KY Racing Spotlight 1/10/25 | Irving Moncada

This is living proof that there can be life beyond cancer.

At Baptist Health, we've treated more breast, colon and lung

cancer patients than any other health system in Kentucky and

Southern Indiana. Learn more at

baptisthealth.com/cancercare. Hi, I'm attorney Alex White.

We're proud to be local and getting back to our community is

very important. If you want good representation,

visit suedistracteddriver.com. This is legal advertisement work

may be performed by other attorneys.

Let me tell you about my good friends at Thompson Brothers

Plumbing. Thompson Brothers Plumbing

offers experience dependable and affordable plumbing services

from new constructions and remodeling to general repairs

and maintenance they're rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau.

They do kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling,

installation of tankless water heaters, commercial plumbing,

residential plumbing. If you have a plumbing problem,

call who I call Thompson Brothers Plumbing dependable

local plumbers thompsonbrosplumbing.com Follow

the leader ESPN Louisville, your home for the College Football

Playoff, NFL, the Final Four and the best sports stock.

We are ESPN Louisville. Welcome to the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louis Roubo, presented by the Kentucky HBPA.

Now here's Louis Roubo. All right, welcome.

And it is a January 10th edition of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight

with Louis Ribow. Hey, I'm Louis Ribow, we're in

the studios of ESPN Louisville. You can catch me 11:50 Audrey

Bowen Co on ESPN 681057. You can come hang out with us.

It's a general sports show, lots of hoops, lots of football, and

of course, we mix in the horse racing as well.

We want to thank our friends over at the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP,

a.com for presenting and partnering with us on all of

these great shows. We're so blessed to have their

role in that. Is the HPA available to us for

this show? We'll talk to Irving Moncada in

this show. It's the kind of name that you

hear and you'll wonder, is this another guy coming up through

the ranks who came out of Peru or came out of Panama?

Ono Irving, Mikado's a Lexington kid.

You get to hear from a kid from the Commonwealth, his

experience, how he got to where he's at, including his first

stakes win this past weekend at Turfway Park.

A very, very fun interview and frankly, one I really suggest

you stick around for. And Irving's what I wanted to

talk about to open the show. And I'm not going to give away

too much from the interview, but I essentially asked him how he

came up in the sport. You know, it's a question that I

try to ask everyone that comes on spotlight with us.

And he was very succinct about it.

And it's something that we've talked about as well with Eric

Camelback, who's the president of the HBPA.

And I get to ask him about the agrarian nature of our sport,

the the farm base of what we do and did we allow our sport to

get too far removed from such a thing.

Eric talks about it a lot with the expansion in our sport right

now. It's happening in Kentucky, it's

happening in Arkansas, it's happening in, frankly, in Iowa

and Nebraska, places like this. We're seeing great returns in

Minnesota, agrarian places, less on the coasts now we're getting

the renovations in New York and Baltimore.

They're great. They look tremendous, and I'm

excited to be there and to see them once they're completed.

But that move is to the middle of the country.

It's something that we've talked about a lot on this program.

And I think that a guy like Irving Moncada is an interesting

test case. And I was thinking about our

interview with Brian Hernandez Junior just a couple of weeks

ago on this show. And if you ever want to go find

those shows, by the way, find us on Twitter or on Facebook at the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight. And we'll link all of our

podcast for this. You can always find it at

espnlouisville.com. But when I talked with Brian, I

asked him, what's the state of the sport in Louisiana?

He was on his way from the November meet at Churchill Downs

down to Louisiana where he rides and fairgrounds and frankly,

where he really cut his teeth in the sport and ask him, how's the

state? How's the state of horse racing

in in Louisiana? And, and the reason I asked is

because I always wonder about the state of it just alone in

Kentucky. But Brian's answer was very

simple. It's not great.

And what was interesting was how he then talked about it because

he talked about the Bush tracks going away.

And those were the smaller tracks in smaller towns where

people were just trying to get it together was much less formal

than what you see at the three tracks that remain at the top of

the chain there in Louisiana, certainly at fairgrounds.

But he talked about that thing going away.

And I started to wonder after he was on because I think all of us

do this with sports right now. For example, in the NBA, we're

we're seeing so many 3 pointer shot because the analytics say

either dunk the ball or shoot a three pointer.

That's all you should do in basketball Now for those of us

who love the guys who, you know, that slash to the rim, the Allen

Iverson types locally, you know, if you're if you're thinking

about some of your favorite teams, you know, the doctor

Duncan Stein's and you know these sorts of players that

we've been so blessed to have in the Commonwealth.

Well, the new game says no, no, shoot from as close to the

basket as you can or from three-point land because

percentages bear out that you'll get more points per possession

on that. Well, I don't think anyone in

the ABA are a thought that even when they put the three-point

line in place that it would dominate the game to the point

that it has. And of course, at some point

there will be an adjustment. The defenses will become Donuts.

There will be such a large gap in the middle that the mid, mid

range game in basketball will matter again.

And I wonder in Bryant's case, when he talks about losing the

Bush tracks, if that's just what he was used to, if that was the

mid range jumper of horse racing for him, or is it something more

sinister like he he thinks it is, which is no, no, we need

those kinds of places for horsemen, horse women to come

out of. And I wonder that about

Kentucky. And Irving's a great example of

coming out of that kind of environment.

I'm a guy that discovered the sport in his 20s.

I didn't grow up around it. No one else with my last name is

involved with horse racing. I'm different that way in what I

do. So many of the people that I

work with and they're great, by the way, this isn't a criticism

of anyone who came up in horse racing, but their experience is

so darn different than mine. If you grow up going to the

track and your and your parent works on the backside, it's a

very different experience than how I've come to love the sport.

And Irving's one of those guys. And you'll hear that story in

the next interview. But where are those people going

to come from in Kentucky was what I was asking myself.

And I what's cool is with the solidification of our circuit

and the solidification of what we're doing here as far as per

structure, as far as knowing the funding is there, as far as

shoring up the facilities, a new Turfway Park, the work they're

going to be doing at Ellis, Obviously all the work being

done at Keeneland currently, you cannot leave out a quarter

billion dollar project just completed at Churchill Downs as

they work on more of the fan experience on the stretch as

well. And of course, all of the work

that gets done in Kentucky Downs.

Every time I go to visit, there seems to be something new going

on down there. But such a solidified circuit.

Where are those horse people going to come from?

In our own town here in Louisville, we've been blessed,

and I use the word blessed on purpose with S Enders, with

people that grew up near the track like a Dale Romans, like a

Brad Cox in the more modern era now, both of their

contemporaries for sure. But that we got those guys out

of our area the way that we did. The Danny Gargons of the world

who are now, you know, based in Saratoga, and that's fine.

