KY Racing Spotlight 1/24/2025

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Welcome to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Roubeau,

presented by the Kentucky HPPA. Now here's Louis Roubeau.

Sorry. Welcome into the January 24th

edition of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Rebeau.

I'm Louis Rebeau. I'm in the studios of ESPN

680-1057 here across the street from the University of

Louisville campus, less than a mile from the twin Spires of

Churchill Downs were presented as we always are by the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP a.com. Go check them out for all the

great articles, all the great photos and all the great videos

from around the Commonwealth. All the great people that make

our great sport go here in the state of Kentucky.

I'll be joined by trainer Brad Cox as our highlighted interview

this week, if you will. In the next segment, he'll talk

about all of his Oaks contenders, his Derby

contenders, etcetera. We get an update on Immersive,

her set back and what his plans are for her this year.

Obviously, she wins in a perfect look at the Ceabless transition.

It's called professional radio people of of immersive winning 2

year old Philly last night on the Eclipse Awards.

And if you don't know this about me, I'm, I'm fortunate guys.

Since 2022, I've gotten to vote in the Eclipse Awards.

So this was my third time voting in the Eclipse Awards.

And of course, those were held last night at the Breakers there

in South Florida. Everybody looked really nice.

I'm wearing a sweatshirt as I do this, trying to stay warm in

this weather. I'm sure it wasn't a terrible

thing to be down there at the Breakers for such an event.

But Immersive does win 2 year old Philly.

But that's not who the star of the evening was.

And her name is Thorpedo Anna. And we've talked about her a lot

on this show and I think deservedly and in my Eclipse

ballot, I had her as Horse of the Year.

It's not something that I take lightly.

I think Horse of the Year, if we're talking about the Eclipse

Awards, I think most of us think of Horse of the Year and

three-year old colt of the year as generally speaking, the most

important of the Eclipse Awards. People in the US at least, we

really do love our Derbies, whether it's Pennsylvania,

Kentucky, Bluegrass, whatever it might be.

But she wins Horse of the Year, and I voted for his Horse of the

Year. I think she's absolutely

deserving of that spot. I talked with multiple people

about the Eclipse Awards and I had Steve Kornacki on the

podcast on on the Horse Racing Happy Hour, and I talked about

his Eclipse ballot with him. And in what it always came back

to with Torpedo Anna was the totality of the story that she

was made available on Clark Day here in Louisville.

The parade around have told the story on the show.

I'll tell it again because I love it so much.

But they had her parading. They had two people walking her.

She's such she's such a beast man.

She's so strong. And every time they would get to

the shoot between the paddock and and heading back out to the

track of Churchill Downs, she knew exactly where it was.

She knew exactly what it was and she was ready to go.

No bridal, no saddle, no jock, no rider.

She didn't need any of those things.

She was ready to be back out on the track, stretching her legs,

running, doing the thing she'd been at the farm, of course,

resting a bit. Mcpeek, doing the right by the

animal. Always the best thing to do in

our sport, of course. But I'd love to see that.

And of course, it makes you fall in love with with the animals

that way, makes you fall in love with a horse like Therapito

Anna, that she loves, the thing that she was bred to do.

It's awesome. Frankly, in the moment, a little

overwhelming, frankly. It was very cool to see, to see

people taking pictures, everyone throwing on those pink Torpedo

Anna hats, what she meant to the sport in 2024.

She'll be what we remember. I don't think we're going to

remember, and I love Brooke Smith and all the folks

connected to Sierra Leone. I don't think we're going to

remember that as the crowding moment of 2024.

We're going to remember that stretch run in the traverse with

Freak with Fierce Excuse me and Torpedo Anna.

We're going to remember Torpedo Anna making easy work of almost

every race she was in, of going to that Breeders' Cup disc staff

at Del Mar and just being the best horse on Saturday.

It's a heck of a thing. And so she wins Horse of the

Year last last night. And of course, 3 year old Philly

as well, and certainly worthy of both.

Which brings us to Traitor of the Year and Chad Brown.

