Empire Showcase AQU | Matthew DeSantis

Another edition of the horse racing happy hour Louie robot

with you this week we look it up at Long Island part of Long

Island western part at least for the races at aqueduct as far as

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We welcome in Matthew DeSantis looking down at his lap.

How dare you, how dare you during my commercial reads not

pay attention to this show. I joke.

Matthew Hari. But I'm doing.

Great. How's Rockaway?

You're all right. You're doing OK.

What's going? On I'm doing fantastic, man.

I'm getting ready to head out to Del Mar for the Breeders Cup.

But we got a great Saturday showcase up here at Aqueduct

featuring some wonderful New York breads, including some that

have really made waves against open company.

And yeah, it should be. It's a really solid, you know,

backstretch of the card with a ton of stakes races.

And plenty of money up for grabs for the jocks that do stay in

New York. Are you surprised there aren't

more guys that are that are Hey, yeah, like Louis Saez type or

something that, you know, a lot of time in in Kentucky, but a

lot of time in New York, too. All these races are, you know,

200,000 and up, You know, I mean, there's, there's a lot of

money, you know, Ricardo Santano junior could have a day, for

example. Yeah, exactly.

And I think, you know, I think that's why it was such big news.

Obviously when I Rad moves his tack to Kentucky and Jose did

obviously the year before, there's a real opportunity for

jockeys to come up here and make a little bit of bank.

And you see guys like Manny, Franco, Kendrick, Carmouche and

now Ricardo. And you know, obviously then the

big news is Flavian's keeping his tack up here over the

winter. And again, you talk about money

to be made. There's a lot of, you know,

$300,000 stakes races over the summer, over the winter, I

should say, up here. Then Flavian Pratt's going to be

on the favorite. Just about every single one of

them, so. It's plenty of.

Not a bad way to live. Yeah, plenty of $80,000 type of

maidens as well, and, you know, those sorts of things.

And so if you don't want to deal with the Gulf Stream traffic or,

you know, live near Cincinnati and run a tough way, certainly

Long Island offers that opportunity.

What else is going on up there? How's Belmont coming along?

Pictures look pretty great man. Belmont looks beautiful.

It is coming along and brace yourselves everyone.

New York construction is running on time and so it is.

I don't know if the unions are just if they selection year and

they know they up here they got to get going.

But yeah, it is. God bless them.

They are working and they are on time with everything.

So we are slated to kick off the new Belmont Park in fall 2026.

So it's going to be great. And Breeders' Cup, of course,

the year after that. I am beyond excited for the

Breeders Cup to be back in New York City.

I can't wait. I, I just, I think, you know, I

was looking at the Breeders Cup pre entries the other day and

the, the total number is about 35 or 40 less than when the

races are in Kentucky, for example.

And a lot of that is just, you know, turf racing in Europe that

ship all the way to California just a little bit more than what

they're used to going to the Midwest or even to the East

Coast. I think, I think Belmont sets up

to be a massive Breeders' Cup. I think being in New York City,

I think the proximity to Europe, the ease of which to get to that

airport, those airports, I just, I think that there's so many

opportunities that that Breeders' Cup sets up to be

pretty special. Well, I mean, all you have to do

is go back and watch the 2001 Breeders' Cup where tis now wins

it for America who D he beat, he beat Sake, the arc winner and

Galileo was in that race. I mean that was an incredible

field and it was again goes to that proximity.

I think whatever we might lose coming back from Japan because

that's going to be a real long haul for them coming over from

Asia, we pick up probably 2-3 fold in terms of who we pick up

coming over from Europe because it is, as you said, such commute

and you see it all the time over the summer at Saratoga and even

here, yes, you know, we saw Rebels Romance come here to

Aqueduct. You know, it's an easy trip to

make from Europe. So yeah, I'm so excited for that

and so excited for horse racing to be center stage and the Big

Apple. Yeah, no, it should be a lot of

fun. Really looking forward to that.

I the, the, the photos and every, every person I've talked

to from New York who's involved in the project, Matthew, the

first thing they say is fan experience, these angles, these

views, this kind of stuff. And it gets me excited that, you

know, in New York, in Baltimore, where we're getting not

renovations. These are not renovations.

These are starting over. Frankly, other than the tracks

themselves, the, the actual dirt course, what have you.

This is starting over. And I'm excited to see both of

those for sure. The second and third jewels of

our Triple Crown in our sport as well.