He's based in Florida right now. He's got one in the Pasco on

Saturday at Tampa. What is it that we're looking

for here? What is it that we're going to

have in place for young people that want to get into this game?

You know, one of the conversations we have about

sports in America sort of in general, is how expensive we

make it, how difficult we make it just to access the sports

because we have club sports and we have travel sports and we do

these other things where kids are all always playing sports in

an organized fashion. Where is it that a guy right now

can just grow up and break into horse racing and what are we

doing to cultivate those spots? We had the story this week as

well that I wanted to follow up on.

And it's one of those stories and it's it's one of those

people that you hear the stories about and you see him and you

get and you know the name, but it's not someone that you got to

know. And his name was John L

Robertson and he was at Churchill Forever man.

He showed up as a 14 year old and you see him with general

hand grenade and in the in the winner's circle photo.

And of course, he was laid to rest at the end of 2024.

We'll have a memorial service for him tomorrow at End Street

Baptist Church, if you're interested, on 6th Street.

But he was around the sport essentially his entire life.

He dies at 81, but he started essentially in earnest working

at the track at 14. What are we doing for the John L

Robertson's of the world? Where does John Lee Robertson

fit? What are we doing to cultivate

more of that guy who just gets it?

There's something different about being at the track.

There's something so innate and natural for the people that are

the best at it, that are so natural around horses, that are

natural around the situations that only arise at a racetrack.

Mr. Robertson was one of those guys.

And what are we doing? And I bring him up very

succinctly because he is African American.

And what are we doing to get all of our citizens in on horse

racing, but especially young people?

I hear so often from colleagues or from other, you know, people

in the media, hey, we got to grow horse racing and this is

how we do it. And everyone's got an answer.

It's nice to want to cultivate betting.

It really is. It's nice to want to cultivate

betting. I'm not mad at that angle at

all. And we should try to do it.

And in the last second, by the way, we'll talk handicapping.

But where are the people coming from?

Where are the next dogs in what we do in the machine that is

horse racing in the Commonwealth?

Who's the next Mr. Robertson? Who is it?

Where is he right now? Is he a high school student at

Doss? Is he a high school student at a

place like St. XI?

Don't know. Is she at Mercy High?

I don't know. But I really, really hope that

somebody's working on making a place for young people to find a

spot in our sport. So often we meet the younger,

the younger generation, and you'll meet Irving.

This is who we want in our sport.

We got to talk to Jaime Torres in the spring after his win in

the Preakness. He's in his mid 20s.

Those are the people we want in our sport, the ones that care

about horses, the ones that learn the great lessons.

You'll hear from Irving what he learned from Brad Cox in his

years as an exercise rider in The Cox Family.

Essentially, you'll hear those things from him.

Where are those kids coming from?

How do we cultivate that? What is the best way to do it?

I don't have an answer today, but boy, I hope someone is

working on it. Irving Mocato will join us next

here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

I'm Louis Roubo. We're in the studios of ESPN

Louisville. We'll take a quick break here.

We are presented by the Kentucky HPPAKYHBP a.com.

On the other end, Irving Mocato. We'll talk to him next.

At U of L Health Brown Cancer Center, we pioneer clinical

trials and new cellular therapies that save lives so you

can face cancer with New Hope. That's the power of you.

Visit uoflhealth.org. When it's time to replace your

heating and air system, we know people want options.

That's why they'll always get a free second opinion on

replacements with BJ Heating and Cooling.

Plus, for limited time, get up to $2000 tax credit with a new

Bryant system. Call the experts you can trust

at BJ Heating and Cooling. Hey everybody, we just got word

the Tailspin Elfest is cleared for takeoff at Bowman Field on

Saturday, March 1st, 2025. More than 70 breweries pouring

more than 250 beers, rare brews, live music, San Francisco and

much more returns. Learn more at

tailspinelfest.com. That's tailspin elfest.com.

We are ESPN Louisville. Download the ESPN Louisville app

today, delivered by UPS Jobs Kentucky.

Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

105.7. Now here's Louis Rabeau all.

Right, Welcome back in. This is a January 10th edition

of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

I'm Louis Ribow in the studio of ESPN 680-1057.

You can catch me 11:50 on Ribow and Co here at the network.

But of course, every 6:00 on Friday, we turn to horse racing,

whether it be inside Churchill Downs or this show.

We're presented today as we always are, by the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP a.com. And if you head over there, you

can read about our next guest. And his name is is Irving

Mokana. He is a jockey.

He's got a small number next to his weight, but I don't think

he'll be there very much longer. Irving, welcome in, man.

How are you? Hey.

Louis, thank you for having me man.

Doing good. How are?

You, I'm doing great. Look, we'll start with the good

stuff and it is just absolutely the good stuff.

I'm on your Equibase profile, OK?

And these are things that I don't get to say to people.

Very often I'm on your. Equibase Profile But you win

race 1, you win race 2, and you win race 4 on Saturday at

Turfway Park. Talk to those of us who number

one, have never ridden a horse in a race but #2 have never had

three wins in four races. Is it is it the horse?

Is it Irving Moncada having a day?

Is it a combination? Like what is going on that you

win three of the first four races on a CART?

It's definitely a combination of, you know, you know, it it

take, it really takes the village, you know, for something

for that, for, you know, to have a day like that, you know,

starting with giving opportunities from the owners,

the trainers, you know, getting the horses ready, you know, my

agent, you know, picking the right horse.

And I mean, you know, I'm super thankful, you know, for the

opportunities they've been given to me and, you know, to have a

day like that, you know, I, I'm just really happy, you know.

It's amazing you ride 3-6, you had 8 * 7 different trainers on

Saturday. Do do you find yourself, you

know, look at you're, you're in The Apprentice rank still, but

do you find yourself getting more and more calls?

You know, you mentioned your agent getting you the, getting

these mounts and these sorts of things at Turfway right now in

this season. Do you find though that you're

starting to get more calls, especially after you do win your

first stage choice on Saturday? You know, we're just taking, I'm

just taking it one day at a time, one race at a time.

And at the moment, you know, yeah, we're getting more calls

in and I think a lot of people have noticed those.

You know, my agent, Joe Polly does a great job on workers and,

you know, getting us on a live mount and everything.

And, you know, he does an incredible job.

Super thankful for him. And I think people have really

noticed this now. And I think, you know, that's a,

that's a good thing for, for down the road.

Irvin Mulcata joins us here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

I'm Louis Rabo, thanks for making this part of your horse

Racing Friday. So, Irving, let's go back to the

beginning, man. So when did you know you wanted

to be a jock? Where did you grow up?

How did you grow up in the sport?

