Derby Trail Hits Tampa Bay | Barry Spears

I welcome in. It is a Thursday, February 6th

edition of the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

His name is Barry. My name is Louis.

We'll be with you for the next little bit here talking Tampa.

You know it's Tampa season when it's the spring and you see

Barry's face. That's how it goes.

I say spring sure as bleep doesn't look like spring outside

my window here at the studios of ESP at Louisville, but that's

neither here nor there. Want to thank our opening

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fly in for the Derby young Barry Spears than it is to actually

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That's lovely. That's lovely.

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friends at Louisville Executive Airport.

Barry, welcome in. We're deep in the 20 point preps

on the Derby trail at this point.

We're gonna watch some replays, kind of go through those

together. I thought some really good

performances, different types of performances too, from some of

these three-year olds. We're hoping we'll step forward.

Zach, can we start, can we start out West by chance?

Is there a way to do, I don't know if you have it up first,

but Citizen Bowl, if you have it ready to go, I'd like to watch

the Citizen Bowl replay because Barry, so often in our sport,

you and I and me and everyone else that watches 2 year old

racing always the question always pops up toward the end of

the two year old season, are they are they going to be able

to do it at three? Can they do that at three years

old? Is that something that we can

figure out? I thought him coming back right

away and looking like this, Barry was a big, big positive.

Yeah, it always is. I mean, one of the things I do

as as a handicap for an analyst is when horses come back off

layoffs, you know, in a similar form or with similar speed that

they had before the layoff or right before it.

It's always a good sign that they're they're going to move up

and and run a really good race probably in the near future, if

not right at that point. So we do go to that replay now.

That is the Robert B Lewis out West at Santa Anita over the

weekend. Citizen Bowl your winner.

Rodriguez is now re rallying on the outside so he obviously

wasn't comfortable, but he is now as he comes after Citizen

Bowl at the top of the stretch. Mannequin Rd. is down at the

rail. 3 sixteenths of a mile to go.

Citizen Bowl still in control. Mannequin Rd. trying to get into

second past the Furlong Bowl and Citizen Bowl.

Better than ever coming to the 16th bowl.

He is back in a big way. Citizen Bowl leads them all the

way, Another Robert B Lewis for Bob Baffert.

I really like Barry too, How Rodriguez finished that race, we

can get into that in a second, but coming back that running

style, we've seen this from Baffert before with his

three-year olds. Get out front, stay out front.

Boy, if you could do it, it's great, great Gates wire.

Not a bad way to live. Barry if you could do it.

I thought looked really good for first time off the layoff

especially. Hey Barry, can you unmute your

mic for me buddy? It's really hard, yeah.

It's really hard to analyze those races out West because

it's a matter of who, you know, who's Baffert's second string

is, how good his first string is, because those are the horses

that they're kind of running against, and those are the best

horses out there. So if you believe that Bob

Baffert's second string is really good, then his first

string is probably really superior and it will translate

when they come out east. If not, then you might get those

situations where, you know, he might ship a horse out east, get

bet quite a bit and be very vulnerable.

So it it, it's really, really dicey, but Citizen Bowl look

good. Is he in that first tier for

you? Is he the second tier for the

Baffert runners at this? .0 Yeah, no, he's definitely.

There, he's top tier for sure. Right.

OK, yeah, yeah, he's. I can't remember a horse.

I mean, it's in the points there.

At least Barry that qualified for the Derby on February 1st.

I mean like it's 60 points could get you in this year.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're they're, it's going to

be spread out I think a lot like last year.

I'll be interested to watch his pattern too.

Do they run him back again in March and make the Derby the

fourth race of the year for them?

Or do they skip March, get to the San Anita Derby and then

running the Derby is kind of like second off live.

I I simply don't know. My sense is you, you got to run

them in March, right? You got to keep that pattern

going, right? Yeah, I, I would, if he, if he's

on schedule and and he's going to win the Derby, you know, it's

a mile and a quarter race, it's going to need foundation.

Baffert's the expert at that. He knows that he's got to get a

couple more races into the Source before the Derby.

Watching replays, going through the three Derby preps from this

past weekend were presented in the first segment by Louisville

Executive Airport. Louisville executive.com got you

set up for Derby this year on Long Island.

We saw the winners this weekend. The winner of that one was

Captain Cook. Barry, I go to Equibase and look

up all these horses. Captain Cook's one of the most

common names of a horse all time in the United States.

So it was just one of those that we got to see over and over and

over again as a name overall. Do you find yourself able to

separate out the fact that it's Fusa Ichi Pegasus, the last wood

winner you know, to win the Kentucky Derby as well?

We had a, you know, a a Wood participant win in 2003.

Does that matter to you that it's been 20 years since

someone's come off Long Island to win the Derby?

Once we get to the Derby? Not really.

I mean, good horses come from anywhere.

I, I, I mean, it's just a matter of where they're based.

And if the best horse happens to be in New York or going that

route, so be it. You know, I, I, I don't really

take too much stock into those kind of statistics, but, you

know, it's, it's, it's definitely worth noting that

people haven't been using. Yeah, right.

That particular Rd. But that can change in a

heartbeat, as you know. Yeah.

I love what you just said at the end there.

Which is it? It's more about trainer choices

than it is about Aqueduct or something, right?

You know, like that kind of thing.

And so, yeah, I I totally agree with you, Zach.

Go ahead and pull up that race from Aqueduct this past week.

And Captain Cook your winner here.

