Jessica Paquette | PA Derby ’24

First time guest on the show, really excited to have her in.

She was our concierge for Breeders' Cup 2022 at Keeland

and now she's calling Great Ones.

Her name is Jessica. Becca.

Jessica, how are you? I'm doing great.

How are you? But I was doing a little bit

more with my life than just that back then.

I know for sure, but it's funnier if I phrase it that way,

Jessica. That's just how the world.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds. Great.

First things first, is it going to have a hurricane in a

Philadelphia this weekend or no? You know, it's all the East

Coast, so anything can happen, but the weather looks absolutely

perfect. Fantastic stuff I Jessica pack

out with us. By the way, she's the track

announcer at parks just northeast of Philadelphia.

They have the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion tomorrow, both

grade ones for three-year olds on their card.

A huge 14 race card for you tomorrow.

What is your week like around these?

I always love to ask track announcers who get a silly media

request from guys like me. How busy are you this week and

what do you looking forward to doing on Sunday?

So I'm actually running the Berlin Marathon next summer.

So this coming Sunday, I have to do my last long run, a little

bit of final training for that. So it's a, it's a true marathon.

Couple of breaks. I'm just, I'm excited for the

day. I love a big day of racing.

I know some people get accosted by it.

For me, it energizes me. Yeah.

But Saturday I'm going to hopefully sleep past 5:00 AM

just a little bit and then have a long run, then get ready for

my trip to Berlin next week. Oh man.

Jessica Peckow, she's the track announcer at Parks, got all of

the options tomorrow and we have to start with this because

Jessica, I have a fair number of horse degen betters that follow

this show. Mandatory payout on the pick 5

tomorrow, yes. Indeed, the last five races of

the card, and that is a doozy of a sequence.

Our best of luck to everybody playing.

I think it's a really competitive sequence, not just

with the grade ones, of course. Yeah, no, I agree with you.

You get to call a race with a horse named Thorpedo Anna in it,

and I always want to know when we get horses like Thorpito

Anna, who, by the way, it's been fantastic watching how the Kenny

Mcpeak and his folks have handled her, right.

She's got a good temperament, so people are able to visit her and

and watch her work and those sorts of things.

She's been very public about her, you know, her year and

what's going on and obviously we get the effort and the traverse

and all these things. Are you going to geek out a

little bit getting to call that race tomorrow?

You know, I think you have to prepare for all of them kind of

the same. It's still just a race.

I don't mean to undermine it at all, but I kind of want to do a

great job on Tuesday at parks with maiden claimers just as

much as I want to do for Thorpedo Anna.

But yeah, I'm super excited, of course.

She's an absolute beast, and I love the way Kenny has shared

her with all of us. It's made us all feel like we're

a part of her training and a part of the entire process.

I'm just I feel very lucky to get to be a part of such a big

day of racing. Or even a footnote in her race

career. Yeah, no, for sure.

Jessica Packet, she calls the races at Parks.

She'll be on the mic for the Cotillion and the Grade 1

Pennsylvania Derby tomorrow over there at Parks.

Mandatory payout on the Pick 5. Let's get into some of those

races. The Turf Monster starts that

sequence 5 furlongs on the turf. Is there a standout for you in

this? Grade 3 and a quarter

$1,000,000. I am a big Ned Allen fan and

Algon has shown me likes the turf course.

So for me it's it's him. It's an interesting thing going

into these big weekends as the announcer because you, I mean, I

have to handicap the races for radio appearances and things

like this, but you also don't want to go into the day with

this firm idea of how you think the race is going to go.

I think that's where announcers can get themselves in a little

bit of trouble if you're really married to the idea that the

race is going to shake out exactly like it is.

So I, I mean, I have to handicap the daily at parks as part of my

role. I do like panic analysis in

between the races. But you know, it's a, it's a way

of I, I only lightly handicap them if I'm calling them, to be

perfectly honest. Yeah, well, it's important too,

because if it's a massive upset, it should be reflected in your

call. That sort of thing, right?

I'll be just as surprised as you.

Don't worry, that's. Exactly right.

That will kick it off in the five furlongs.