And how did you end up at Turfway Park of all places?

How about that? So I grew up here in Lexington,

KY, you know, yeah, right down the road where where Keeneland

is. And, you know, my dad would

always take me to the races at Keeneland.

And I grew up on the on John Oxy's farm where my father works

there for about 20 years almost. So I kind of grew up there on

the farm, you know, learning from the ground up.

And then just going to the racetrack.

I kind of, you know, just, you know, I was always going to be

small and, you know, thought, hey, how about maybe it'd be a

jockey? And then, you know, I was able

to start gouting for Brad, for Brad Cox.

I gout for him for three years and then like kind of, you know,

just decided them, you know, take a shot at it and I'm really

happy. I I did and here we are now.

It's perfect work. If someone came to you and said,

how do, how do I become Irving Moncada?

How do I follow your path? Because you mentioned those

three years of riding in the morning for Brad Cox, for

example, you know, when Irving, when someone comes to me and

says, hey, you know, you've got a cool job, I want to try radio,

I always say to them, well, just do a podcast.

Just get your radio muscles that way.

And I don't, you know, it's not apples to apples here, but I

imagine riding in the mornings does get you ready for sure for

race riding. You know, you get to know

thoroughbreds, you get to know their habits and you know, the,

the, the cues that work the best to get horses to, to behave in

the way that you, you know, that maximizes their performance

would. Do you think your route was the

best way? Do you think riding in the

mornings and getting to know thoroughbreds that way was the

best way? Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

You know, Brad has Brad had so many horses there at when I was

dousing for him, I was able to get on, you know, stick horses

and and maidens, you know, and horses that were, you know, just

getting ready to, you know, get their first start.

So being there, you know, helped me learn a lot.

And honestly that that's kind of like the way to go.

You know, start off, you know, breaking baby somewhere, you

know, learning, you know, the, the, you know, the reins and

your balance and everything. And then from there, you know,

just take one step at a time and, you know, eventually you

get the, you know, going pretty fast and then, you know, it's

just done a general rush you just fall in love with and it's

just, it's just hard to beat. You get to work with a guy like

Brad Cox and you ride for him in the mornings.

Is there a thing or two that you could share with us that you

learn from Brad that you carry to this day?

That's something that affects how you ride every day.

Let's see, I'd have to say, you know, consistency, you know,

staying on top of your game, you know, showing up to work, you

know, asking questions if you don't know, you know, and never

stop learning. You know, I was always around

the barn, you know, in the mornings and in the afternoons

and you know it always ask questions to Brad or his

assistants, you know, his assistants, Tessa and Blake, you

know, I was always around them and super thankful for them.

Tremendous horsemen, you know, and, you know, just really think

for them, you know, to help helping me really get started,

you know? You talked about your dad and,

and working on a farm and, you know, this show is presented by

the the Kentucky HPA and I've gotten to know the HP, the

national HPA president, Eric Hamelback pretty well because

of, you know, doing this job and, and being around the HPA

sort of in general. But you talk about your dad

working on the farm, you growing up that way.

And something we've started to notice in horse racing is that

the places where horse racing is going away from and then

contrarily where it's growing is away from urban areas and into

more agrarian type areas. You mentioned Keeneland.

Keeneland is one of the great examples of this for sure.

Big property, it's got its own sort of country feel to it, even

if it is next to an airport, not too terribly far from a big city

in Lexington. But it has that kind of feel.

Obviously in our state, you have even a Kentucky Downs that has

the full agrarian sort of feel. How important do you think?

You know, and especially for you, but for our sport in

general, that sort of agrarian connection, that farm connection

to the sport. Hey, you know, being around at

the farm, you kind of learned a lot being out there, you know,

really from the grown up, you know, and you know, not just the

racetrack way, you know, you learned, I learned out there,

you know how to handle mares, wheelings, yearlings and you

know, dad would also pull out the mares occasionally.

So it's, it's really nice, you know, and I think it's really

important, you know, to, to be around there.

Jockey Irving Moncada is with us here on the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight. You do get your first stakes win

on Coming in Hot in the Preview Stakes.

This was not the easiest of races, frankly.

You had to make a move on the turn.

There were some horses that got the lead and slowed back into

the pace that you were involved in.

Can you kind of walk us through the race and what you saw and

when you knew you were going to win it?

Yeah, I mean, I knew there was a lot of speed going into the

race. So of course I had ran against,

had, you know, come out sharp and had, you know, died off up

front. And I know I had Joe Rosario on

the Wesley workhorse down to the to my inside.

Once I got to about the 3/8, I started asking him and I knew

there was a wall of horses. And I think it was about when I

saw Joel making the move down the rail, he kind of, you know,

slipped on through and, you know, I just followed right

behind him. And I know I had a whole lot of

horse underneath me turning from home.

I just asked him and he asked him and to run for me and he ran

on for me and he just kept on going and just went by the the

Wesley Ward horse. It it's an awesome moment.

You cross the finish line, you realize you've won.

Does it feel different than the other three races you had won

that day because it is a stakes Irving or or are you at the

point where you know you've been, you've been pretty

blessed, man. You got a bunch of wins under

your belt. You had a great 2024.

I don't want to say this is becoming old hat, but did it

feel like, you know, just another race with a with a

slightly higher purse or or was this a different feeling?

After crossing the wire, yes, you know, I was really thankful,

you know, you know, the man upstairs for the for, you know,

giving me the opportunity and for giving me, you know, being

blessed to cross the wire first, you know, but funny because you

know, before you know, the races got started, Joel Rosario, you

know, he was in the same corner as me.

And I asked Joel, I said, Joel, I got an important question for

you. And he said, all right, let me

know. And I said, so I ride my first

stakes race today. How did you feel when you rode

your your first stakes race? Like he said, man, that's,

that's a good question, kid. That's a good question.

He said, listen, just another race.

You've written what, a hundred, 150 race?

I said yes, Sir. You know, he said take it as

another race. You know the horse.

I said yes, Sir. He says, all right, you know,

the horse looks like you won on the horse.

You know, just go out there and just just ride your race.

You know, it's just another race, I said yesterday.

And so before going in the gates, you know, and everything

I and in the paddock also, I said, you know, it's just

another race. It's just another race.

And you know, thankfully we were able to come out, you know, on

top. And I think it wasn't until

after I closed a lot, you know, I was just really thankful to

be, you know, where I was. That's a cool moment, man.

I appreciate you sharing that with us because that is that's

awesome. It's I don't get many stories

like that on this show and I get some pretty cool stories on

here. I appreciate you sharing that.

I what is that? What is that relationship like

with the other guys in that jocks room?