A nice trip so far. Here's the run from Surfside

Moon who's in pursuit has taken forth trying to pick him up as

Global Steve is making hard work of it so far.

And 5th. Then from the back, Omaha, Omaha

and the trailer Corvus. They approach 1/4 mile left to

go. Manny Franco a look over his

right shoulder and now tells Captain Cook to go because

Surfside Moon was ready to pounce.

On the grandstand side, Captain Cook is showing more.

Captain Cook is now up by a length and a half.

Surfside Moon continues to give game chase.

Omaha Omaha is running on for 3rd.

Here is Captain Cook with a 16th left to go.

Captain Cook is up by two. Surfside Moon is second, but

Captain Cook wins the Withers. Captain Cook wins it as always

on the show. We think Naira's YouTube page

for that one. That's a long, long joke on this

show. I have, I have to say, Chris

Greene. Chris, Chris Griffin, excuse me,

has been at Aqueduct long enough that I I'm used to that voice.

It took me a minute, Barry, because I was so used to Johnny

B. There, you know.

Oh yeah, Johnny I. So, so good.

I thought this about Captain Cook's performance and I and I

hope it's repeatable because he you'll love it when you see a

young developing horse take the cues as well as he did for Manny

Franco, right. Manny said, hey, we got to go,

buddy. There's a horse right, but next

to us. We got to get going.

Shakes up the reins a bit. That horse takes off is willing

to move out to the third. The three path on that that far

turn to make that move as well. Barry, I thought, just a very

professional win here. Yeah, I mean, if you take a look

at the two horses that were favored in that race and low

Quality and Captain Cook, MO Quality had a little bit more

seasoning, had run some tough races in the stake and this

horse kind of blew the doors off that one.

I I don't know if MO Quality actually ran his best race or or

even close to that, but still he got beat pretty good and it it

really upgrades for me Captain Cook going forward.

It was interesting too. Surfside Moon, that's a son of

Malibu Moon. It's not as though we're dealing

with a horse that's, you know, I know 33 to one was the number

here. Barry.

I thought that run was pretty good and that horse was still

kicking really well late. Decent I, I mean, he's

definitely going to have to get a little bit quicker.

I, I think part of that finish was, was, you know, people

stopped in front, but you know, it's encouraging.

I mean, anytime you have a horse that's improving, it's

encouraging this time of year. Surfside Moon A1 time winner

that was in a maiden race at Laurel, Excuse Me at Delaware

Park before running in the Laurel Fraternity in the Awad

Stakes at Belmont at the Big A at Aqueduct and then showing up

in this one. Not a bad check, $50,000 for a

second place finish there. In the Withers.

We move, no kidding, to South Florida for one of the more

interesting runs of the day. Burnham Square does win the

Grade 3 Holy Bull. Edgar Zaez and Ian Wilkes team

up on this one. Barry, I was talking on Monday

on Blood Horse Monday with my friend Sean Collins about this

race, and I know you're a Florida guy and you love

Gulfstream and a guy like Edgar Zaeus, who's just a Gulfstream

dude, right? He's there all summer.

He's, you know, riding away when it's 100° out, when those pop up

storms happen on random Fridays, you know, that kind of stuff.

Edgar's there. It's fun to see a guy like that

wouldn't. Race like this isn't it?

Absolutely. I mean he's worked his butt off

and and got hurt a few times in the past few years.

So it's good to see him have success because he's a good

rider. He just needs the opportunities

and he's starting to get him. I think you're right about that.

Let's check out the last stretch here of the Holy Bull this past

Saturday at Gulfstream Park. And he strides to a length and a

half lead from the outside. Burnham Square tries to bridge

the gap and he starts to gain a bit of ground.

Ferocious is flattening out off the turn of the stretch.

Drive Burnham Square under a full head of steam and he runs

by to take the lead for the 16th to go.

Tappet Street is fired but he's second best to Ian Wilkes,

trainee Burnham Square. Who wins the Holy Bull going

away under Edgarnsias? So this was interesting too,

Barry, because there was a moment in this race where he's

last and they have to make up the the the pace, frankly, just

after the first turn and he gets up along the rail and he

actually, he doesn't have to stop.

It's not that abrupt, but he does run into traffic.

So he had to move essentially make three different moves

during this race. Eventually gets a little bit of

space, gets outside in this field.

I thought frankly, of the three runs this weekend, this was the

best one. Yeah, it definitely was the best

one. I my instincts are telling me

that this was more of a perfect trip type win than what that

horse is actually getting credit for at this point.

We'll see. You know, I I do enjoy the

comment that the trainer gives on this horse saying that he

doesn't get tired. You don't really hear that

often. You don't hear it from trainers

very much. Yeah, but it it's worth noting

and the horse did finish up like like he does want to kind of

keep running. So definitely interesting to

see, but my instincts are telling me you might have

tripped out, but we'll see. Burnham Square a good third once

in a high level maiden special weight here across the street at

Churchill Downs did break his main down there.

Gulfstream Park goes on to win the Holy Bowl.

The Florida Derby, of course, one of the best predictors for

success in the Kentucky Derby in recent years, certainly the last

20. Gary Spears with me this

morning. We're presented by the

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Old Bowman Field here in time, man, Zach, we do this every

week. And I always forget, but they

filmed a James Bond film at that airport and I need to have this

in my head. Bowman Field, Kentucky, there it

is. All right.

What was filmed there? Historic buildings, current

operations. Ding, Ding, Ding.

Oh, come on. Goldfinger there it is.