And I voted for Chad Brown last year and I voted for Kenny

Mcpeak this year. And I used the argument that I

just used about Torpedo Anna when voting for Kenny, which was

I think the totality of everything that he accomplished

and how he handled Torpedo Anna, made her available to the public

the way he, that he did at Saratoga, here at Churchill

Downs, different places online, even even just making those

things available on social media so that those of us who can't

look, not, not everybody has the, you know, like, look, I'm,

I'm really blessed. I, I got, I'm in the paddock

for, for Torpedo and I don't have to go find it, you know, a

seed in the bleachers there or whatever.

I'm really lucky. But some of you can't even get

to Churchill down. Some of you can't even get to

Saratoga. Like I didn't go to Saratoga in

2024. So to get to see her in social

media and see her that way was part of that argument.

It was part of the argument for me, for Kenny Mcpeek.

I did have Brown in 2nd place. So it's not as though my ballot

was so different than what ended up happening.

And if you went purely on the numbers, and I've talked about

this before, Chad Brown had the best year.

He had a very similar year this year, frankly, a step down from

what he did last year. He didn't win it last year, He

won it this year. I'm not mad about that.

And and you won't see any complaints from me on socials or

rebuttals from me about any of the of the great things that

Kenny Mcpeak did. Now, I do think if you sweep the

Oaks, the Derby and the Clark, we're talking about races in

their 150th runnings and a trainer's never done it and a

jockey hasn't done it since 1890.

I think you have to take notice, and I think it's something that

really matters. We're spending all of our time

on many of the shows that I'm on, talking about the Derby

trail. We'll do it at the end of this

show. What value does winning the

Derby have? What does it have for a horse

like Mystic Dan who then ran the other two races in Triple Crown

by the way, I know he took time off, but Mcpeak didn't hide that

horse. What else did Kenny Mcpeak do to

do? I don't know, but Chad Brown I

think absolutely a deserving winner of the Eclipse Award

nonetheless. I was disappointed to see Rebels

Romance win as male turf horse because he only ran once in

North America and I thought Johannes is here, especially on

the West Coast, was overwhelmingly better even than

Rebel Romance this year around the world.

Let me say that again. I think Johannes had a better

year running than Rebels Romance did, and maybe if Johannes does

win his Breeders' Cup Turf race, he ends up winning.

But he was better than Carlos Backler.

He was better than those other American runners this year and

didn't when I was disappointed to see his name there in that

line. Idiomatic one older dirt female.

I voted for her last year, she won it last year.

She wins it again this year. And I I think we need to sort of

take notice of how unusual it is to win back-to-back Eclipse

awards. And you'll hear from Greg Cox in

the next segment. We taped it before the Eclipse

Awards happen. So it's, it's you, it's, it's

truly an interview about what's going on in his barn right now.

But I didn't vote for idiomatic this year.

I voted for Adair Manor. I thought her wins were very,

very impressive. I thought essentially the two of

them were on very similar footing.

I gave Adair Manor a slight edge for her wins this year, but I'm

not mad about idiomatic either. And then we get to the male

sprinter division. And this is one that I really,

really don't understand. So a horse that ran twice in the

US in Straight No Chaser wins the award.

Yes, he did win a Breeders' Cup race, but did did we notice that

Cochran didn't make the list of Eclipse Award winners at all?

And he set the world record at Saratoga in a turf Sprint this

year? We say that again, A world

record in a turf Sprint at Saratoga this year came back.

He won a Kentucky Downs right after that.

We all watched that race, holy moly.

And then he loses in the Breeders Cup and I think we

think of that race as though he lost by 10 lengths, he less lost

by less than two and I think he's being totally punished for

not winning the Breeders Cup. How he abruptly slowed down in

the stretch in that race is going to stick in my mind for a

long time. I won't lie to you.

It was not a good moment for Cogburn.

But to dismiss the rest of his year speaks to me that this is

becoming unfortunately, and it has been for a couple of years

in some of these categories, simply, hey, who won the

Breeders Cup will put that horse in that spot.

I think that's what happened with Citizen Bowl for 2 year old

male, for example. But I voted for him.

I got no problem with that. In the two year old category,

you don't have January races, you don't have February races.