His name's Matthew DeSantis at field of Menace, of course, on

the socials. You can find him there.

He's up at naira bets. What's the promo du jour, my

friend? Promo du jour is Cup 25, so if

you use the promo code Cup 25 if you're not yet playing with

naira bets, you get a free $25 bet and up to a $200 deposit

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promos leading up to and obviously on the 2 days of the

Breeders Cup as well if you're already a member on Naira bets.

At naira bets on the socials you can follow him and Kaylee who

will be making the trip to Del Mar as I will next week.

You can find me Thursday, Friday and Saturday we will be

streaming blood horse at the Breeders Cup.

Sean Collins and I out there with a set of guests, different

folks hanging out with us. Looking forward to those as

well. Kornacki, if you're watching,

we're expecting you next Friday. All right, so the the Empire

Showcase Day, you and I are going to go through the pick 6.

Is there a horse in the early part of the car that you noticed

and you thought, wow, how are they 8 to 1, something like that

that stands out in an earlier race?

I not necessarily, I mean, I the odds kind of just came out, so

it's a little bit more of a struggle.

I do think the number 5V haul in race #4 which is the made of the

mistake on a mile on the dirt. Paul's an interesting horse.

I'm a big fan of trainer Johnny Ortiz and that's a horse's 8:00

to 1:00 in the morning line. And Johnny just I think does a

phenomenal job getting horses ready, putting them in the right

spots. And I I just think that one

could move forward coming out of Carlos David's barn and going

into John's now for the first time.

And you know, ran and won against open company last time

out at Delaware Park. But I just think this one makes

a lot of sense stretching out and is a nice price early in the

card. Starts that mandatory pay middle

pick five in the middle of an IRA cards there so if you want

to get aggressive there you go there's an 8 to one shot to get

you going that way. We're going to start with race 6

though at Aqueduct on Saturday. This is the Belmont at Aqueduct

meet and it is Empire Showcase Saturday.

So all of those things out of the way, I'm never going to say

them again. The Mohawk, it's Race 6.

This is for three and up on the turf we are going a mile and a

16th, and it's the Inner turf course for this one, $200,000 on

the line here. And can you explain to people

how horses qualify for the conditions of these races?

Do they have to be born in New York?

Do they have to be sired by a New York horse?

How does this work? Yeah, so it has to be sired by a

New York horse. So it they don't necessarily

have to be born in New York, though most of them are

overwhelmingly it is New York breds, but it is technically

just New York sired horses. And so, yeah, some different

conditions there. That is something to pay

attention to because there are specifically New York bred

horses and New York bred races. Like I said, the Venn diagram of

the two has a pretty strong amount of overlap, but there are

a couple distinctions you'll find from now and again.

The Mohawk, the first of Is it two or three named after tribes

that almost certainly do not get to have land there anymore,

alongside the Iroquois? Where'd you land in the Mohawk?

At least two, but I know the my well.

Speaking of two, I haven't landed on the number 2 for

trainer trainer Chad Brown and that is George Briggs.

This is a horse that is, if I'm not mistaken, 3 to one on the

morning line. Second choice behind.

Sounds like a plan for Horatio to pause and part of this is a

little bit of just projection honestly with this horse because

if you just look on the numbers sounds like a plan has run

faster figures but that far outside post concerns me a

little bit. I think George Briggs is going

to sit that ideal trip. Dylan Davis up on the mount for

trainer Chad Brown. This is a horse that you know

won in debut against State Bred Company back in November of last

year. Took some time off and Chad

thought it well enough for this horse to spot this one in the

Colonel. Liam ran 3rd that day against

Meat Boggo and Enter the Dragon and actually went off at like a

four to one price and so the fact this one has success

running against open company I think just really elevates this

horse. Then came back and won a New

York Stallion Series race and an off turf race in the slop going

a mile. I think this one just makes a

lot of sense. Now, the one thing you could say

is the horse has a lot of lines in terms of there's a lot of

time in between these starts. Only three career starts,

usually 4-5 months in between each one of them.

The good news is he seems to fire every single time they come

off of those. So I'm not too concerned about

that. If he can get 3 to 1 and the

fact that Dylan's riding, you might actually get 3 to 1.

If it was like a Flavian and Chad situation, you won't.

But I, I think you might get an honest price on this horse.

And again, if you just look at the numbers, maybe a little

light, but I think you're gonna see a big perk up in projection

now that this one gets back on the turf.