Because for those of us on the outside, I I think it's easy to

understand the camaraderie. You have a very unique job.

You have a job that lots of people don't understand.

Most of us go to work. I sit in a chair Irving.

There isn't a, there isn't an ambulance following me to work

to make sure that I'm going to be OK, right.

So there's a danger element of your job, of course, that all of

you share and all of you, you know, you're in the same Guild

and all of these kinds of things.

But on the track, you know, and, and for, you know, for inquiries

and those kinds of objections, those kinds of things.

Like once in a while, you really do have to be full competitors

that way. And obviously during a race

you're competing against Joelle. Good advice or not, right?

You're trying to beat you're, you're trying to get your horse

ahead of his horse for sure. But what have you found in your

young career as far as you know? If you, you mentioned it, asking

questions of the of, of Brad Cox and his crew and getting the

right answers and making sure you have as much knowledge as

you can. Have you found other jockeys to

be supportive on your journey? Very, very supportive.

You know, someone that's been a big mentor for me, you know,

throughout my right career has been Edgar Morales, who's

another jockey that that, you know, we have the same age.

We have Agent Joe Pauly. And Edgar Morales has really

taught me a lot. You know, he watches a lot of my

races and, you know, we'll go back and view, you know, watch

replays together. But being in the Kentucky

circuit, you know, I was able to ride at Keeneland, Churchill and

now Turfway. Also, Alice, a little bit being

able to ride against, you know, some of the top jockeys and to

be able to go back in the room and to ask, you know, Tyler

Gafflion, Jose Ortiz, Julian Le Peru, Flo.

I can ask. I can go up to any one of those

guys and I can ask and I can ask them, you know, hey, what do you

think about this ride? Any advice you can give me this

ride or they'll pull me aside and say, hey, watch this ride.

And you know, just being around that jockey colony, you know, it

just makes a big difference because everybody, yes,

everybody wants to win, but everybody wants to see you

improve as well. That's beautiful.

Love it. All right.

Well, he's Irving Moncada jockey joins us here on the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. I'm Lou Urbo in the studios of

ESPN 680-1057 were presented by the Kentucky HBPA.

You mentioned being on the Kentucky circuit.

And by the way, Irving, you're you're coming up on a milestone.

Your next win will be your career 50th when you've been

aboard for 309 starts. I think you would have taken

that deal beforehand, right? If I had told you, hey, about

300 and 10315 starts and you're going to hit fifty wins, you

would have taken that deal, right?

That seems pretty easy. Oh.

Yeah, look, man, hot start. You got to seriously, you got to

feel really good about how it started.

Do you know? No, absolutely, absolutely.

You know that I'm really happy to be where I am and like I

said, I'm more than thankful for the opportunities that have been

given to. Me.

All right. So you mentioned Keeneland and

Churchill and Turfway. Did you get to and Ellis, did

you ride at Kentucky Downs this year?

I actually don't have that in front of me.

I rode one race over at Kentucky Downs.

What was that like? Walk us through that at least.

A roll, A roll, a roller coaster ride.

I mean it's. Did you like?

It, yeah, it was pretty fun. Actually.

It was pretty fun, Yes. I'm not gonna lie, I did like

it. OK, so you think you'll you'll

shoot for some outs of Kentucky downs this year?

You think you're going to be trying to get in on that

madness? Hopefully, fingers crossed, yes,

hopefully we'll be, we'll be over there.

And I, I assume you're going to be staying at Turfway through

March and, and that's a pretty easy thing.

Is it your, your hope, your, your, your agents hope that

you'll be able to stay mostly in the Kentucky circuit?

Is that the hope for Irving Mulcata going forward?

Yeah, that's the hope. You know, if we get any cause

anywhere and we'll we'll see where that takes us.

But mainly we'll be here in the conveyor circuit.

Yeah. You know, we talk about a horse

like coming in hot who, you know, wins over the weekend for

you. Excuse me, and this is a you

know, it's a 3 year old horse just now.

Is this one that you think can improve as a three-year old and

get even better. The two of you maybe, you know,

make the John over to, you know, your hometown, go run at

Keeneland or or end up at Churchill.

You think that's that kind of horse?

Oh yeah, definitely, absolutely. You know, we'll see how he comes

out of the race. And I think, you know, John

Anderson, the and the owners from Rose Hill will get together

and they'll come up with a plan. And, you know, we'll see how he

breathes, you know, going into the next couple days.

And you think future looks bright for that horse?

I know the weather is what the weather is, but have you heard

about coming in hot? Did he come out of the race, at

least initially, OK? Yes, he came out.

He came out good. And he's that.

He's that John, and this is Lauren, and he's doing good.

Yes, Sir. OK, great.

All right, that's good news. All right.

Well, Irving Mocato with us this year coming up.

Are you going to, you know, I, I asked you if you're largely

going to stay in the circuit here with people in the Kentucky

circuit? You know, we see a lot of, you

know, guys, you know, like Leparoux, you mentioned as as

being in the jocks room here is at Oaklawn right now and

Hernandez junior is down, you know, in New Orleans and we get,

you know, Tyler down at at Gulfstream.

You staying up here at Turfway. What is it about Turfway that's

been such a positive for you? What is it about it that that

you can win, you know, 4 races on Saturday for four different

trainers, different levels, claimers, stakes, whatever?

What is it about Turfway that's great for Irving?

I'd have to say the number of people that that are that are

out there, you know, and that are supporting us.

Like I said, you know, my Polly, you know, he keeps me pretty

busy in the mornings, you know, and next year, you know, I make

sure I'm out there and, you know, in case if anybody needs

help, you know, in case somebody doesn't show up, you know, I, I

can jump in and, you know, help out.

All right, so I, I love this. What time do you get to Turfway

in the morning and what time do you end up leaving?

So the hours over there change so the track doesn't open there

until seven. If I remember right, it closes

at 11. So usually I'll get there, you

know, around 7730. And usually I'll, I'll make some

rounds and you check with people and make sure everybody's OK,

you know, for the morning. And I'll stick around, you know,

and usually I'll leave about, I'd say ten, 10:30, somewhere

around there, just just a few minutes before the track closes,

you know, OK. Get some lunch and then head

back for the races that night. Is that about right?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'll go.

I'll go home, you know, get some lunch and watch some replays and

get ready for the day. How much how much prep goes into

your day as far as races are concerned?

Let's let's go ahead and just look at your upcoming schedule.

For instance, so I've got Irving Moncada, I've got his entries.

You have 4 races scheduled for today that are not going to

happen. Let's go to oh gosh, all right,

tomorrow you are, you are scheduled to ride 8 races on a

Thursday card, for example. OK.

And I know that the the weather is what it is right now and

we're dealing with all kinds of things.