Goldfinger. All right.

They take part of Goldfinger here at Louisville at Bowman

Field, louisvilleexecutive.com. You could be, you could be like

James Bond. How about that?

All right, so Barry, we have to get into the handicapping as

well. But first let's let's do the

generic thing here. Do you have a favorite for the

Derby or a three-year old that caught your eye?

I thought for example on Gulfstream at Gulfstream on Holy

Bold Day, River Thames might have had the best race of any 3

year old that day. Yeah, I think you might be

right. That was the horse I was gonna

actually mention as well. But no, no, no, no.

That's good. That's good.

I I mean we. Both say the same thing at

least. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I, I think that horse kind of stamped himself as a, as a,

as an up and coming contender for the Derby.

I-1 horse I do think should probably get off the trail is

ferocious. I, I just don't think this horse

wants to really go two turns in. You think he's 7.1 kind of

horse? Yeah, he's a Miller.

He, he, he looks like a stone cold Miller.

And, you know, I think that might be the best route, but

we'll see. I mean, he could kind of get

better and mature as as the year goes on and maybe be ready for a

race like the Travers, but he just doesn't seem like he's he's

ready for for that two turn test.

And you know, his races show it too.

I mean, he kind of shows up and then he fizzles out and and

that's usually the telltale sign that they don't want to really

go that distance, but he could get it later on.

Yeah. And frankly, the, the good thing

about the three-year old season 1 of the fun things on our end

of it's very, I'm sure a frustrating part for trainers is

figuring these things out, seeing which horses want to go

distance and want to go two turns, whatever it is, but also

figuring out who's gonna be in like the Pat Day Mile.

Because a horse like Ferocious might win the Pat Day Mile.

That's a great race to win, you know.

So I mean, that's, that might be a spot where he ends up on Derby

Day anyway. And it just happens to not be in

the Kentucky Derby. So who knows?

But yeah, that's interesting. It's an interesting take on

Ferocious. I he's one of those, you know,

coming back from 2 year old success and those kinds of

things. And, and I think you're probably

right that he's more of a, he's more of a Malibu 3 year old than

he is in Kentucky Derby 3 year old, something like that.

So there's nothing wrong with that.

All right, Oakside, anything standing out?

We'll talk Suncoast in race two of our late pick 5 here at Tampa

Bay. Anybody stand out on the Oaks

trail to to Mary Spears so far? Actually, no, I I think that

division is really, really competitive.

And good, by the way. Yeah, You know, it's just going

to be interesting how that shakes out.

I think at least early on, or at least right now, that Oaks race

is setting up to be better than the Derby with the the

competitiveness anyway, at least right now.

The top end of the field, yes, I can eclaton a good cheer and

take charge of milady I love. The only one I've been touting

is simply joking. I wit Beckman starts this horse

in a maiden in a excuse me, in a stakes for a maiden and goes

ahead, wins that race, comes back wins last time out.

I'm interested to see her once she gets up against better

competition. Yeah, Eclaton ran good in the

Ford Gal last weekend and that horse really doesn't kind of

want 7 furlongs kind of outclass that field.

And, and didn't you could tell that horse didn't really get the

stretcher legs. That probably would be the one

that I'm going to keep an eye on.

But there there's so many that are that are pretty good in that

same kind of category and with that same kind of running style.

So it's going to be interesting with Brad Cox too.

So he's he's got his hands full, Yeah.

Literally no one takes a horse. He and Baffert best at taking

horses from 7 furlongs to 9, no question.

So all right, he's Barry Spears, I'm Louie Rabot and a reminder

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Barry, we're about to go on the Derby trail through Tampa here.

You and I will be going to a different trail this year and I,

I hope everyone will come to the to the Wood Memorial with us and

check out Ozone Park and all the beautiful planes flying in and

out of JFK to that old TWA, that beautiful, that beautiful

architectural marvel that is the TWA air area over there out

there. But come on and say hello to

Barry and to me and to you can even meet producer Zach.

How about? That oh.

Man, that's the treatment. Be alive.

I've been told too that Johnny P is going to be in the house.

So these are these are things people.

So, you know, if you want to meet Johnny P, it's a I'm

telling you. We're also going to have a

giveaway associated with the the wood memorials to be tuned in

for that. It has something to do with

Barry, which is it should scare all of you.

I mean, it's OK to it really should it really should scare

all of you. But we had to Tampa for the

weekend. By the way, we will be posting

this, of course, on the horse racing happy hour platform.

I'm interviewing Jason Beam as part of my ESPN Louisville show

tomorrow morning and we will go through with his thoughts.

We'll post that as well up at the happy hour.

Paige, we're going through the late pick 5.

So it's head time to head down to Tampa.

We start with an allowance optional claimants a mile and an

eighth on the turf there for Phillies and Mares Florida

essentially non to lifers here, $54,000 in the Kitty here.

Couple of questions for you, Barry, But I thought, you know,

we're going to sit synthetic to turf with lucky combination and

are the morning lines out just yet?

They are out right now. OK.

We're going to find out how good my handicapping was and if I

could be a a a morning line maker.

My first question was about about lucky combination.

She's eight to five. Obviously they're not worried

about the move from synthetic to turf Mary.

No, they they really shouldn't be.

I mean, at least from a morning line perspective, this horse

probably should be favored. But I, I, I don't know, I, this

race seems a lot more competitive than that.

I, I just think the numbers on the page or the buyers actually

look a lot better than they really are.

And there, there's some ways to go in here.