All right, we got to wait for Keeneland to see our 2 year olds

see those little babies on that little flanked extra little

stretch that they're on those little races at Keelan Gentler

easing into the end of that turn before they hit that that first

line there. So I'm not mad about that

Citizen bowl immersive worthy 2 year olds, Sierra Leone,

Thorpino, Anna, I think worthy as well.

I, I do think by the way, that the three-year old male division

was good this year and I'm praying that these horses that

are going to, going to Saudi, going to UAE and by the way, I

don't, that'll do a ton of coverage of those races.

It's not, it's not my thing, but I don't fault anyone when

there's a $10 million check or a $12 million check or a $20

million check to go try. I don't, I mean, senior Buscador

is a great example of why you just go try, just go get the

check over there. Just go get the money.

But I'm praying to God they come back.

They come back from the Middle East and they're in good shape.

Usually an angle for me is if if horses have had to travel to

Dubai or to Riyadh or whatever it might be, they're going to

bounce on their on their first race back.

They're not going to be themselves.

So I usually play against when they come back.

My hope is with a Sierra Leone with a Fierceness, etcetera,

that those horses are able to hold up.

But with the in the category itself, I did vote Sierra Leone

#1 Fierceness came in #2 for me. And Sierra Leone only got the

nod because Fierceness did all of his best running at Saratoga,

which is fine. It's a great place to do your

best running. By the way, the races pay a lot

of money. But Sierra Leone won all over

the place. He won a New Orleans, he won a

Keeneland, he wins the Breeders Cup at Del Mar.

That's a horse that traveled and won all over the place.

And yes, I know Pierce also won a Gulf St.

Park, but Sierra Leone did it against older horses.

And he he ran his best race against the very best

competition he faced all year. So to me, he was worthy of the

top spot and three-year old male, and this is probably the

last time I'm going to get to talk about this horse in a

substantive way on radio or in a podcast or whatever.

But sees the Gray wins the moment of the year, winning the

Preakness. And obviously you've got a lot

of the backers of my racehorse voting in that, right?

And that's great. Who cares?

Who cares why people are voting as long as they're voting and

they're paying attention and he wins that moment.

And I got to tell you, there's something so satisfying about a

Seize the Gray for a guy like Wayne Lucas, because we got

something in 2024 that I think is really valuable, which is we

got Mcpeak, we got Lucas at the top of the game.

And those are guys, and we've talked about it.

It's a theme on this show. They don't train into shape.

They run their horses into shape.

So good luck handicapping a Lucas horse.

Good luck handicapping Mcpeak horse.

He's going to run them if they're healthy and they're

ready to go, he's going to run them.

He's going to give his horses a chance to go show that they're

the best of that group in the starting gate.

So seize the Gray last year running the Pat Day mile and

winning from off the pace. By the way, gets to Pimlico wet

track. Coach looks at Jaime Torres and

says, yo, go to the front, figure it out if you want to go

back. We interviewed Jaime on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour after his Preakness win and we did a

play by play a walkthrough with him of the replays of that race

because I match it for many of us who have never been in a race

like that, have never been a jockey.

Whatever. Oh, get on the lead, you'll be

fine. You just, you know, don't tap

the reins until it's really time to go for a horse.

And he showed it was not that simple.

But the horse comes back, runs in the Belmont, up the track,

doesn't like it at Saratoga. Guess who else didn't like it at

Saratoga? We didn't hold it Against them

was Sierra Leone, but Cesar Grade didn't love it.

They run him in the Pennsylvania Derby.

He does the exact same thing he did in the Preakness.

What a great year. Included in that is the Belmont

winner Dornik, who goes ahead, turns around, wins the Haskell a

month later. That's awesome stuff folks.

We had a great 3 year old class this year.

And is it tough for those of us who who do want the sport to get

more eyeballs and ears and all the things outside of those of

us who love it? Yes, stinks because there was no

Triple Crown winner. Three different races, three

different winners within the Triple Crown series itself.