How much prep goes into you riding a Ziva than a Starship

Belmont in a light bulb moment? In a rosary.

Wavos de Oro, all those kinds of things.

How much prep do you have to do before a race day like that?

So there's a few of those words that I've already written

before. SO, and, you know, usually the

ones that I haven't run before, I'll go back and I'll watch

their, you know, last two starts, last three starts, you

know, where they ran their first, where they ran, you know,

their best races at, you know, I'll watch those replays and,

you know, kind of, you know, write it down, you know, you

know, it's on my phone and and remember that, you know, and

after that, you know, I'll, oh God, I'll get over to the jocks

room, you know, and you know, probably, you know, watch the

replays, you know, one more time, you know, before going out

to the paddock and coming up with the game plan for me and my

train, me and the trainer and yeah.

So you ride for lots of different trainers, those

conversations right before the race.

How often do people say, yo, you know what you're doing, go do

that? Or do other people come to you

and say, hey, you know, I'd like to try this today.

What percentage is it? Is it a mix?

Are certain trainers more hands off, some more hands on?

What have what have you found? It's a, it's a mix.

You know, some trainers will say, hey, you know, there's a

lot of speed. You know, how about we try and

take back this time or hey, there isn't a whole lot of

speed. How about we send forward a

little this time, like you said, you know, there's, there's a

little bit of everything. You know, we can be on Plan A,

Plan B, Plan C, but you know, kind of when those gates open,

you know, a million things can happen.

Well, he is Irving Moncada. I, I always ask this to, to

people in horse racing to close the interview 'cause I'm always

interested in two things. The first is whenever I get, so

I get to do a general sports show, 11:50 here at, at our

station and a a question I always ask coaches what's more

important, your coaching or having great players.

And every single coach I've ever had, Irving has answered exactly

how you're thinking. It's way more important to have

good players. I'm sure with every trainer that

I've asked, it's about having great horses, their training

method, whatever. In your opinion, Irving, what

what is the most important thing?

You know, OK, let me ask a different thing.

The the big races in our sport, the Breeders Cup Classic or

Kentucky Derby, whatever it might be.

Do you allow yourself to dream about winning those races at

this point in your career? In other words, is Irving Mocata

laid his head down at night and thought about being in the

Kentucky Derby winner's circle. Oh, absolutely, definitely.

You know, sometimes I'll just be sending the jocks from or, you

know, just be sitting at home and I'll just be thinking about

it. You know, someday, you know,

we'll, we'll, we'll make it there.

Absolutely all. Right.

Well, he's Irving Locata, Lexington native.

How about that? Love having a Kentucky kid here

on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Irving. We really appreciate it, man.

Best of luck. A bunch of safe trips, of

course. And let's talk down the line,

All right? Awesome.

Thank you. All right, Irving, we

appreciate. It you know, we'll do, we'll

grab. Irving Derby week.

We'll grab him for one of our 10:00 shows.

We'll make Irving sit down backside and do some radio with

us. Then This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight on ESPN 680-1057 were presented by the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP a.com. You can find this show, by the

way, on Facebook and on Twitter as well if you want to follow us

on the socials. And you can always find me at

Radio Louie as well. A little handicapping and we'll

wrap up the. Show we do it next.

All right, welcome back in. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight with Louie Rabot. Of course, I'm Louie Rabot at

Radio Louie on the socials. Find this show both on Twitter,

on Facebook, wherever it is that you do your social Ling and your

networking and all of those kinds of things.

We'd love to have you as part of our online communities as well.

Thanks to Irving Molcata joining us in the previous segment.

If I got to say, if he's not set up for super stardom, I don't

know who is just his background, how he thinks about the game,

the years of riding in the in the Cox program as an exercise

rider. He is just, I think set up for

such a bright future here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

And by the way, we are, we are presented by the Kentucky HBPA,

KYHBP, a.com, frankly, representing people like Irving.

If you are a horse person in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky,

certainly check out everything they offer over at their

website, KYHBP, a.com. And of course, hey, if you're

like me and you're just a horse fan, go check out their

interviews, the articles, the photos and the videos from

around the Commonwealth. All the great people that make

our great sport go here in the state of Kentucky.

Joined by my friend now, his name is Barry Spears joins us

from down there in sunny Florida.

And by sunny Florida boy, you know, I talked to Jason Beam on

Thursday on the podcast Barry, and it was like 52° in Tampa.

And you would have thought that he was the one who got up this,

you know, that morning and, and took his kids to school, which

was me. And it was 8° out.

Barry Spears, how do you think you would do an 8° weather?

It's the same as the 40° weather we have now in Daytona, so.

It's not going. Well, eight 8 = 40.

It's like dog years, right? Eight times. 5.

It's all the same. That's exactly right.

Well, I hope it starts to warm up for you guys.

It actually looks like but they're going to have a fair

amount of good weather for the Friday card.

Sunny high 60s, low 70s for Tampa and then today and then of

course on Saturday looking at high 60s, a little bit of

cloudiness. You know, Barry, you've done

some work around the Tampa Bay Derby and of course the same F

Davis and that kind of stuff. The Tampa the Tampa thing, you

know, Tampa Bay Downs. I think it's kind of a forgotten

track in our sort of thinking about the national scene.

I, you know, when I talked to Jason, I, you know, he mentioned

they run over 100 days. I think their turf course is as

good as anyone's in the United States.

I think, I think that much of it just kind of describe to people

what is Tampa like and, and what's the vibe around the

place. And if someone were to head down

there for the Davis or for or for the Tampa Bay Derby, what do

you think they should expect? It's, it's a beautiful place.

It's, it's sits kind of on its own.

There's not really much around it.

So it, it's very serene, quiet. You're not like near anything

major. So, so you, it has that going

for it. I don't know if anybody out

there has been to the now defunct Rockingham Park, but

it's pretty similar to that. It's, it's not a very big

facility at all, but very quaint, very nice.

The whole staff is excellent there.

I, I can't say enough about it. I, I love the places.

It's just such a great atmosphere for racing it.

Getting a guy like Jason Beam on there, you know, just as part of

their staff down there, obviously calling races, but

just being, you know, the, the, the force he is on the Internet

about horse racing. His podcast obviously is

massive, all of those sorts of things.

Just having him as part of the team down there at Tampa Bay

seems to have been a real boom for them.

We talked a little bit about the Hillsborough and the races they

got coming up down there. And by the way, I, I went ahead

while you were talking. I, I looked up Tampa Bay Downs

on the on Google Earth, and you're right, there's such a

buffer between the track and the rest of the town there that you

could probably get a little bit lost and kind of forget that

you're in the middle of a city, right?