I I think retired Kathy has some good races to go to and.

She's a horse of course, too. Yeah, likes it there.

No, no, no. Never.

A long shot that may have some upside in a race like this and

runaway diva. I couldn't discount that horse,

especially coming back off the layoff.

So it's it's not just a matter of the Christophe Clement horse

to the hoop. They're, you know, usually at

Tampa Bay, you get these kind of races that are super duper

competitive like this one, have a big favorite that doesn't pop

and then you get all kinds of chaos.

And I think this is sort of that race.

It's interesting you you talk about a long shot.

Siempre Elegante is the outside horse here for Chad Brown,

coming off a massive layoff July of 23, almost two years coming

up for that horse off the track. It is a good angle for a Chad

Brown. Do you think he has her in here

just to get her legs under her or is this a spot where he's

trying to win, you think? It's tough with that post.

I'm sure they're, they're the intention's to win, but you

know, I'm sure he's going to tell Dylan Davis to, to do the

best you can with what you got, because I don't really think

that this pace is going to be super, super fast or anything

like that. So it's going to be tough.

They can work out a trip. I mean, if, if, if that horse is

good enough, if she's good enough, she'll win.

But I, I would bet against that at 7:00 to 2:00.

That's, that's a tough pill to swallow getting out there two

years, you know, all right. Yeah, we move on to the

Suncoast. The Suncoast, of course, a 20

point prep for the Kentucky Derby.

We like to play games around here when choosing the winners

of big stakes races, so we will do it for both of the Graces

here. Barry, we were going to play

sunny and rainy. If a horse can win the Suncoast,

we're going to call him Sunny. And if they cannot, I want to

call them rainy, or at least if they're a play against for this

field. I did not know the odds going

in. And so we will go through them

just in order. The Suncoast is Race 9 starts

with late pick 4. It's a mile 40 at Tampa of

$150,000 in the Kitty here. And of course, 20 points toward

qualifying for the Kentucky Oats de la Ren for Owen Hardy and

Jesus Castanon comes out of a win last out on the grass at

Tampa, but before that did break her maiden.

Oh, the synthetic. OK, what are we making this one?

Is this rainy or are we sunny today with this one?

It's rainy, I just can't see this one switching over and

doing better but. I agree, especially 3 year old

races. I just wonder if she's fast

enough, frankly to win this race.

I think that slower setup you get on a turf race, they're not

going to get in a mile 40 type of setup.

So I'll agree with Barry here. I'm rainy on the one De la Ren

in the spot. Dancing magic does come in

Junior. Alvarado gets the lead.

All he's done is win half his races at Tampa this year.

He's 4 for eight. She comes out of a win in the

Gasparilla, which is the prep for this race under Junior,

going the seven furlongs there and winning easily.

None of those horses, I, I, I don't think many of those horses

have come back in the spot. 8 to one on the horse that won the

prep. Barry, what do we say?

I'm going to say Sunny. I like that horse quite a bit.

I was actually kind of surprised that horse 8 to one on the line.

I I think that's horse going to attract some attention,

especially with that nice win locally last time and then

stretching out this source should like the mile on a 40

trip. So I say sunny.

I agree with you. I'll leave the Sunny up there.

Smaller barn, the Campbell barn there, but he is 2 for 10 in his

tries at stakes. One of them of course being the

Gasparilla, but had one before that as well.

So, you know, I, I don't think this is a guy trying to, you

know, he's way out over his skiser or anything like that.

I do think as well if there happens to be early pace in this

race, Barry, that she can pick up the the pieces later on too

as well. I think that's something where

she can be most effective in this field.

The three horse is Italian soiree out of the Terra Nova

barn. Bobby and Pratt in to ride this

day. He's only four for five his last

five miles in Tampa. He gets this one in here.

Barry. Obviously she's coming off of

the grass as well in the Jessamine and in the Natalma a

grade one up at Woodbine over a mile.

But she did break her maiden over the Aqueduct course over

the dirt before running second in the what race was that the

Adirondack that's right in Saratoga.

Is she sunny or is she a rainy here?

Barry Spears. It's quite possible she could

have grown up and and could be more of an imposing figure in a

race like this. But that's the crapshoot.

And at 7:00 to 2:00 on the morning line, I'm going to have

to say Rainy because of her, you know, kind of making that leap.

This isn't a move like John Terranova actually does a whole

lot. So I think they're just trying

to see if they can get this horse on the Oaks Trail, but I'm

going to side against. Boy, oh boy, I don't like this

at all. But you and I are agreeing a

lot. I think this is 1 coming off the

layoff here. I, I think this is a, get some,

you know, get some time under her and get some, you know, get

the dirt under her feet, see where she's at.

I agree with you. It's also an attempt to see,

hey, do we have an Oaks horse here or not?

If they don't, lots of spots they can aim for at Keeneland

and different places coming up here in the spring, frankly at

Tampa that she could run in. And so they can figure that out

through this race as well. I agree with you, layoffs since

October. I'll in the dumbest way.

You know, it's not a great at stake.

So I'm going to try to beat Flavian Pride hair.

You know, that's what we're going to do here.

We'll be there, you go #4 is her laugh.

I read Ortiz rides for Whit Beckman Junior.

I was just singing his praises about other trainees on the Oaks

Trail. Boy.

A real treasure trove of riches for him this year, the Grantley

Acres people. This horse ran in a maiden

special at Churchill over six furlongs before winning in the

mile. 72 turns there at fairgrounds.