Sounds like a plan is the favorite here.

Has one back-to-back races, both of those with Lasix running

without Lasix in the Empire Showcase races here.

Hasn't won off Lasix since the maiden win.

Has been very close at other stakes for company though as

well. Sounds like a plan.

You almost certainly give him a chance as well, yes.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, especially the way

Ricardo Santana Junior has been riding up here.

I mean, winning 17% of those races.

And you also put Ricardo on a horse like this in terms of the

horse that likes to be out on the front end.

Ricardo's so good at that. And I think honestly, he's

taking advantage of some of the tendencies of New York turf

riders where they try to kind of really squeeze out these

incredibly slow fractions. And Ricardo's not afraid to put

a horse up front and say, all right, let's go.

And breaking from the far outside, he's going to have to

use some of that early speed to cross and clear a lot of of the

field. But I could see Ricardo setting

some pretty nice fractions here and just letting this horse get

nice, easy comfortable up front. So absolutely part of my pick 6

ticket for sure not. Not a not a horse.

You know, This is not a race where I would leverage too hard

on a single. We're going to see rhetorical in

the Breeders Cup and two races back in the West Point.

Con Man ran third in that race after running first in an

allowance at Saratoga over a mile and an eighth on the turf

there. 12 to one here. Is there any chance we get a

better performance from this horse than this?

But maybe that double digit number's worth it?

Yeah, I think it's certainly worth it.

And you know, the Cantor Mossy barn can kind of go hot and cold

sometimes, and so it's a little bit of reading the tea leaves.

But yeah, I mean, rhetorical looked phenomenal, winning a

great role. You know it just.

Absolutely obliterated that field with relative ease for

Will Walden down at Keeneland a couple weeks ago and so this one

listen last time out you can make a few excuses was wide

going into the first turn. You know just he was breaking

from that far outside 11 post position that day had a little

bit of a different rider. Maybe things just didn't work

out. You look to bounce back now

you're going back against state bread company.

The horse has figures good enough to certainly compete in

this race. Certainly that you know, 87

buyer 3 back would put this horse well in contention.

And if you're able to get that morning line price, I think a

horse absolutely worthy of thinking about.

You know, depending on how you want to structure your ticket,

maybe throw this horse in. If not, at the very least a

horse to use underneath, at the very least to enrich your exact

as trifectas. Not massive fields in the pick

5, but big enough to make it interesting. 8997 and 10 as we

go through the the last part of the card here.

Race 7 is back on the dirt here where this is the Empire

Distaff. This is a quarter $1,000,000 on

the line. Phillies and Mares 3 and up.

Of course. The track at Aqueduct is a mile

and an eighth and we are going a mile and an eighth in here.

This has a couple of horses that if people, you know, are

watching up at Saratoga, the summer might, might know.

Viamente, of course, is in here for Joe Sharp and Kendrick

Carmouche. One the Fleet Indian up there at

Saratoga. Where'd you land in this one?

Yeah, listen, you have a favorite like Bernie Takes

Charge, but I just that one ran so poorly in the personal lens

and I just, I'm always afraid of what that does to a horse after

the fact. And so I landed on AK Cup, the

number 4. That's a horse I really like.

So again, kind of a second choice horse.

One of the things I like about some of these races and, and

you'll see this honestly throughout the the sequence is I

like some of the new faces that are emerging on the scene, some

of these horses that are a little bit more lightly raced.

You kind of know what you get with a lot of these New York

breds that you've seen run in some cases 2-3 years now.

And so when you see a horse like K-Cup kind of pop up and run

some big spots, you go, OK, this might be a horse that you can,

you know, move forward now. And I think Jorge Abreu has done

a great job with this daughter of Instagram and, you know, was

able to win a stakes race 2 back in the up at Saratoga, Faded a

little bit, got beat by Villamente last time out.

But I think this one's able to bounce back and it is been

working nicely for Abreu. And again, you're getting a

little bit of a price and a horse that I think can continue

on an upward trajectory and has proven to win against Steaks

Company. And I think the stretch out,

listen, that last time out was the first time going a mile in

an 8 and didn't run poorly. But I think you're going to get

better conditioning this time around doing that trip a second

time. Who would you lean on here if if

the prices stay where the morning line is, would you

rather have cake up at 3:00 to 1:00 or Valente at 4:00 to 1:00?