Of course. Our buddy Roger, who listens to

the show was the owner of Nobody Listens who won that race last

year. Of course, 4 harps and Bay in

that field as well. Jean, a horse named Jean

Valjean. How about that?

No bread stealing, just a a good old turf Sprint up there.

Do you find horses take to the turf course well from other

places on the East Coast or is it really?

Hey, if they're good at parks, they're good.

They're good at parks. I think it really just depends.

It's a horse by horse sort of thing and that's with any with

any turf course and there are plenty of horses that definitely

don't need to bring their surface with them.

I just, it's, it's a, but I do give a home track advantage

across the board. Got it.

Gallant Bob is the next race 6 furlongs great too.

This is a three-year old Sprint over six furlongs.

We've had several really interesting 3 year old sprints

so far this year. And this is a field you

mentioned. Good luck figuring out the

sequence. This this stands out as one of

those. We get bent Toronto mentor NATO,

thank God you're calling these and not me tomorrow.

I ran Ortiz and Jose D'Angelo. But of course we get Bucarino

coming back off of the win on essentially in the prep for this

race before 3 for three lifetime at the track.

We given the home given home track advantage.

Did you land on Bucarino? No, this is a race where I'm an

entire sentimental sucker and I know this horse is up against it

from a pace perspective, but Tommy Breeze, we talked about

fangirling and like geeking out a little bit over getting to

call Torpedo Anna. The way that I get some feelings

getting to call a horse in the Stonehedge silks is kind of a

next level sort of thing for me. When I was a kid, the first

horse I loved in racing was a horse named Blazing Sword for

Gil Campbell's Stonehedge Farm and Ned Allard and Kathleen

Ocala both trained. That horse is very good points

in his career. But seeing those silks that

meant so much to me as a young racing fan and getting to call

them, it gives me a lot of feelings.

That's awesome. All right, next race is the

cotillion. We see Thorpedo Anna in this

1,000,000 bucks on the line. I remarked on the podcast last

night, Jessica Parks is a little like Grand Slam tennis.

The women make just as much money as the men. 1,000,000

bucks in this one on the dirt cars.

They're violent at 16th go in the two turns there.

I mean, and this has turned out to actually be.

I know we focus so much on Torpedo Anna and for very, very

good reason, but power squeeze, scalable Cinemara, you know,

Mystic Lake, there's a lot of fun Phillies in this 3 year old

class. Outside of Torpedo Anna, do you

think there's another horse with a big race in her tomorrow?

I think see, tomorrow's the horse who's going to have a very

bright future. It might be a very bright future

running second to Torpedo Anna this time, but I think she'll

get a big one on her own at some point.

It's just a matter of when. But it's a, it's a dynamite

race, really. Honestly, it's an accomplished

group of Phillies separate from the big one.

Yeah, no doubt about it. Torpedo and a breaking from the

six tomorrow. I think she hasn't done that

since an optional claiming win at Churchill Downs last year.

So how about that? We'll see her in the 6th hole

for the first time in a while. The Pennsylvania Derby is race

13 1,000,000 bucks here. Mile and an eighth.

Open company but three-year old restricted race here.

Seize the Gray. The Preakness winner is back.

Lots of front runners in this race.

Speaking of Seize the Gray, I I can't remember Jessica the last

time I I handicapped a race like this with so many front runners

in it. Yeah, you have to think they're

going to really, it's going to be a toasty sort of pace.

That's also the kind of The funny thing is sometimes when

you affect it to be else, the jockeys are going to be also

expecting to be. Everyone's going to try to take

back and sit off of it and then someone gets loose on the lead.

I think it's, I think this is a race where the hometown horses

actually have a sneaky good shot at a very big price.

And who would that be then? Oh man, let's go with that.

Let's go. Honestly, just step on it I

think is the most legitimate of the three of them for Lulunder,

who's kind of just quietly had a really good year.

He's run with the big boys a couple of times.