Comes down to Tampa for this one Sunday.

Rainy on her. I'm going to say Rainy.

I I know this horse showed a little bit of versatility last

time, but that was a extremely slow pace and I don't foresee

that kind of scenario coming up again.

I really like to bet against horses like this because they're

gonna attract a lot of attention and I don't think there's a lot

of upside there. Granted, this is a nice horse, I

just don't know really how much of an upside there is.

Yeah, I'm definitely going sunny here.

I think Wit Beckman's right on the precipice of some very, very

big things in his career. This could be part of it here.

What I like about her is her running style.

Barry is not going to allow Irad to just wait and wait and wait

and then make a furious dash at the end to try to win a race.

She's going to want to be closer to the front.

It's going to force him to ride the way that I think he's

actually the best, which is in a pressing style.

I think she'll be near the front and she'll be able to handle the

two turns again and add a third win in three tries to her to her

career. Utah is the five here out of the

Granite's bar. Good to see Tony with with some

more runners down there at Tampa as well.

Comes out of a maiden special win here.

We've seen stranger things in this Barry.

Oh, absolutely. You know, it's another one.

If if you think that this horse can take the leap, why not?

I mean, this isn't a field of of world beaters in here.

There's really I see only one horse that kind of stands out

and I'm sure we're going to get to that one soon.

But other than that, why not? I I mean Junta is is a horse

probably with a little bit of upside.

So I'm going to say Sunny on Junta at probably a price here,

12 to one so. Yeah, I think the 12 to one

price makes it sunny. I agree with you.

I don't think she wins here. The the stretch out numbers for

for Tony Granitz are not great, but that doesn't mean down the

line that she can't win these races right.

Get those two turns under her, you know, this race and then

come back, try it out again. I'll go sunny, though, on the

price and especially, you know, for an exacto trifecta play

something like that. The six is Lakara.

She's 2 to one here. Dylan Davis in town to ride this

one. Marcasi trains.

Of course, we lost last saw her win the Pocahontas before

finishing up the track in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Phillies,

which by the way, a secretary would have lost to Immersive

because she was that good that day.

What do you say? What do you say, Barry, about

Lakara's chances? Here?

We are talking about a layoff again.

Very sunny. I like this horse a lot in this

spot. I know it's chalk, I'm not

really enthusiastic about that, but just as from a class

perspective, this horse stands out to me.

Those races at Churchill have been proven to be better all

season long. You see Echoton in there, Kimchi

cat vodka with A twist. All those horses would be below

2 to one in this spot so this horse is just to me stands out

class wise and and probably will get the job done.

All right, Barry and I both sunny on Lacara, mixed bag for

Mark Cassie coming off the layoff like this.

But this one made sense to me. You know, you run that 2 year

old campaign, you give someone, you know, give you, give your

affiliate some time off at the farm, that kind of stuff.

So I'm not, I'm not at all questioning any of that.

I do wonder if she isn't to play against just for one race here

and then, you know, just to get value.

Barry, You know, if someone told me they were leaving her out to

try to maximize their ticket, I wouldn't get mad at them.

But I'm with you. If we're going to purely talent

and speed and whatever else, she's right there.

Yeah, I I mean, I can see that notion because I do that a lot.

But this might be a situation where.

As a person who doesn't quite often, yes.

Right. Yeah, this might be a situation

where you know this horse. This is my saying, this horse

could moonwalk and still win this.

Race. So it's it's like, you know,

it's tough, tough to get around the car.

I. Think so?

Do you? She's single here.

Late pick 5. For me, probably.

Yeah, All right. Queen of the deck is the seven

horse here, Marina Munoz on this one comes out of a maiden

special win over the same same course here.

Had been running at Gulfstream and Churchill before that, a

good run at at Gulfstream before winning by at less than three to

one in her last race. 30 to one here, Barry.

You give her much of a chance. No, but I do love their silks.

I think they're the best 1 Batman.

The Batmans, Yeah. The LCMS. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But other than that, no, we're rainy.

It's. I, too, am rainy.

How about that? OK, yeah, We'll, we'll move on.

Chloe's on the outside here. This one is the one that no

one's going to know what to do here, Barry.

Huge buyer on debut runs with Lasix.

It's on the Tepita. Sammy Camacho rides.

He wins a ton of Tampa, obviously Victor Barbosa junior

and all that. Is there a shot here?

Is this is this one where this horse just jumps off, happens to

be faster and everybody else just runs away with?

It yes, absolutely, definitely a plausible scenario here.

Again, these aren't like really, really, you know, you know,

outstanding horses here. They're trying to find their way

and you can get horses like Chloe that'll just run a hole in

the wind, especially at Tampa where that kind of move wins a

lot in these kind of races where you get these young horses going

two turns and it's just like it's, it can be chaos at times,

but between Lakara and Chloe, I think they got it covered.

But yeah. Interesting, Sunny.

OK, there you go. All right, So very it's sunny

for Barry Spears. I'm not even going to react to

that. I I love what you just said.

We're going to move on to the next race.

How about that? It is Tampa race 10, so make

sure you are tuned in on your past performances.

Made special weight here. 53 K in the Kitty.

We are going a mile on the 16th on the turf shoot there at Tampa

as well. I have notes written down now I

need to see there are two interesting third timers.

I wrote down Mona L who's 8 to 100.

Barry. Oh, no, Oh no.

I love that a lot. Really.