The prices stay where they are. I think Viamente at 4:00 to 1's

a good one. I just think that horse is going

to take some money, but that's just but yeah, at their morning

line prices, I think both are are good plays and and yeah,

Viamente probably a slightly better value at 4:00 to 1:00.

On the inside is a Sweet Princess, a winner for Linda

Rice in a $40,000 claimer. This just feels like a a Linda

Rice kind of special. She got a shot at it.

She knows Aqueduct well, at least.

She does and she's got Jose Lozano back aboard and Jose's

healthy again and and that's usually her number one guy this

time of year. And so certainly you won't, you

never can take those Linda horses.

I mean, that is one thing if you play the late pick five at

Aqueduct I there are times where I will look at a horse and go, I

don't know if I like this horse, but I'm not getting boomed out

of the sequence by Linda and I will just throw a Linda horse in

and the next thing you know, hey, $27.00 winner and.

You're like, all right. I look like a genius, I guess,

you know, So, you know, listen, she this is what she can do,

though. She's always good at moving

horses off the claim. And she's what makes Linda so

effective is she knows where to spot her horses very well.

She understands what she has with them and she's able to put

them in the spots where they're going to be able to succeed.

And honestly, this idea of like stretching a horse out a lot of

times is something she does and does very, very well.

I think there's going to be a bit of a pace battle up front in

this one with K-Cup Fan Mente. We mentioned I think Swedish

Princess is going to try to go as well, so it'll be interesting

to see how the distep plays out there on Saturday.

He's Matthew DeSantis. I'm Luribo.

This is the horse racing happy hour.

The Iroquois is up next. It is for Phillies and mares 3

and up. It is Race 8.

It is $200,000 and they're going 6 1/2 on the dirt course there.

Who'd you land on in the Iroquois?

So this is the first of two singles for me in this sequence.

And so I really like obviously the favorite in this spot, the

number three, my main squeeze. This is just a horse that's

really hard to get around when you're running against New York

competition. And if you look at what she's

done against New York breds throughout her career, it's been

phenomenal. And and I think she's only lost

once in debut and then won her first time in against stakes

company. Otherwise, she's just kind of

had her way against New York breads and obviously has gotten

graded stakes victories in the process as well against open

company. You know, obviously last time

out, not great, you know, was pulled up and was eased and was

walked off. And the Grade 1 ballerina hasn't

been seen since, But if you look, she can bounce back from

poor efforts. You know, she didn't run

particularly well in the Grade 2 Chicago back at Churchill Downs.

And what did she do? She backed it up with running a

100 by her speed. Figure in that Johnstone next

time out. So I think Mike Baker knows what

he has with her. She's a reliable horse, always

has been. And I think she just stands over

this field in terms of class. And again, when you're putting

together pick six, you're going to have to go skinny in some

places. And I think she's one of the

more reliable favorites in this entire sequence.

Do you think in in the late sequence is a question I try to

ask every guest that comes on for handicapping purposes at

least is is this the horse to beat if we're going to get a big

payout in the late pick 5? Will this be the most singled

horse in the sequence? I guess essentially is what I'm

asking. I get yeah, yeah, yeah, No, I, I

think, I think this or the Iron Dome race, which is the other

race where I think you could potentially single.

I think, you know, obviously if you're going to zig, this is

kind of one of the races to do it.

And, and, and listen, it makes sense because you have a

favorite who literally got walked off last time out.

So, you know, from a standpoint of what's the form looking like?

And hey, maybe we need to be a little bit worried about this

certainly understandable choice. You have some nice horses in

this race as well. So yeah.

But for me, I just man, she's just been so reliable and just

so dominant against this type. And I've seen her bounce back

before and I I think she can do it again.

Stonewall Star's coming off an unbelievable layoff, frankly,

since December of last year. I think if this horse were in

more normal form and, and kind of training and doing everything

else it she would be really interesting. 5 for 9 at at

Aqueduct flatter on the sire side.

I know she's 5 and you shouldn't talk, you know, breeding lines

when when the horses are that old.

But frankly, we know the distance isn't an issue.

What do you make of her off the layoff here?

Is she maybe not a winner, but can she get a piece here?

Absolutely. I love Stonewall Star.

I huge fan of this horse. And so and just as I was talking

about earlier, a big fan of Johnny Ortiz.

I'm a big fan of Horatio Depos, how he runs his barn, how he

spots his runners, the whole 9 yards.