But we got some good horses this year, man, and we get a bunch of

them back. Obviously sees the Grand

Dornakoff to the breeding shed, but the top two in my 3 year old

male in the Eclipse voting fierceness, Sierra Leone,

they're going to be back. Torpedo Anna, she's going to be

back. Mystic Dan, he's back.

It's the good stuff people. It really is.

It's the good stuff and a reminder to some of those 3 year

olds that weren't terribly healthy the entire year.

For example, we'll talk about it in the last segment.

Locked is running on Saturday tomorrow in the Pegasus World

Cup. That's a that is a three-year

old we did not get to see after the Breeders Cup juvenile runs

in that Cigar Mile last year. But after that juvenile we just

didn't get as part of our Triple Crown series.

Shows up in the Cigar Mile runs 100 buyer speed figure.

He'll be the favorite on Saturday, almost certainly for

Todd Pletcher and John Velasquez strongholds back Grade 1 San

Anita winner just put up 102 buyer figure in the Malibu.

He'll be running on Saturday. And then we get the old

mainstays. Why barrios still kicking around

Saudi crown at age 5. I talked to Brad Cox.

I opened the interview with it about hit show winning down in

Louisiana. We're set up to have a great

season, 2025, a great year going to turns both on the ladies side

and of course, as I just mentioned, on the men's side as

well. And I think all of us could be

excited by that as well. National Treasure did win older

dirt mail for this year. It was kind of a muddled

category, I won't lie to you as far as that I went National

Treasure post time and Mullican. And I do think something I've

learned about myself now having voted for a third time, I value

sprinters more than the average voter does in the Eclipse

Awards. Most people are looking for

horses that are going two turns, whether it be on the grass or on

the dirt. I'm not afraid to put a Molecan

in that spot. I'm not afraid to put a post

time. Who's really a Miller in that

spot. That doesn't bother me.

But National Treasure, the Pegasus win, another grade one

on his resume. He had a great year last year.

He got my top spot in that group as well.

I voted for Moira and she ended up being the female turf horse

of this year and I voted for Snap Decision or for

Steeplechase Horse of the Year. That horse won as well.

That's a 10 year old horse. How cool is that, huh?

That a horse that still wants to be out there, great training,

doing all the stuff ready to go. And last but not least are the

jockeys and Eric Asmussen, who we saw a lot in the Commonwealth

of Kentucky last year and even just up the road in

Indianapolis, but a lot on our circuit and of course a ton at

Oaklawn as well. Wins apprentice jockey.

And it's interesting to see these names, the Asmussen name

on this list. Again, not for trainer, right?

Not for owner even, right? Steve owns a bunch of horses,

his dad, but see it for Jock. And it's, it's interesting to

see because it's not, it's not, that's not a short family.

So for Eric to keep the weight the way that he does to be a

jock is incredible. I did not vote for Eric.

I will not lie about that. I voted for Gabriel Maldonado,

who I thought had a great year, and JG Torrealba in 2nd place.

I had Eric third in my, my, my votes.

Eric did have the most wins of any apprentice jock.

I gave credit to the other two because I, I, I think Eric was

the beneficiary of some decent mounts because of Dad.

That's OK, by the way. Go win the race.

The point of the race is to win it, and if your dad thinks

you're good enough to ride a horse to a win, then go ahead

and take advantage. But Flavian Pratt does win

Jockey of the Year and sometimes the votes are very easy.

This was almost certainly the easiest 1.

He sets the stakes record for wins in a single year, calendar

year. We saw so many performances from

him where his patience, his timing, once in a while just go

get the lead and then figure it out after that, All the

different kinds of rides. It wasn't as though he had to

take a horse back in every race and then rally at the end to try

to win. No, no, no, no, it's not that at

all. Different running styles,

different things, different horses, different layouts,

etcetera, etcetera. He was great everywhere.

He was great in that Saratoga jockey colony.

He was great when he made his trips here to Churchill Downs.

He was great at Keeneland. He's winning like crazy at Santa

Anita right now. He was great everywhere.

Once in a while. It is the easiest vote that we

can have. When you break in a record held

by a guy named Jerry Bailey, a name that all of us know, you're

going to win the award and you're going to be a deserving

winner of that award. It's a Flavia and Pratt,

probably outside of Thorpeno, and it will be the thing that we

remember from this year. That's no offense to Moira or

Rebels romance or straight No Chase or whatever it might be.

