Barry joined Louie on ESPN Louisville to preview the Friday and Saturday stakes at Saratoga.
Jim Dandy + Saratoga Stakes | Barry Spears
Full Transcript
You are. Listening to Rebo and Co.
Here on. ESPN 68105. 7 Now here's Louis
Rebo. Welcome back in Little Mountain.
Why not a little Mississippi queen bringing it back in God,
is that a is that song 55 years old?
It certainly is. Oh my goodness.
All right, it is and 105.7 Zach Cantrell Lugerbo hanging out
with you. Gotcha till noon Bobby V after
house round Table 3 to 6 have the mixtape at 5:30.
Of course, you can hear me on the Kentucky racing spotlight at
6:00 tonight. My my guess will be it'll be
man, it's Tyler Gefilion. I'm really excited to have him
on. I think he'll really enjoy that.
He'll be the middle segment will close with Josh Rodriguez.
We'll talk about that late pick three at Ellis Park on Sunday.
Let's talk some Saratoga Stakes right now with our guy.
Barry Spears joins us here on the program.
I haven't counted Barry, but I think you're up to a half dozen
appearances on the show. How are you buddy?
Doing good. I'm glad to be back man, thanks
for having me. No problem at all.
You'll see Barry this afternoon as well on our SoCal Saturdays
program also presented by Amwager who presents this
segmentamwager.com right now. 100% deposit match up to
$150.00. Barry, I got thrown off
yesterday. You were just at Saratoga.
So you're, you're the guy to ask.
And frankly, Saratoga is the place where you really fell in
love with the game. It is amazing to me how many
people could be at Saratoga. And yet for the Kerlin, there's
no one in the stands because Saratoga has such a culture of
just hanging out and being there, right?
Not necessarily being, you know, trackside essentially for every
race. Yeah, how I, how I describe it
to people that have never been there or, you know, spent
limited time, it's it's like going to a like a park and, and,
and having people just kind of hang out and there so happens to
be top notch racing there. So that that's kind of what
happens during the week. But the Kirtland was a nice race
and hopefully Chancellor Mcpatrick will make some noise
later on in the year. It's interesting watching those
guys try different things with three-year olds.
As far as a horse like Chancellor that I know Chad
Brown for a long time has thought is really, really
talented. Going up to the 9 furlongs
there, I thought it was a really interesting move and obviously a
good one there too. I was kind of hoping Friend of
the Happy Hour, Bobby Flay, I was hoping Crudo was going to
keep that lead. But hey, alas, at least the at
least the favorite didn't win there.
Let's talk, let's talk some favorites here though.
Barry up there at Saratoga today.
The Amsterdam, excuse me, is a 6 1/2 furlong Sprint, 4 three-year
olds. There's a purse of $200,000 on
the line here. Some horses that people have
probably seen in other spots, including Gun Metal who will
break from the 9 has run at Keeneland recently.
Who did you land on in the in the Amsterdam today?
I thought the 4T craft is real interesting.
I mean, top to bottom, this race is full of horses you really
can't trust, which made this a really hard race to kind of come
up with a winner. A lot of them look similar on
paper, you know, and very inconsistent, but I think
there's some speed in here that that could set it up for
somebody to lay a little bit off the pace.
I think T Craft is actually about to breakthrough.
This horse was running really good last year, even though he
had a little trouble breaking his maiden after that, he ended
up winning the Jimmy Wingfield at Aqueduct in a in a pretty
decent race. They laid him off.
He came back running in the in the Woody Stevens.
I think that bit of competition was a little bit over his head.
This is a way better spot. Should get a good trip.
His running style, everything kind of lines up for him to to
run well and I think he'll do it.
I like the horse breaking just he was outside gates wire.
Dylan Davis, Todd Pletcher here, didn't love the mud on Woody
Stevens Day, but still did some OK running.
Excuse me. Later in that race there at
Saratoga, obviously another sloppy track in the Pat De Mile.
But before that, this is a horse we talked about, Barry, you and
me before the Fountain of Youth, who had won the Swale, which is
a 7 furlong Listed Stakes at Gulfstream in February.
I'm interested to see this horse get back.
You know, this is a 6 1/2 furlong race.
Did a little bit of stalking and then taking over the race in the
Swale, was fourth for a lot of it and then went ahead and won
by 5 under Dylan Davis, who gets them out here as well.
I'm just hoping in this case, getting back to what this horse
has shown us can do well on a dry track.
I think has a real shot here. What do you think of Gates Wire
in the spot? Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree.
I think this horse is another one that's kind of on the verge
of breaking through to do some good things.
You know, you just have to wonder how much the the mud and
wet tracks affected this horse in the last two.
I think it was probably a great deal.
Not to mention the horse was hung out really wide in the
Woody Stevens. So this is definitely a better
spot. But again, you know you know
this horse has the potential, but will the horse show it on
the track today? But clutch is heating up so I I
wouldn't discount this one. Crichton's got the favorite in
here, Macho Music. I read Ortiz will have the
mount. Four wins for him yesterday.