You know, this is a horse that has numbers good enough to

absolutely pick up a piece in this and it's just a matter of

conditioning and how much this horse is ready to go off the

bench. But you know, you, you see

Horatio doesn't really work as horses fast and you see this

one's been kind of easing back into things.

I like the pair of five furlong works two of the last three

times out and Dylan Davis again when Dylan's aggressive and can

get this one in a good spot early on in the race draws a

little further outside. I I think there's a lot to like

there Was Stonewall Star a bit of a price?

I think she just makes sense in, especially in state company, I

think she just does and she's made, she made a lot of, hey,

made a lot of money frankly in these kinds of races going over

$170,000 in earnings just last year.

Race 9, of course, we'll start. Where are we?

We are at late. Pick three.

All righty. Goodness gracious.

I should probably mention that you're Matthew to say this, and

I'm Lou Rabbo. How about that?

Race 9, the Ticonderoga is back on the turf.

We're going to the outer turf course for this one mile on the

16th. Here again, Phillies and Mares 3

and up to $100,000 on the line here.

What do we, you know, we should do, Matthew?

You you should start a campaign to tearing down Aqueduct in a

couple of months to name the turf courses after not great

people and then just RIP them down in a couple of months.

But like make yeah, make Chris have to say and they're going

out onto the, I don't know, insert person who's an Eric

Adams turf course. Yes.

No, yeah, no. Fantastic.

Yeah, I and I used to teach political science, so we'll just

go right there. We're headed out to the Eric

Adams Turf course for racing. Like Chris is always so

positive. You have to like, be positive

about Eric Adams. Oh, yeah, I don't know, a little

race here. Yeah.

Sorry, Chris. Sorry.

Mr. Griffin are. You you do bring up a good point

though. Will the turf courses?

I don't know, maybe I, I sound ignorant saying this.

I don't know if the turf courses do Belmont will be named and if

So what they will be named after?

And then what's the Tepeena course going to be named?

Thank you. We we've had much fun with the

with the bougie turf course, the melon turf course at Saratoga.

It's one of my favorite jokes on this show.

It's not even close. The bougie turf, when they go to

the other turf course, I'm like, what do we do?

Why are we at Saratoga? What are we doing?

We're here. Why are we slumming?

It, what are we doing? The Melon Turf course is right

there. Be better.

Race 8 is Race 9 is the Ticonderoga.

We're going back to the turf. Is this your spread Racing

secrets? It is, it absolutely is.

And I really like the number 5 moonage Daydream.

This is a horse I've always been a big fan of, but you know, this

is one who got it was on such a roll there for a while back last

year. Now it's finally third back in

the form cycle from a pretty significant layoff and you know,

obviously didn't run well last time out, but that was against

open company and the Athenia, you know, finished second just

by a little bit to awesome check 2 back and that was off that

long layoff. I think he put Manny up on this

one. If I can get seven to two, I'll

be thrilled with this horse. I just have a huge I really,

really like this horse and while this is a very spready race, I

definitely like this horse. Maybe my strong one of my

stronger opinions in terms of who I think is going to win this

race. Five year old daughter and candy

ride a four year old daughter. Medelson will break next to her.

Awesome check. I assume she'll get most of the

money out. Yeah, an awesome check.

Listen. Nice horse, she.

May or may not owe me money, but the bottom line is this horse.

I've lost some check out of this.

You understand me? You know what?

It's the awesome Check Turf course.

Get it done. Chris Griffin, You talk to

people. Where's El Bodwy?

Where is she? Get it done.

Listen, I love awesome check. I swear the one time I got off

of this horse she won and I'm like.

Typical. And so.

But here's the thing about awesome check runs.

Honest every single time. And so it's a frustrating horse

because she doesn't win a ton these days, but man, she's

always in the exact and trifecta and she scares you if you're

going to leave her off your ticket.

And so it's like this kind of conundrum of, well, what do you

do for a horse that doesn't win as much as you would like?

Do you include this one on a sequence or do you try to get

around this one? I mean it.

And and maybe you try to go for a bigger price.

And, and I know a lot of people are going to go to the outside

horse like Brock Gardini, 6 to one on the morning line.

This is a horse who has never really fulfilled that initial

potential we saw because I was at Saratoga when she broke her

maiden and debut debut. That was one of the more

dazzling turns of foot that I've seen from just any horse in

debut. Doesn't matter if they're New

York breds or not. And she's never quite gotten

back to that in terms of just like, but she takes money

because people remember those types of performances and it's 6

to 1. I don't know, maybe a little bit

of an interesting price to consider.