Oh, Barry, I love that a lot. Obviously, I also had line by

omission in my notes here. IRAD gets the mount there

between the and then of course the 1st timer for Chad Brown and

Floppy and Pratt portfolio duration.

I mean, a lot of ways to go here, frankly.

Yeah, this is a tough race. I thought the 8 Calla was kind

of interesting. Or Calla.

I don't know. Yeah, Carl, I have second timer.

Yeah. Yeah.

I wanted to ask you about that because that horse is coming out

from. Maiden's crazy maiden. 32

attempt is that the highest level of maiden?

I think there's a 40, OK, all right.

But that race in particular was really interesting.

If you see, if you watch that replay, the horse did get out a

step slow and and kind of lunged, was dead last, swung

wide and came flying behind the front running leader like a

loose leader and dynamic actress just got loose and this horse

just flew back by everybody else and finished a really, really

good second. You got to think even just

looking at that race that this horse is going to improve.

How much I don't know, but I'm willing to take a shot at 20.

One love that portfolio duration in here, a Chad Brown Tampa

firster obviously not available at Aqueduct right now is the

grass. And so, I mean, do we hold that

against horses or is this a horse that can win here?

Definitely can win. I you know, I I don't really I

can't bet Chad Brown first time starters with a lot of

confidence unless it's a race that's really, really set up for

them to win and they get a lot of those.

This one isn't it. I, I think this race is a is a

lot tougher than it looks like you're just not getting the the

big time connections and I think that's going to affect the

betting quite a bit here. Obviously portfolio duration is

going to be the favorite, but I I can definitely foresee that

horse running second, a good second or third here as the

chalk. So I would cash in or try to

beat this horse now rather than later.

Yeah, I agree with you. Call it here man, that 20 to one

is that's something. Hey, watch that race.

Play, man Yeah, I especially if a horse is running late,

especially on the turf. My gosh, if a horse is running

late, well, on the turf flying, that gets me going.

Yeah, for sure. So there you go.

That was a race 10 here at at Tampa Bay hanging out with Barry

Spears on the horse racing Happy hour.

It's a Thursday, February 6th edition here.

We now move to the race of the day.

It is the Sam F Davis, or as Jason Beavis started to call it,

the Sam. I have a thing out in APB.

To all the folks in Tampa, just give me a hat that says the Sam.

I will wear it wherever you want me to.

Well, can we get one that says the wood?

You're gonna get one. That says a lot of reasons.

What are those reasons, Barry? Yeah, the Wood Memorial, right?

Oh, right. Yeah, race.

The only reason. Oh, yes, horses.

Sam F Davis has run over a mile and a 16th on the dirt course

there at Tampa Bay. It is 20 points to the winner in

the qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, which is run in the

Louisville, KY. By the way, in case anyone

didn't know. In case you didn't know, Louis

Barry's a furniture maker. That's why the wood.

Oh, forgot about that. Yeah, that's my hobby.

Lots of wood. I just need Barry to be like at

Aqueduct. The rest of us are like betting

and he's whittling like, you know, just like.

You know what? I.

Was going to. Bring my kid with me.

I'll whittle when I want to, you understand me?

So we're going to play our next game, and that is Sam I am and

Sam I'm not. All right.

So if someone is a contender, they are Sam I am.

And if they are not, they are Sam, I am not.

Reinerdandez Junior, in town to ride this weekend for Ian

Wilkes. He's a whole aboard Camp Hale, a

son of Motown, a gelded son of Motown is a maiden coming in

here. You get 20 to one.

Barry. Sam F Davis.

Sam, I am. Sam, I'm not.

Sam, I am not not ready for the big time yet.

I think that's probably right. The speed figures seem to

indicate that this horse is very fast and as past performances

will tell you, this horse has been running in very good

company both at Churchill, Keeneland and then of course

obviously most recently at Gulf St.

Park in Wilkes very clearly thinks this horse can stretch

out. So they're went from a mile and

they're going to try the two turns mile and a 16th here.

Treaty of Rome comes in six to one second by a neck to guns

loaded in that mucho macho man in at Gulf St.

Park over the mile there gets to go a little bit further here.

A son of Uncle MO. We know that that distance won't

bother him at all. Brown and Davis, man, hard to go

against this one. Yeah, that's definitely a Sam I

am. I mean got ran was trying to run

down loosely or guns loaded. I I even complained on Twitter

about how they just let Guns Loaded get an easy lead in that

race and you saw what that horse did in the Holy Bull and

finished last. But the alternative story to

that was treated Rome ran a really good race to almost run

that horse down. That can't be ignored here.

Yeah, I agree with you, Sam. I am in this case, 6 to 1 is a

gift on a horse of this quality has that has that mild distance.

It'll be interesting to see him go to the two turns.

I think it won't bother him in the least, especially given the

connections and of course the breeding there.

John Hancock comes in in the three hole here.

Favi and Pratt in town to ride for Brad Cox aboard.

This one broke his maiden last time going 6 furlongs at Tampa.

Sam I am, Sam I am not I, I don't.

I don't recall too many high level Brad Cox debuters at

Tampa, but this one looked great on debut.

Yeah, it's does. I question this.

This horse being in this race and and kind of being at Tampa,

it just doesn't make any sense. So I'm going to say, Sam, I am

not for for that reason. I know this horse ran pretty

good first time out, stretching out first time.

You know, this horse is going to track attention in a race that

probably doesn't. This horse doesn't even deserve

to have that kind of attention. There's other speeds in here

like Camp Hale. So yeah, Sam, I am not my

friend. There you go, Sam.