This is the Pat de Mile winner. Got the lead, kept the lead.
Did Macho Music turn around? Try the muddy Woody Stevens.
Did not work out for the horse on that day but gets back to 6
1/2. Should have better conditions
here like he did in the sophomore.
Do we like him to give macho music a chance, or do you not
like that rail? The rail spot is is very
difficult for me, especially with a horse like Garamond right
out of, you know, right next to this horse.
I think they're going to go head and head.
Both of their best races have come when they've had the lead.
Then you throw in smoke and Wicked and and it's a party and
I think it's too crap. Horses like gate to wire kind of
line up to to take over, but this should be a really
interesting race however it shakes out.
Race 9 today the grade 2 Amsterdam there at Saratoga
talking with Barry Spears joins us here on Rabonco on ESPN 680
and one O 5 seven race 9:00 tomorrow is a Lake George.
It's a grade 3. It's for Phillies that are three
years old. It's on the inner turf a mile
and a 16th here, Barry and this 1 ended up very, very salty.
Classic cue in here. The winner of the Wild Applause
last out the 3rd place finisher and Lavender Disaster is back
here, as is the 2nd place finisher in Play With Fire.
I'm going to try Play With Fire here, Barry, the 10 horse, Manny
Franco and Chad Brown, two of them seem to win these kinds of
races and certainly this one only a half a length off.
I simply don't want to play 2 to one or nine to five in this kind
of race, Barry. And I think we'll get all of
nine to two, four to one on Play With Fire here in this one.
Won the Hilltop before that over good go.
It was really competitive and an allowance at Keeneland as well,
breaking her maiden going a mile on a 16th at the fairgrounds.
And you and I were talking the other day that fairgrounds Muniz
race. Actually, I was talking about
this with Sean Collins the other day.
But that Muniz fairgrounds race has turned out to be an
incredibly predictive race. We've seen the last couple of
years, frankly, that turf course at fairgrounds travel really,
really well. And so I'm going to look for
Play with Fire LSU stables here, the daughter, excuse me, of
Oscar performance. How about this, a Minnesota bred
Barry, How about that? Well, Minnesota bred up at
Saratoga. Where did you land in this one?
I ended up throwing one downfield here.
I went with #3 Daisy Flyer. I think this horse made the jump
from 2:00 to 3:00, at least by the indication of the last
start. It got a nice buyer speed figure
in that race, in the Here Comes the Bride at Gulfstream.
And I think when horses do that and they come off the layoff
from 2:00 to 3:00 and they jump up and speed figures, there's
usually another jump up and a little bit more of an
improvement. Daisy Flyer fits that bill that
race with Misses Worldwide and Vixen that finished in front of
her a pretty good horses. But we'll see.
I mean, this is another one almost like the turf version of
the Amsterdam where you really can't trust any of these horses.
I mean, Classic Q is a little bit trustworthy, but not
completely trustworthy, and if this horse gets a little, you
know, Flack or or competition in in his in her way, it could open
it up for possibilities like Daisy Flyer or play with fire.
Speaking of play with fire, the two pretty lavish finish behind
that horse at Pimlico and the hilltop looks pretty
interesting, especially if I agree, you know the standpoint
of if you like play with fire, pretty lavish didn't finish that
far behind. Maybe with a better trip would
have been closer that day. So I think this horse might be
competitive in this spot at a decent price as well.
It's interesting to see who's entered in here as well.
A Terra Dora, the 8 horse Ricardo Santana junior is riding
really well right now, man, he's he's feeling himself.
Mike Maker, of course, trains here.
Terrible start to the meet up there one for 17.
But this is the kind of race that Mike Maker picks off.
This horse has never done anything different.
And they go a mile into 16, tried the mile into an eighth
and the regret last time was probably just a little bit too
much distance there, but only when is in a maiden.
But three seconds been running in high level, either allowance
company or in graded stakes, enlisted stakes.
And so, yeah, there's just a ton in here that could go ahead and
win this one. Barry Spears with us on Rabo and
Co on ESPN 681057 Talking Stakes at Saratoga tomorrow.
Of course, the big one is the Grade 2 Jim Dandy will be race
10 on the card, a mile and an eighth for three-year olds start
at the same line that they will finish.
There's a half million bucks on the line.
Of course, we ran the Haskell last weekend.
Barry, haven't really talked to you about that.
What do you make of journalism at this point?
My goodness. I mean, hopefully he'll get it
together and not make things that much interesting.
But you know, watching him run, it's always a good show.
He's a great horse. He's got grit, determination,
everything you want to see in a racehorse and so I'm just
enjoying the ride and watching them watching run because it's
always interesting. A horse that could probably
claim the the title of third best.
If not Gosger, it might be Baeza, who's only win is in a
maiden special but has a second in the Santa Anita Derby, 1/3 in
the Kentucky Derby and a third in the Belmont Will break from
the one. I played this game on the happy
hour yesterday with with Kaylee Shapiro from Naira.