Maybe she can put it all together.

Not a horse that he's on very often, but spinning colors will

break from the rail. She's been in the try 4 out of

six runs this year. Has never won on the turf course

at Aqueduct. But do you think this daughter's

hard spun? Do you think she got shot here?

Absolutely would not leave this horse off any ticket at all.

And again. Is she the most likely to get

the lead as well? Just, you know, break from the

rail, just go for it kind of thing.

I think so. I mean, that's where Dylan needs

to be aggressive and just go. I mean, this is what the horse

wants to do. That's what the horse does best.

And you know, now you're going a mile and a 16th.

Made it a little bit more going a mile and an eighth.

But I think he cut back that half for a long.

Makes all the difference against this type of company and would

not shock me at all to see Dylan wire this field because you can

gate to wire up here, especially with the way they run these turf

routes. A lot of times with the way

they, as I mentioned earlier, the way they divvy out

fractions, horses can get real comfortable up front and then

suddenly they got plenty in the tank coming from home.

Yeah, I think she'll be OK on that awesome check turf course

there. So I think she'll be I.

Love. It race 10 is the Empire

classic. This is essentially there be

Breeders' Cup Classic for New York breads there at Aqueduct,

quarter million bucks on the line, just like the Remsen

starts at the same line where it will finish one mile and an

eighth on the dirt. 3 year olds and up.

Of course the New York sired horses in here and you mentioned

that this might be the other spot where you get pretty

skating. Yeah, I really like Iron Dome

and I think it's hard not to Afterwards you saw Bracket

Buster do the next time out where Bracket Buster really

flattered that form from the Oklahoma Derby by coming back

and just absolutely demolishing as as he should have the, oh,

I'm sorry, I'm talking to Mr. Omaha, I should say.

Came back and absolutely demolished that Oklahoma Classic

Cup field and more importantly, backed up the buyer speed

figure. Ran a 95, the same number as

Iron Dome in that Oklahoma Derby.

Came back and ran a 94 that Oklahoma Classic Cup.

So good to see that number was validated by another runner in

the race. And then, as I mentioned, kind

of the class of bracket Buster being in this field, you know,

listen, Ricardo Santana junior does take over for Jose Ortiz,

but Ricardo's been riding so well lately.

This horse likes to kind of sit the perfect sort of a trip just

tracking the pace 3 for five, winning at this distance and a

man. This horse took a little while

to figure it out, but once this one stepped in against open

company or against state company on a fast track, it just has not

looked back. And I think that second place is

last time out. It really flatters the form.

So I'm a big fan of this horse. Hard to get around this one.

And like I said, you got to go sing Skinny somewhere, and this

seems like a really logical place to do it.

Iron Dome over three in Oaklawn, moved to Saratoga, broke his

maiden amongst state bread company there, and since then

has won two of his races, including the Albany and Black

type at Saratoga at the distance before running in that

aforementioned Oklahoma Derby and running a second in that one

behind Cracker Buster. No shame in any of that stuff.

Is there another horse in here that makes, you know, just a

bunch of sense? Is it a, is it a bank frenzy?

A horse like that that does have 9 finishes in the top two of ten

runs at Aqueduct. Could it be a bank frenzy?

Yeah, I think, listen, Bank frenzy makes a ton of sense

there as a horse that is always honest.

And, and Bank Frenzy, here's the thing about that horse is you

don't have to worry if it's rain or shine.

That horse can get the job done. Sloppy track, fast track can do

it on both. I I will say I think a horse

like Doctor Kraft, we talked about the canter Mossy's a

little bit earlier. Doctor Kraft's a horse at 8:00,

the one on the morning line, a little bit interesting.

That's horse I'd probably just use underneath.

You know, if I'm going to go with a short price up top, just

try to pair it in an exacta or something like that.

But that's one who again, the last couple of times out does

have to switch off Lasix. No two ways about that.

That has to that. That's a step that this horse

needs to take. But those last few races have

been pretty solid numbers and certainly enough to throw this

horse into contention at an 8 to 1 price.

Doc Sullivan will break it from the inside 3 to one in David

Aragona's morning line there at Naira.

Last saw him in the Four Go and the Bosberg before that though

did win the Morrissey. It's 7 furlongs at Saratoga.

Is this distance good for this horse?

Is this a little bit too much of an ask?