I am not for him, Sam. I am for me.

Just connections and all of the things in the Constitution and

the stretch out and all of the other things.

I'm going to go ahead and include this horse whose

grandfather on the damn side is called Freud.

How about that? Well, quick dropping knowledge

on the show, how about that Doctor?

Ruben M is the four horse here. Last ran in the Springboard

Mile, which has turned out to be a damn fine race on the terrible

of the Kentucky Derby Cold Battle.

Speed King finished up top there, those who have come back

and John just fine since then. This horse did finish 4th up the

track a bit for Doug O'Neill, but he does get Junior Alvarado.

Do we like the 12 to one number at least there?

This is the horse that's kind of on the fence for me.

I'm with you. Dude, it's a weird.

I, I, yeah, I, I, I think the source adds to the, the, the

pace scenario here. So I'm going to say not Sam, I

am not, but I think this horse will probably outrun his odds.

OK. All right.

So exact to trifecta include for sure for you.

OK, that makes sense. Yep, Edwin Maldonado had the the

rides before Junior Alvarado gets it here.

I'm gonna play against as well here.

I'll let him beat me. That is the wrong 1.

So we'll we'll go ahead. We'll go ahead and say Sam, I am

not here. But I would not be surprised,

especially with the O'Neill connections, to see this horse

win somewhere else in some kind of spot where we did not see it

coming. But gatekeeper is the five

haired Cohen. Gets the right here.

How about that? I haven't seen him in a bit out

of the Cunningham barn. Two runs, no wins, last out in a

restricted maiden, optional at Oaklawn.

Barry, what you say? What do we say about this son of

Instagram? No thank you.

Probably a nice horse, just not at this level.

I'll say this about the Instagrams.

I'll I'll bet them when I see a single one of them win over two

turns. Any of them.

Any of them. Like just any of them.

Hey, Barry. Any of them.

Do you know that? Like any.

Any at all? The Grand.

Himself wasn't really that good. Around No he would not.

Owen Almighty won but didn't win.

The Pasco last out at 7 furlongs was very clearly the the class

of that race. The 2nd place finisher is

Naughty Rascal and the 8 hole will get there in a second.

But Owen Almighty here, Barry, I think if you were going on class

and you just wanted to do that, he's the class here.

But I think Brian Lynch is very, very high on him, you know, the

son of Spikestown. So I may have said not, at least

for the betting purposes here. Yeah, he's definitely a

contender. I mean, you got to respect him.

I do find it interesting that they're putting the the blinkers

on. I don't.

Think I agree. I don't think blinkers had

anything to do. That wasn't the.

Issue the incident got into I, I really don't understand that.

But yeah, again, I I think he adds to the pace scenario here

and, and might get swallowed up, but still formidable.

He's proven class. There you go, I'm going to agree

with you. I think it's the same.

I am here for sure. Proven class is a very good way

to put that. I thought his Iroquois might

have been his best race to this point, actually finishing behind

Jonathan's way in that one. It was great to see him bounce

back the way that he did on debut as a three-year old.

So yeah, I'll include him as well.

I think he's a must use in this race.

Poster comes in, in the seven hole.

I'll go first here. Man wins that.

Remsen last last December, Barry, that's the race last year

that we saw Dornick, we saw Sierra Leone and we saw a

domestic product come out of and this year it seems to be at this

point of the springboard mile. But I'm not going to throw the

the Remsen out just yet. And so I'm going to keep this

horse in my tickets. He's an interesting one because

he won the Remsen coming off of the turf.

This is actually a second try on dirt.

So the horse has only gotten a small amount of experience on

the dirt. So I'm a semi AM for poster here

and I've got poster on top. Yeah, I'm with you.

I I think that horses that mile and 8th effort on the dirt at

Aqueduct was real solid and should hold up here.

I think there's a few contenders, but if Gallardo can

get this horse in the right trip, and I think he could can

because the field isn't too big, he might be able to overwhelm

this field. Now, it's hard to figure how

this horse is gonna come back off of that layoff.

I mean, there's definitely a possibility where he's a little

bit short, so you don't want to take too short of a price on a

horse like this. But yeah, he's definitely one to

zero in on in this race for sure, Sam.

I am. There you go Sam, I am for both

of us. Naughty Rascal finished first by

disqualification but really second in the Pasco.

Last out I thought ran a really fine race, frankly considering

all of the issues. Edwards also board again for the

Bennett bar. I thought ran really well.

Sam I am or Sam I'm not. I want I want to like this

horse, but I'm really not sure this horse really wants to go

far. I I think 7 might be the the cap

on this horse or maybe a mile. Probably you should get a good

trip. But I, I, I just looking at that

race visually, the Pasco yeah, that horse was never going by

Owen Almighty. Never.

Yeah, I agree. I, I think that's a very, very

good way to put it. I'm a same.

I'm not here as well for a lot of the reasons you said.

I also just think he's not fast enough.

I'll be very clear. So I, I think that one, I will

start to catch up with him here. A smoking boy who is not a bad

representative of this show is my hole here.

Paco Lopez comes in to run. This horse has only ever been in

muddy conditions running coming into this one.

First time in the D Angelo barn. First time in North America for

this one as well. What say you, Barry Spears about

smoking boy 'cause I I don't know how to even read the past.

Performance. Very curious, very curious about

this horse. I'm gonna say, Sam, I am,

because these horses workouts at Palm Meadows have been pretty

good and, and there's a lot of nice horses that have been

around that area obviously since the beginning of the year and,

and before. And the workouts seem to stack

up with the better horses that that are out there.

