oh, I get it.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. We'll we'll figure something

out. We'll get the app for something

this year. But you know just the Derby in

general and you know we always joke on this show with you Dan.

We have a great time about the Churchill Keeneland rivalry.

That doesn't actually exist or whatever, but Derby Day itself,

as far as, you know, just the the calendar, the race card

today and yesterday, you know, kind of like being a Spring

Breeders' Cup on the opposite side of the schedule, you know,

Do you, How much do you look forward to these two days of

racing? Immensely.

I you know, I've, I've said before if you give me my choice

of attending every sporting event and I I don't know how

many derbies I've been to. But I know my first one was in

1968 when I was a junior at at at UK and I'm going to guess

I've been to 25 derbies maybe more.

And even even with that, if you gave me my choice of any

sporting event that I could attend, Super Bowl, World

Series, NBA Championship, the Masters, I would pick these two

days to be at Churchill Downs. There you go.

Love it. He's Dan Issel.

He's out there in Denver doing the darn thing.

Say hi to Sherry for us, buddy. We'll catch up soon, OK?

Bud. Alright, have a great day guys.

Thanks, Sam. There you go, Dan Issel.