He sure he belongs and I think he's one who's kind of you make

that progression from that first half of your 3 year old year to

the second-half or you don't and that's where you see some of

these horses start to wilt this time of year and just step on

it. He's coming into the race really

well. I'm also intrigued by Lonesome

Boy. I think it is, First off, a very

classy move by Hugo Pidia to Keith Adam Bowman, his local

jockey award. It's very tempting on a big day

with all of out of town jockeys to come in and get a big name

and to be loyal to the person who's done everything right with

the source. He's made no mistake.

It's a really nice gesture and I hope they have, I hope they

enjoy the day. Last week I made fun of Kevin

Kirstein in the racing office at Churchill Downs for making

Jonathan's Way a buzz horse in the Iroquois, and then he won by

7000 lengths. The buzz horse for this race

seems to be unmatched wisdom. Are you watching a horse like

that as well? I mean, I'm going to be watching

all of them. That's sort of my job.

I, you know, if you're willing to forgive the Travers, right?

If his horse was undefeated from three stars, he'd know he had

never tried graded steak company.

He'd for Chad Brown, he'd be a super short price in a spot like

this. But the Travers was not good.

Let's be very clear. I think he he either got exposed

or he had a real excuse and we'll see.

Yeah, I think for example, like just just step on it was better

in the Haskell than he was in the Travers.

Is that fair to say? Yeah, I'm not with some kind of

guns. Yeah, he he was a no show on

Travers by all accounts, really. Yeah.

No, I thought just step on and did a bunch of especially good

early running there at Monmouth in July.

So yeah, now I'm with you. What do you expect Dragoon Guard

to go off at by the time we get to post on Saturday?

I think he'll probably go to post as the favorite.

I don't I what that what that actually looks like in such a

contentious field. I'm not sure.

I do have to say I've seen him get over the track a couple of

times and he's a he's a real exceptional mover.

He is a horse that kind of bounces and floats over the

track. He covers the deceptive amount

of ground. He's the one who sells himself

to you a little bit in person. The other Grade 1 winner in this

race that I feel like no one is talking about is shipping in

from California and his name is Stronghold.

He's trained by Phil d'amato, Antonio Fresu, making the trip

to ride him. Is the 11 A a difficult?

Is that a difficult spot to break from, or is the stretch

long enough that he's going to be able to make a move?

This isn't the Kentucky Derby. The 20 horse field post position

matters. I think it's eleven horses.

It's eleven horses. You should be able to work out a

trip and get yourself where you need to be kind of honestly

going into the first turn. And it's sense of thrift.

I I want to ask a personal question now that we've talked

about the field in the Pennsylvania Derby last year,

you call your first grade one races.

And a guy that I've gotten to know quite a bit through the

podcast and through this show is Matt Dinerman, who of course was

out of Golden Gate Fields and gets to Arkansas and gets to

call those grade ones. You had called races before in

different places. Certainly I think your first was

at Suffolk Downs, your home track there in Massachusetts

getting to call grade ones. I mean, let's start there.

Just sort of generally is, is, is that it?

I mean, as an announcer, is that the is that the goal is that,

you know, is it's calling the grade ones or is it just having

a job like a job at parks? It just never feels like a job.

It I you had told me I would be doing this when I was a kid, I

would never believed you. And I, I dreamed pretty big in

racing as a kid who grew up not in racing.

I'm, you know, this has surpassed my wildest dreams

because growing up as a little girl watching racing, I didn't I

think that women could be announcers.

I didn't see any. And you know, you want to be

what you can see. So I was like interviewing my

stuffed animals with a microphone, wanting to be a

reporter or a journalist. So this is just been beyond

anything I could have dreamed of.

I was the kid making radio shows into a tape deck at 4:00, so I

completely understand where you're coming from.

I completely get it. How important is it to you to be

the first woman to have called a Grade 1?

I think the idea is that I don't want to be the last.

I think that's a really, really good answer.

Have a bunch of great calls tomorrow and I hope you have a

bunch of safe trips as well. She's Jessica Packet, make sure

you go and check those races out tomorrow.

They go to post for the Pennsylvania Derby right after

6:00. So during some of the football

games. But hey, easy to flip over and

watch the Cotillion and the Derby at least.

Jessica, don't be a stranger. We'll talk to you soon.

Thank you very much. Good luck everyone all.

Right. Thanks, Jessica.

There you go, Jessica Beckett.