The fine or Dandy and you're we're going to go through the
field here. There's only five of them.
Good chance to win tomorrow is Dandy not so good chance.
We'll call him Fine Baeza. Fine or Dandy for tomorrow?
I'm going to say fine, OK, I'm I'm not really too sold on this
horse yet. Only has a maiden win under his
belt, has been running well and has the potential.
Just has to put it all together. But I I just don't think that
Jim Dandy and the way this race shapes up favors his kind of
style. I'm going to go very dandy and I
I love the addition of Hector Barrios here because I think
they're just going to go for it. I think they're just going to go
for it. What the hell difference is it
if they finish third or fourth in this race?
I think Hector Barrios is just going to go tap, tap, let's go,
big boy, and they're just going to go.
And I think with the McKenzie, I think that's a smart thing to
do. But man, I think there's a real
chance he just gets out front and steals it here.
Obviously his damn puka passing away recently is a massive
bummer, but of course, 1/2 to tons and tons of major horses,
including Dornik from last year. But I just, I love the works
recently. He looks a lot, frankly like
journalism did coming into the Haskell.
I'll go very, very dandy on him. Sandman will break from the two.
Jose Ortiz keeps them out here or jumps back out, I should say,
after the Kentucky Derby for Mark Cassie.
What do you make of his chances? Is he fine or dandy?
He's fine. I just think that he's just a
cut below top echelon horses. I mean, it was kind of seen in
the Preakness. It was a little bit of exposure
for him because he was the beneficiary of all that bumping
and was actually in front of journalism and still got beat by
two lengths or 4 lengths. So I don't know this source
really needs a setup. I mean, his Arkansas Derby, he
got the setup of a lifetime and I just don't see that happening.
I think Sandman's going to win the Isaac Murphy next year.
It's a mile and 1/2 on the dirt here.
I think he just needs to run forever and and he's just not
going to get that here. 9 furlongs just isn't long enough
and so I. Reminds me of hit show That's
that's who. He kind of reminds me of a hit
show who who definitely needed more distance and I I think
Salmon might fit that bill. He reminds me of Red Route One
more recently actually. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So not a bad horse at all.
I don't think you and I are saying that at all, but rather
just, you know, he's made $1.3 million this year.
He's a Grade 1 winner. He's doing OK.
But yeah, I just in this field, I think it doesn't set up well
for him. One that I do think it sets up
well for is the Ohio Derby winner, the Stalker, MO Plex.
I think he and Baisa will be on the lead in this one.
Barry Fighter, Dandy for the long shot.
MO Plex here. Manny Franco getting them out.
He is James Dandy. I like this source quite a bit.
He's very, very good. I think I remarked that when we
were talking about this, the Ohio Derby way back when, you
know, he kind of broke through and I think Sky's the limit.
He has a better turn of foot than people kind of realized.
That's why I don't think anybody's going to get in front
of them, you know, But I either might try it.
But I'm not really sure they really want to go head and head
with Moplex. And given that kind of scenario,
Moplex should control the pace and be the one that Sovereignty
would want to run down. But he might not be able to do
it. I mean, it's tough to run down
horses at Saratoga lately. Speed has been doing pretty well
and you got to be forwardly played.
So Sovereignty kind of got his act together last time and was a
little bit closer to the pace. But I'm not sure.
I mean, this is a tough race. Molex on his homecourt.
We'll see what happens, but I like Molex quite a bit,
especially at that 10 to 1 price.
Hill Rd. will break from the four finer dandy on Hill Rd. 5th
place in the Belmont but was the winner of the Milan and eighth
Peter Pan back on the 10th of May.
He's terribly fine. I largely agree with that take.
That's a good job by you. We'll move on to sovereignty.
How dandy is sovereignty? Dandy, I mean he's the champ and
you know he he's really, really tough.
You know, running down journalism twice after seeing
what journalism does. Yep, says a lot.
But the the pay scenario really doesn't favor him and it
wouldn't be impossible for him to lose, but he might just be
just better flat out better than all these horses and run them
down anyway, despite the pace scenario and every other
obstacle. But definitely very interested
to see how this all plays out. But I'm going with the solid MO
Plex sovereignty Exacta straight up.
I like that. So you think of of the two
races, he's more likely to be upset here than he is saying the
traverse. Correct.
OK. Yeah.
All right. He might not be cranked up all
the way. Yeah, like a Florida Derby kind
of thing, right? Exactly, Yeah.
No. OK.
All right. There you go.
He's Barry Spears. Find him this afternoon on SoCal
Saturdays with me. It's been presented by AM Wager,
am wager.com. Thanks, Barry.
Appreciate you buddy all. Right, thanks for having me.
All right, see him in about 3 hours.
How about that? Poor bastard has to hang out
with me. That's how these things go.
Zach, he's like you. He has to hang out with me.
Do you have a terrible sound? You need to play right now.
Try about it. You mess up.
Play that again. Cry about it.
Let's cry together next.