But I think those two gave us a great 2024.

I think that three-year old male class, the cold side of things

gave us a great year. It did.

It just gave us a great year, great betting year for sure.

And as we head into 2025 and we've had some of the weather

issues we've had here, you know, at Turfway and talked to Brad,

the poor guy in the next segment, he was snowed in.

You can just tell he got a foot of snow there.

New Orleans, he was stuck. We talked about that a little

bit. It's Brad, though, you got to

get to the horses with him. And so it's just so fascinating

to watch. But Keeneland raising its total

purses, Turfway off and running the synthetic championship we

saw at the end of last year, We're just set up search for

such a fun. And I know Churchill's going to

do its thing. Derby 151, Oaks 151, that whole

that whole meet and then that 2 year old season at Ellis Park.

At some point, folks, it's going to happen in our lifetime and

it's going to happen. Frankly, boy, I'd love to be

able to put a time on it. I just don't know what it is.

But the Ellis Park 2 year old program is going to have a

better year than the Saratoga 2 year old program.

It's going to happen. I don't know when that is, but

it's going to happen and I think it's going to happen pretty

soon. If people remember back to this

show when we were doing Kentucky Down shows, I talked to trainer

Dale Romans when I was down there and he was gushing about

going to Saratoga, about how much he loves and how much the

town embraces horse racing. All of it, all the things we

hear about Saratoga. I'm not mad about any of the

comments at all. All of it makes sense to me.

But then he made the comment and this was back in August and he

said, I'm not sure that I'm going to be going there anymore

with what they're doing at Ellis.

And he gave reasons and, and I don't want to get into those

here, but essentially it's not financially going to be worth it

to get your horse up to New York given how good the competition

and how good the program is at Ellis Park.

And then we go to Kentucky Downs.

We'll have that preview. We'll talk about those shows the

summer. I can already hear them in my

ears. I'm so excited.

Claiming Crown back at Churchill Downs this fall, presented by

our friends at the HPP. It's going to be spectacular.

We're set up for a great year here, folks.

We're set up for a great year in 2025.

I'm excited to be part of it and I'm excited that you're hanging

out with us here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

I'm Louie Rebaum in the studios of ESPN 681057.

We thank them for hanging out with us 6:00 to 7:00 every

single Friday as well. On the other end, trainer Brad

Cox. He has all of the contenders,

people. He's got all the contenders.

We're going to talk to him next. And a reminder, of course, we're

presented by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP, a.com.

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Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

One O 5 Seven Now Here's Louis Rabeau.

Hi, welcome back in. This is the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight for January 24th, 2025.

I'm Louis Robo in the studios of ESPN 680-1057.

Thanks for hanging out with us as part of your horse racing

weekend. We're presented as we always are

by the Kentucky HBPAKYHBP a.com. We're joined by trader Brad Cox,

Louisville native and a son of the Commonwealth kind enough to

carve out some time, albeit Central time for the show today.

Brad, how are you? Great.

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

I always ask where you are and how far you are from a horse to

start these conversations. I see you nodding, which makes

me think you've heard this question before.

Where are you and how far are you from a horse?

I'm a couple miles right now. I'm snowed in in New Orleans.

We got to get a lot of snow down here and like around 10 inches,

which is unheard of. And yeah, yeah, it's not, yeah,

to say the least. But yeah.

And the city definitely can't handle 10 inch.

They couldn't handle 1/10 of an inch of snow.

But it's we're we're going to get some sun over the next few

days, so we'll be fine. Hopefully get it all cleaned

out. Obviously you're in New Orleans

for for all the perhaps and all the different things that have

been going on. We'll ask you about that.

Let me ask just a practical question.

Temperatures like this in different places, what what has

to change for your operation? I mean, some of these are pretty

dangerous for an equine athlete. Yeah, you know, look, probably

Turfway is one of the probably the coldest spot where we are.