Yeah, I, I mean, it's, it's on a road named Racetrack Rd. so that

that tells you all you need to know.

They have like a driving range adjacent to it, but other than

that it's kind of stands by itself.

Crime site, the driving range is empty.

What percentage of the day? I mean, just a huge percentage,

right. So I mean, it's not as though

there's 1000 people running around on the the driving range

either. So yeah, no, it looks

incredible. And so one of those places on

the bucket list for sure of tracks that I need to get to and

certainly Derby, a set of Derby preps that I need to get to as

well between the Davis and of course the Tampa Bay Derby.

The same F Davis will be run on the 8th of February.

The Pasco that we'll talk about today feeds to that.

And of course, the jewel down there is the grade, the Grade 3

now Tampa Bay Derby, I think. And so they'll be running that

for 50 points on March 8th alongside the Grade 2 Hillsboro

and the I think the Grade 3-4 to Oaks, of course, run on the

grass. So we'll talk about the

Gasparilla, which feeds to the Suncoast, but then all of a

sudden we run on grass when we get to Tampa Bay.

Derby day for the Philly side of things.

But let's open Barry there with what I think is a very cool

pick. 4 sequence in the middle of the card here.

Starts race 4. We're going 7 furlongs on the

dirt. 150K in the Kitty here. A lot of that is actually state

bred bonuses. This is essentially $100,000

race if you are not a Florida bred.

Look, Irad's in town, Junior Alvarado's in town.

It's one of those days. How?

Does Barry's fears approach a big day at A at a track like

this when there aren't like five guys in town like there will be

for the Derby, when you know Tyler will be up to ride a

domestic product like last year, or you know, Irad's in because

he's already based at Gulfstream, or you know, the

juniors of the world, there's only two guys in this weekend

and it's Irad and it's junior. Do you just assume Irad's going

to be just considerably more aggressive because he's got he's

just sees these as checks to pick off or what do you think's

going to happen? I would definitely keep note of

them and where they're at and who they're riding for, but I

wouldn't be afraid to bet against them.

You know, this is an exact science by any means.

They ship horses from Gulfstream all the time over to Tampa that

lose. So yeah, I mean, it's just like

any other day of racing, I think.

I think the the colony actually at Tampa, the jockey colony is a

little bit older. So it's not like Iraq can just

come in there and just bully those guys.

Those those guys have been around and you know, they, they

go toe to toe quite a bit. So you know, it's it's always

good time and and good racing. So that's what I like to enjoy.

Yeah, you got the Jesus Castanons of the World, the

Antonio Gallardos, of course, the Sammy Camachos.

I mean, you've got mainstay, mainstay guys that have been

there for a very, very long time.

But let's open with that Pasco 7 furlongs on the dirt, as I

mentioned, for three-year olds leading into that Sam F Davis,

this is a bit of a handicap. So if you see 124 next to a

horse's name, that means they have won a stakes race.

If you see 118, that means they have not.

Barry. The favorite's going to be the

outside horse and Owen Almighty. And when I was talking with

Jason on Thursday, something he brought up that I really agree

with is we just kind of assume as horse players that someone's

going to make the leap from 2:00 to 3:00 and be just fine, right?

And I think a lot of people did that with fierceness, for

example. And Jason brought that up at

Gulfstream Park last fall or last spring, excuse me, a year

ago, and just assumed he'd be back.

And look, eventually he was. He ran his heart out in the

traverse. He was great, probably did the

most work of the Breeders Cup Classic.

So it wasn't as though Fierceness didn't have a

terrific 2024. But he started with such a dud.

Are you going to try to beat Owen Almighty here?

Obviously, yeah. I mean, if there's if there's

any time to beat these kind of horses that that you think have

a future, it's right. You know, first time off the

layoff and doesn't really draw all that well.

Here is definitely beetle and pull in this spot.

I I think naughty Rascal, who opted for this spot over another

one last weekend, might have the run of the race here.

I mean, it's it's really a three horse race between the four

rookie card, the five, naughty Rascal and O and almighty.

So it you know, it should get interesting between those three.

I mean, any one of them can win. I just think the idea of how

this race is going to be run. Naughty Rascal might have the

the best trip. I was asking Jason on Thursday

if that that time in the inaugural of One O 9 flat is

absolutely insane stuff or is that normal in Tampa?

And he just started shaking his head.

He's like, no, that's not normal.

That's not you know what happens here.

So it's something like 3.35 seconds off the track record or

something at six furlongs there where they run a ton of 6

furlong races because of the setup at Tampa Bay.

So it was interesting to hear him talk about that inaugural

and he even you know at 5:00 to 2:00.

I think that makes that horse, especially at a six horse field

here that we're talking about, that makes that horse pretty

bettable. But I'm with you.

I think rookie cards really interesting here and I, a guy

like Danny Gargan, who, you know, guided Dornik last year,

got society man a graded stakes win here at Churchill Downs over

the summer. You know, he's the kind of guy

that's getting better and better at placing his horses And look,

he's been at it forever. I don't need to, you know, tell

you how great Danny Gargan is. But you know, he's the kind of

guy I think that his, you know, his stakes number, we're seeing

it tick up a little bit. He's up to 16% in his last 31

stakes races. And we're talking about getting,

you know, a smaller operation like Gargans 147 starts last

year, for example, into that kind of level as opposed to say

a Brian Lynch who had 273, almost double the number that he

did. You know, I'm interested in

rookie card here coming out. They started him at Saratoga in

the highest level of maiden there in August and the horse

finished second by a head. Then did the same thing at

Aqueduct at 6 1/2. Gets the seven furlongs here and

he's going to be the fastest out of the gate if he breaks well.

And so it'll be interesting to see if he can hold up and get

the full distance series. The son of Adios Charlie, that's

the Indian Charlie bloodline there.

He is a Florida bred. So this is one where I'm sure

they're trying to pick up a little bit of an extra bonus

there by having the Florida bread in this race.

Barry Spears with us here. You can find them at Urban

Handicapper on social media if you are so inclined to.

Gasparilla is the fifth race, the second leg of our pick 4

here. It does start the pick six in

the late sequence there at Tampa Bay down 7 furlongs for the

girls. They're on the dirt as well in

the Gasparilla. Interesting race here.

A little bit more competitive, I think as when in your in Barry

on the outside 2 to one in this one, to be fair, draw a line

through the last race over two turns.

We're getting back to a shorter distance here for this one.

A good angle for the Carlos David group as well, but does

not feel like a worthy 2 to one favorite here from me Barry, but

where did you land? Yeah, not, not from outside like

that, just another kind of bad draw, especially with the six

Miss Worldwide. I mean, they they're going to

have to make a decision either to run with Miss Worldwide or

kind of try to sit back and then get hung out wide.