Here we see Curlin, you know, it's a, it's a Solemnani, it's a

Giant's Causeway in the damn side.

I know it's a four year old, so we kind of know what this horse

is. I'd be a lot more comfortable, I

think, at A1 turn mile. But did this horse get a piece?

I absolutely can get a piece just on class potentially you

mentioned just has been facing significantly tougher company

the last few times out and. How dare you lose the Book of

Dano. I mean, how, how dare you, Doc

Sullivan, use the Book of Dano at Saratoga.

That's all ridiculous. Hey, what a terrible.

Yeah, yeah, and in the Vosper, I mean, Patriot Spirit's a nice

horse and and Scotland and yeah, I mean, those are nice horses.

So listen, it absolutely makes sense in this spot.

The distance is the biggest question mark though, and and it

just I wonder if at this distance, this horse is just a

bit of a stayer and just does it.

They're they're maybe so worried about stretching this horse out

that it just kind of doesn't pass anybody.

And so I'm I'm a little bit worried about that We'll see.

I mean the inside rail is going to be able to save all the

ground. No two ways about it should sit

more of a pocket trip in all likelihood mid pack.

But you know, I I, like I said the mile and an eighth is what

scares me a little bit in this particular spot and the fact

it's been a minute since this horse was in the winner's

circle. So you have to go back a little

ways. You obviously won that

Morrissey, but outside of that, you really have to go back to

what, June 2024 to find the last win.

So the winds don't come in bunches a lot of times.

Iron Dome ends the Grand Slam wager.

Would you single Iron Dome in the Grand Slam wager?

Yeah, I would. Okay, all right, well you have

two singles in your pick six that will be posted in naira

bets this weekend. I certainly will, yes.

Okay, okay, All right, yeah, which I gotta spread these other

ones, Louis, I gotta spread. If we're all the green stuff we

gotta spread, Louis, Yeah, I get it.

And the closer here is a maiden on the turf.

Can you kind of run back before just so we have we have these

sort of on record for whatever that means on this ridiculous

show. But as far as your, your more

spread races here in the later part of the sequence in the

Distaff, obviously you're going to go very, very short there.

I imagine just a couple there. Yeah, in the distaff.

I'll probably just go cake cake up and Bernie takes charge.

I might and viamente I think those are the three that I'm

going to include in the ticket in the Iroquois, I'll single my

main squeeze in the Ticonderoga. That's where spinning colors

awesome. Check moonage Daydream, even

Brock Nardini. You know, I have to see if you

know if there's any scratches that maybe change the.

Complexity. Race.

You know what? You know what?

I figured it out. Whoever wins in Ticonderoga,

name the turf course after them. Done.

Let's go. Done.

Done. I love it, I love it.

Five months, anyway. Brock Nardini Yeah, Yeah, that's

great. Oh, man.

All right, let's go to the closer.

We're going to talk Maidens. These are the fun ones.

I love, I love, love, love when when Ira throws us a close out

like this, a mile on the turf course there for maidens 3 and

up that were full of course in New York State, as I mentioned,

a mile on the turf course. Here is the turf course.

I got to remember this now the is that turf course?

Is it a mile turf course? Is it a start safe spot in the

same spot kind of thing? Yes, Mile turf course, Yeah.

There we go. All right, who do you have in

the the maiden to close car? I'm going to go with the horse

coming off the layoff. I'm going to go to the outside.

And I really like the number 9 New York Scrappy.

I think an appropriate name to close out a car, car Empire Day.

So this is 1 from Mark Cassie that, you know, has been

knocking on the door before 3 finishes in the top three and

six career starts. But you can cross the line

through two of those because they were on the dirt.

And so this one is, you know, like I said, acquitted itself

well, is coming back from a long layoff, has not run since

October 2024, but love to see the works that this one's been

turning and getting ready. A couple of bullet drills coming

into this one. I think he's got the screws

tightened and Dylan Davis aboard.

So I like this one quite a bit. In this spot.

You're getting a little bit of a price of seven to two because of

the layoff. Asking for a friend makes sense

here tomorrow. Oh, I, I, I absolutely, I think

so. I think, you know, this is

again, because you have the two singles, I think you can go

spreddy here. But listen, if Mike Maker's

going long on the turf, yeah, you're going to I'm not going to

get boomed by Mike Maker in this sort of a spot, especially with

Ricardo up in same sort of thing as awesome or couple of other

hosts that we talked about with Ricardo, you get Ricardo up on

the front end, man, he's a tough jockey to track down.