So I'm going to, I'm going to just take a leap and say, yeah,

we're going to. We're going to think this one's

a contender. This is the kind of race that

Paco just randomly wins too. So it's is this his first day

back by the way, racing? Again, no, I think.

He has he been back a couple days.

Yeah, he was riding yesterday. OK.

All right, OK. I think he's you think he's

been, he's been away for long enough.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do too, actually.

I appreciated him being the one that stepped away, frankly.

I'm going to go, Sam. I'm not.

I think I'd I'd be a little surprised if this horse won

since. I see.

I won't be surprised. I I think you know this is.

This. I love it.

I hope you're right by the way. This is a race that's ripe for

this kind of weirdness. And mind you, this happens at

Tampa Bay Downs a lot. Can you hear about these?

On exactly inexplicable results and sometimes in big races so.

There you go. So that was that was the Sam.

We got one more runner. It's very bold.

We'll be on the outside for Owen Hardy.

Jesus Castanan gets the the mount here.

That horse was third in the Pasco last out broke his maiden

in the slop at Churchill going 7 furlongs.

So I am Sam. I'm not.

I say Sam I am because there's a situation where this pace heats

up and this one comes running. Comes running late, Did much of

the late running last out as well.

Was many, many lengths off the lead there.

I'm going to go not. I think my sense is with this

horse that he'll like the distance, but he's going to need

a couple tries at it to really enjoy it.

Did seem to be OK going the mile at Turfway, but just never quite

got into that field. Might be the surface, might be

something else, but I'm going to go Sam, I'm not on that.

We go to the final race of the day that is Tampa Saturday.

Their race is race 12, the closer mile and an eighth in the

shoot. They're on the turf course.

This is for four and up #1 essentially non 2 lifers,

$53,000 in the Kitty here. Let's see what my notes say.

We put my notes together before the morning lines came out.

If you're just joining us here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour,

Barry Spears hanging out with me.

Noble Factor, second up, I wrote, looks tough.

I get 12:50. What say you, Barry Spears,

about 12:50 on that horse? If you get 12:50 I, I think I

would just push it all in, right?

Feels like it doesn't. It I there's nothing wrong with

this horse. He's going to get a good trip.

You know, he he came back off that layoff since May ran a bang

up race. He was out wide.

Yep. Had every right to lag behind

that field, came running and then kind of stopped.

He says every right to move forward, every indication that

he's going to move forward. If you get that price, and I'm

with you here. I like this horse.

Yeah, I'm pushing in for. That's the bailout horse.

I agree the the other one is is Heath.

Guard right behind him. I like magic heart.

That was the other one. If you trying to get around the

the Chad Brown and Safi horses in this race, Magic Heart and

Noble Factor were the 2 for me. Wow.

Magic heart Magic heart kind of, you know, did exactly what they

said in in the form ran evenly, didn't really do much, but was a

was a slight improvement. This horse was running with good

company at Colonial, not far off.

I mean, a slight kind of jump up in this kind of race at this

particular time, it's not impossible.

A reminder was running in state bread competition down at

Gulfstream Park. Is there a step down, a step to

the side? Any kind of step difference

between coming from Gulfstream and running a Tampa on the turf

especially? Hey, Zach.

You there, buddy? Yeah.

Oh, OK. Is it?

Did Barry freeze up on us? It is.

Is that what just happened? I just want to make sure it's

not me. There we go.

He should be back. OK, cool.

Let's try Barry again, see if he's all caught up.

There we go. Hi.

Buddy just froze on us for a second there.

Yeah, Yeah. No, I was just asking with

reminder coming up from from Gulfstream Park running, running

in a lot of state bread races, essentially optional claimers,

that kind of stuff. Is, is, are are are the turf

race is essentially on the same level between Gulfstream Park

and Tampa or is there a step down frankly coming to to Tampa?

All right, well, I think we have, we have lost.

Oh, there's Barry. There we go.

See. If we can get him through there.

Try it now. There we go.

What's your answer, Barry? No, no, we lost them again.

All right, so I'm gonna move Barry Spears there from the

show. I was also interested in a

couple of other horses as well. Factor analysis is in here.

I think that's an interesting one.

That can be a player. 8:00 to 5:00 on the line here.

Did win last time in a maiden special.

I don't think the horse is 8 to 5 at all.

But you do see that brown guy Yardo connection.

They went near 30% at Tampa as well.

That's been it, man. Let's get out of here.

Oh, you know what? Maybe Barry's moving around.

Barry, you there now, buddy? Yeah, I'm always here.

All right, OK. No.

You froze up on me. Don't.

You're always here when you freeze up on me.

How about that? What I want you to tell people

on this show. Darn it, Barry, how are you

breaking up on me? I want people to know what

Barry's doing every day because he's putting out content every

day and I want people to be able to go find it and hang out with

him and play his pick threes at Mahoning Valley and at different

places around the country during the week in Oakland, everything.

You're so frozen it's unbelievable.

So go check him out. He's on with our guy at of

Oaklawn on Twitter. You can go find him chase down

there at the notorious OTB. Very fun show.

So go check them out as well. Zach, go ahead, play that music.

Get us out of here. This has been the horse racing

happy hour. Thanks to our friends at Amwager

again, 100% deposit bonus up to 150% complete deposit match.

I see Barry moving around on the sword stream but the second I

put him on stage it's it's very choppy