And either way, it's it's a tough trip.

But dancing magic seems like the horse that might benefit the

most from that can good, pretty good position here, especially

if miss worldwide goes out front and and somebody wants to run

with her. I'm not really sure who may be

the four, I don't even know how to pronounce that, but.

That horse, Wella Paloma. There you go.

Wella Paloma and Lynn's Milky Way have to have some giddy up,

because if if Miss Worldwide gets out there and winging it,

irad's just going to just be sitting chilly come to the top

of the stretch. But if they do kind of get into

a tussle, Dancing Magic might be the beneficiary and and scoop

them all. What you just described is why I

think Misses Worldwide is the most likely winner of this

thing, because if I read has any patience at all.

He's going to be in a great. Spot in this field right I I am

interested by the the second timer Inland's Milky Way.

What's what's so bad? I, I feel so Luis Ramirez, the

trainer here, is over his last 22 off of this kind of layoff.

But this is a daughter of a volatile, you know, that

violence Lineberry. And you know, it's something

that I, I try not to do this time of year, but I'm sure all

of us are guilty of is because we're looking ahead to races

like the Oaks and, and, you know, eventually the Acorn or

whatever and the Derby and then, you know, the Triple Crown

itself. I think sometimes we put the

expectations of horses in these races on the horses rather than

just looking at this as the seven furlong Sprint that it is,

you know what I mean? And a runner like Lynn's Milky

Way makes a lot of sense in here.

If you look at the breeding, if you look at the last effort, if

you look at where those time, those time form US pace figures

are, this horse is going to be the fastest in this race early.

Now, can she keep the pace going over that longer, You know, that

longer first stretch, especially up there at Tampa, but before

she gets into the turn, I simply don't know.

And I don't know if the connections are ready for this.

Luis Ramirez just Simply put, doesn't win stakes races.

It's not what he does. It's not the kind of trainer

that he is. Smaller barn, 77 runs all of

last year. But man, this sets up really,

really well. But this might be my see my my

single in here, Barry, just because I do think for all the

reasons that you mentioned, this is worldwide probably going to

get a very good trip here. Yeah, I, I mean, there's a

million ways you can lose a horse race, but I'm not sure

what we're going to get here. I mean, this is a really

interesting race. Like in in this pick 4 scenario,

I would I would definitely kind of go a little deeper.

And myself personally, I would. I wouldn't even use misses.

Worldwide, right. OK, yeah, right.

No, try to get some value. That's right.

And you know it, you know, on the on the Happy Hour podcast

that we do the horse racing happy hour, I always try to find

in a sequence the horse that if you beat that horse, then you're

going to maximize your pay, right?

What does that look like going in?

I actually think that horse is in the last leg of this.

I think it's Payne Noir in the wayward last.

If you can beat that horse, if you can beat her, the daughter

of Mendelssohn, I think you're going to have the best chance to

to raise the, you know, the, the, the pay for the pick 4.

But I hear you, Missus Worldwide's another cog in that.

You know, in that link here of the pick four that if you could

beat her in the second leg here, you're going to be looking at a

better payout by the time we do get to Race 7.

But before then, we got a maiden special weight over the turf

short using the turf shoot at a mile and a 16th there.

One of the finest turf courses in America.

This is for Phillies and Mares 4 and up in the maiden ranks.

Some interesting ones in here. You mentioned wanting to go a

little bit deeper in Race 5. I'm probably going a little bit

deeper here in Race 6. Barry, let's do a quick pick

here. Who do you Who is your most

likely winner and who is your most likely upset long shot

winner? That's a tough one in this race

because, yeah, I mean, I would say probably the One Union

Harmony would be my most likely winner.

I know that, you know, it looks a little wonky when the horse

ran good on the synthetic then went to the turf, but that was a

tough, tough race and didn't get a exactly good trip.

And I think the going to Edwin this time at Tampa sets up for

for a better trip for that horse and the two doesn't seem all

that, you know, intimidating in this spot, even with irad.

So so there. There's some options here, but

does. That feel a little to you like

with with Chad, which I Brown training the two here.

This is just like, hey, let's try this horse and this is a

daughter of Nyquist. We've paid a lot of money for

this horse. Let's just see if the Clarovich

folks can get a maiden win in the maiden special weight ranks.

Does it feel like that just switching surfaces like this?

It does. Depend at least.

Yeah, yeah. Because if this horse was meant,

you know, for the grass originally, they would have at

least had one start on the grass already.

Especially with chat room. That's right, exactly this.

This seems like a little kind of desperation moving and we'll see

that quite a bit. I know over the years, past

couple of years on big days, you'd see some outfits try to do

this, try to put one over and and couldn't do it at a short

price. Command Performance was one of

them and they paid a lot of money for the horse and he lost

to a 20 to one shot that day on on Tampa Derby day.

But the long shot would be the seven.

Mecat just hasn't done anything wrong yet.

Doesn't look all that bad pedigree wise out of Kitten's

Joy, so I'd I'd give that one a shot in this kind of strange

wide open race. Hey, get Arnold Delacour like

you said, Daniel Santino gets the amount there they and not a

small sample size 25% together there at at Tampa Bay first time

starters, 12 percenters for Arnold Delacour as well.

I'll go to the outside for my most likely winner here.

Give me the 10 in here. Just one more for Christoph

Clement coming into his barn for the first time.

He has won five of his last 15 in that scenario.

And this kind of layoff is what he does best at 22%.

He turns horses around off. This kind of layoff horse ran in

middle November, getting about two months off here before she

runs again here. 4 year old daughter of English Channel.

It screams turf with this one for sure and so hopefully she'll

be able to get it done. Man, I went to a different place

for my long shot in this one. I'm interested to see if if

runaway lights only 6 to one. I know, but this is a horse that

they tried on the dirt last time and it simply didn't work.

Before that was in the in Maryland.

In New York, it similarly didn't work.

Maybe Sammy Camacho at Tampa is what this horse needs just to

kind of breakthrough out of the Sacco barn here.

I I just wonder if maybe it's just Sammy on the turf that this

horse needs this daughter of City of Light.

We've seen a lot from the City of Lights.

And so I'll lean on the five as my long shot here.

But I will go outside to just one more the 10 as my as my most

likely winner in the maiden special.

We move on to the wayward last. It is Race 7 at Tampa on

Saturday, Mile on the 16th on the dirt.

This is for Phillies and Mares 4 and up.

Barry, do you find yourself? So I haven't made a mistake yet

writing 2025. I haven't written 2024 since

January 1st. Now that I'm jinxing myself, I'm

sure I'll do it tomorrow. But I also haven't screwed up

and said 3 and up yet instead of four and up.