So I that's a, that's a tough horse and I'd imagine I'm going

to be going 3-4 deep in this last leg of the sequence.

All right, we'll tell people again about the the sign up, the

sign up incentives, especially as we get closer to Breeders'

Cup. Absolutely.

Well, if you're not yet a player on Naira Bets, use the code Cup

25. You get a $25 free bet and you

get up to a $200 deposit match bonus.

If you're already a member on Naira Bets, we got a ton of

great hit and split options, win bonuses, exact bonuses lined up

for you for the Breeders Cup, so definitely want to make sure to

check it all out and opt in. I've never asked you this

before, but I'm going to assume something about Matthew

DeSantis, which is that if I bring up Simpsons jokes, you

will get them correct. Yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah.

When you say Cup 25, all I think of is is Marge shopping for

protective equipment for a football team for for Bart and

the guy at the sporting goods store trying to get her to say

the word cup because she didn't want to.

So anyway, Cup 25 with our friends at Naira Bets.

And then they stayed around practice and they test out the

equipment, something we all did as young men.

It is what it is. Oh, man.

All right. Well, you're out there Wednesday

or you going to our, like, Turf Writers Award dinner or

anything? You going to watch Steve

Anderson get an award or anything?

Like that I am. I'm not a Speaking of the

bougie, Speaking of the bougie turf course, I'm not a bougie

writer. I'm just slumming it with the

other people. And no, I will actually be out.

I'll probably treat you trying to like tag along with Kaylee

and Acacia to the Hoity Twitty sales event, Good night place at

Del Mar on Wednesday. They have the connections.

I'm just some, you know, big nosed goomba who shows up and

you know, I agree. I agree these things, but no,

Wednesday. I you know what I like to do

Wednesday, Louis on All honesty, I like to get out to the track

and I like to just get my sight lines.

When nobody's there, I'm with you.

And, and I just like to get my bearings and go, OK, this is

where I want to be for this. This is where I want to be for

that. So I'm not showing up when

people are there and freaking out about like, oh, where should

I get? Where's the best place to

record? Where's, where's the best place

to do this? I like to get all that stuff

figured out. So I'll do that on Wednesday and

then Thursday, be out there early in the morning for the

workouts like you will be, I'm sure.

And then Friday, Saturday. Traveling W for workouts is the

goat because it's like oh I got to get up at 4:00.

No, I don't. It's called 7:00 Eastern Time.

Happy to go to 4:30. Not a big deal.

And then just keep that clock. I'm sure you're like me, right?

Your your alarm just goes off at 4:00 on the left oak.

Right, we just no, it's no problem at all.

Last year the the best moment last year was I get the media

shuttle over at like 445 or something like that and it's me

and 27 Japanese all covering forever young.

And I'm like, this is my people. Like, let's go.

It was it was fun because our you, you saw where we were on

the paddock last year. We're gonna be in the same spot

this year. And next to us was Claudia and

Ramon doing E Pico and next to them was Nippon TV.

And so so it was like whenever they were on air, which was

never when I was there. And then they're only during the

races next to us. So I'm doing a radio show next

to the the paddock at at Del Mar at 7:00 AM because it's 10:00 AM

Eastern, right? So I'm going to come out there.

It's me and like like 10 people walk by the show, something like

that. Spectacular.

So yes, now you're right, not early.

It's worth it for sure. All right, Matthew, well, I will

see you next week at the bougie sale or not.

If you could get a Acacia for our shows I would appreciate

that because I don't need to talk to you anymore.

I'll, yeah, I'll see what I can do.

I'll pull. I'll call it a few favors.

I have Kaylee's number. We can do that.

But yeah, all right, All right, we'll see you next week.

All right. Thanks so much, Lee.

Take care. No problem there you go.

Well he is Matthew DeSantis and joined us up from up there at

Anaira Bets. Really appreciate him jumping

on. He's been a great friend of the

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happy hour. We'll be back at it next week.

Look for a ton of stuff on our socials as part of the Breeders

Cup and Tuesday night on all of Blood Horses social media.

You can catch me and Barry Spears, our annual Breeders' Cup

seminar live here at Martini Italian Bistro in Louisville.

Next time you see me, we'll be in a seminar about the Breeders

Cup and then we'll be at the Breeders Cup.

Have a great weekend everybody.