Do you find when we get to the new year you forget that we're

doing 4 and up 1st? I've done it a billion times

since the 1st man. It's, it's unreal, unbelievable.

Oh, no. All right.

Well, there you go. Who do you have in the wayward

lass? I think that Payne Noir is the

is the cog in the chain of the Pick 4 here.

Where do you fall? You know, this is going to sound

strange, but I'm going to go to the old Pro Dream concert.

Nice almost won this race last year off a similar effort prior

to so kind of like a pattern and got swooped by Opus 42 late last

year just got nailed right at the wire and this horse seems to

be coming in the race similarly and there's not a whole lot in

here. I think literate stands a pretty

good chance, but this is another wide open affair.

So like, I don't know if you've heard me talk about it before,

but Tampa has these races like one or two a day that have these

inexplicable results and the board just absolutely blows up.

It seems like this might be the race that something weird.

Happens. Interesting.

All right. I was looking in a different

direction. Little Jamie, she jumps off the

page for me here. Tried her in the Indiana Oaks.

She almost won that race, right behind Chantalis, who actually

got mentioned on the podcast yesterday as well.

They tried her in the Monmouth Oaks and then after that, things

just didn't click. They gave the horse some time

off here a couple of months. It's not a great angle for

Robert Medina, the trainer here. But I do think this horse did

need the time off. And so I think in her case, this

is a chance to get back to that kind of field.

She was only one for 9:00 last year.

But hey, if Barry can take an over for 9:00 last last year, I

can definitely take a one for. 9 here.

There we go. I think at 9:00 to 2:00, that's

very, very fair number on that. I think actually she'll take up.

I think she'll be 5 to one. I think there's a chance of

pain. War, by the way, is like one to

two in this race Bear and people just fall in love with you know

the oh, this horse ran in the greatest stakes at Churchill and

one at Churchill under Floran Giroux and blah blah and like

instead of actually looking at wow, this race is going to set

up at all of those kinds of things can pay more win here.

Of course, you and I know yes, she can of course she fits the

she fits the mold. You know the daughter of

Mendelssohn. Can she go the two turns and win

this race? Of course she can, but like I

said, if this is the cog and the chain that I'm talking about,

then yeah, we got to try to beat her in this spot.

What do you think of Literate in here?

Comes off the handicap on the synthetic or Excuse?

Yeah, on the synthetic there at a Gulfstream after running up at

Woodbine is going to try the dirt here for the second time

ever. How do you how do you look at a

horse like that in a sequence like this?

I like Literate in this spot because she's probably going to

get overlooked to a certain degree just because of her

running style. Just definitely needs a trip.

I wouldn't take too short of a price on her but she might get

the the pace to run into. My thought is little Jamie and

and the inside horse could get involved with each other early.

Throw in a little Bundencia and you got a little party and that

kind of sets it up for a horse like Literate and also Dream

Concert. So that's that's kind of what I

mapped out as far as the the pace scenario.

Well, there you go. Well Barry, we will bother you

ahead of the Tampa Bay Derby on this show as well.

Make sure that we get all of your thoughts there.

If you haven't started to do it, I will go ahead and do it right

now, Tampa. What are you doing?

Get my guy Barry back over there for the Tampa Bay Derby.

What are we doing? What are we doing?

By the way, you got to go back and listen.

I asked Jason to say something nice about you on the podcast

yesterday and he he referred to you as something very specific

and I think you need to hear it and not for.

I love that you kind of already know what it is.

But he's Berry's bears. He's out there in frigid

Florida. Oh, it feels so bad for you up

here at the Commonwealth Berry. But have you know, did you guys

have a great holiday? How was everything happened?

Absolutely. We had a hell of a time.

My my son was home from the Navy.

So yeah, it's got to spend some time with him.

And hey, everything's everybody's healthy and healthy.

Prayers and and thoughts going out to everybody out there in LA

too. It's so hard to watch bear,

because you know, once you, you know, one of the great things

about getting to do these shows and and the podcast and, and you

know, everything else is to travel and see horse racing and

all of its iterations around the world, right?

It all of its regionalisms and you know, we do a bunch of stuff

around Maryland. I love the Maryland horse

culture. You know, you're in Florida.

There's such a difference between the Gulfstream and Tampa

cultures. And then, you know, we've got

the New Orleans thing, we've got the Hot Springs thing.

Of course, we've got New York City and LA in our sport And,

and you know, this weird thing in Kentucky going on and, and

it's, it is heartbreaking when you get to spend time with the

people at a place like Santa Anita.

It's so easy when you sit in Kentucky to just kind of push it

aside and not think about it. But man, Clocker's corner at the

top of the stretch there in the mornings with the, you know, the

sun coming over the mountains and, you know, just the free

coffee sitting out and everybody just talking during the

workouts, man, there might not be a more cordial and, and fun

and interesting group of people in horse racing than right

there. And I hate to think what's

happening to them right now with all the fires out there.

So be safe, everybody out there. And Barry, we will catch up with

you down the line. I'm glad everything was great

for the holidays my friend, and we will talk to you next time.

All right. Thank you so much for having me

man. All right, Barry, thank you very

much. And that was Barry Spears here.

We will wrap up this edition of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

My name is Louis Ribow, Thanks so much for joining us today.

We were presented by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com.

Get in with them. Great stuff on the website right

now. So make sure you get over there

and learn all about the great people making our great sport go

here in the state of Kentucky. I'm Louis Ribow.

This has been the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Thanks so much for making us part of your horse racing week.

We'll see you next week, and good luck this weekend with all

of your wagers. No matter where in town you're

headed, you've arrived at your destination.

Cox's and Evergreen Liquors is your go to liquor store and now

we're even easier to go to. Just go to our new app or online

E store for virtual shopping at home, then pick up your order or

have it delivered from our store to your door.

Go to coxslouisville.com, download the app and let the

good times come to you. Coxes and Evergreen Liquors, you

know where to go. If you're like me, you like your

bourbon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Now I can have it on my wings, too.

Introducing Wing Zone's new sweet Bourbon Blaze.

Sweet Bourbon Blaze combines the sweetness of molasses, a hint of

bourbon, and a touch of spice. It's delicious on our bonus

Original and our hamburded tenders, but it's only here for

a limited time. Order now at wingzone.com to

satisfy your bourbon crazy. Wingzone.com you got.

It want to grow your business. ESPN Louisville wants to help

take it to the next level. Let ESPN Louisville assist

through the best sports talk and much more. e-mail us at

partnerships@espnlouisville.com. That's partnerships at

espnlouisville.com. Become a partner of the sports

leader ESPN Louisville.