We obviously have horses in Florida and New Orleans and

that's why we go South in the winter is to get away from the

cold weather. But obviously Turfway has a

synthetic track, so we're able to get through the winter there

with that. But yeah, no, it, it can be, it

can definitely change your schedule a good bit, your

training plans and your shipping plans and and stuff.

So it can be challenging sometimes.

You you're paying as much attention to the the forecast

and the weather as you as you are the horses.

Just because it's it, it does play a big role in which what

you're trying to get accomplished.

You had another successful year in 2024 and in January.

I always try to ask people to sort of reflect on how things

went and, you know, what they're shooting for in the coming year.

But you know, as far as you're concerned, your top five and it

wins, frankly, except for, you know, outside of, you know, I

think the COVID year, you've been in the top five and wins

nationally and in earnings and those kinds of things.

What is it that you measure yourself on, Brad?

Is it, you know, are you still, you know, just try to win the

Claver at Ellis Park in the summer?

Are you pushing it for, you know, more spots of the winner

circle around triple crowners? What are you pushing for at this

point since you you're well established the top five of

those kinds of numbers? Yeah.

I think, I think it's having horses compete at the greatest

stake level. I think each year, you know, I

can't remember the exact number, but I think we were somewhere

had 30 graded stake wins last year.

And I think, you know, a couple years we've been in the 282930

range. So I think that's probably the

one number. You don't want to try to build

on that each and every year. And grade ones last year I think

we had in 24, I think we had 6 grade ones.

You know, I'd like to see that number go up.

The year before, I think it was 10 or 12.

I think it's 12 year before. So those are numbers try to

build on each and every year. But I, I think it's, it's

quality as opposed to quantity is, is what we're looking for

good, good horses, horses that, you know, we can try to get to

the Triple Crown trail and then, you know, after that turn our

attention toward the Breeders Cup.

So you know, that that's, that's our main focus.

We want to be competitive everything we do or every horse

we run. But I think quality is the

biggest thing. Pitch Show is one of those

horses that is already added to your greatest stakes for this

year, and I'm sure a lot of people ask you questions about 3

year olds in your stable of unending Oaks contenders.

But his show's an interesting one, man.

He's got a little bit of, and I don't think they're on the same

level necessarily, Brad, but he's got a little bit of

idiomatic in him, right? Gives an honest effort every

time he shows up a lot. Is he the kind of horse you

think he making? Can he take a big step for?

I'm hoping, you know, we really liked him off the layoff last

year and he ran a great race at Churchill in his first run off

the layoff. And then he's just doing a

clunker at Prairie Meadows. And then he started reeling off

some Grady stake wins. Did run quite as well in the

Clark as we hoped, but then turned it around here the other

day. You know, we're we're we're

hoping that he can we, he can win a grade one at some point.

I think it's got to be the right grade one.

But I think, you know, we'll, we'll give him an opportunity at

some point later this year. Admiral Dennis ran the other

day. He had previously run in the gun

runner. You have him in allowance

company the other day is do you think the long term plans for

him? He is 3 years old.

He's, you know, one of your your runners down there in New

Orleans. You think he'll get back to

Steaks Company after that performance?

The other? Day yeah, he he'll get back.

I'm not sure where I don't know if it'll be the risen star or,

you know, the fountain of youth or or where he would land or

even maybe the the rebel at Oklahoma.

But yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of options moving forward

with the three-year old that's won two races.

You know, he got back on winning the winning track.

Obviously didn't get away good in the gun runner, but he he

obviously, you know, put in a good effort the other day and

you know, back in the stakes company in the near future.

Yeah, son of Constitution there. Yeah, outside of that, that 4th

place finish there in the gun runner has put together a couple

of nice races in his last three. You obviously had disco time

over the weekend, win the 1st of the 20 point races on the on the

road to the Kentucky Derby in the Grade 3 Lecompt.

Boy, he looked a lot like he looked a lot like Sierra Leone

kind of closing in the dark on the outside there.

You had to be really happy with his closing speed there, Yeah.

Big effort. We really liked this colt.

We took our time kind of pointed for this race.

Ever since he broke or ever since he won that allowance race

there at Churchfield late November, so it all worked out.

I thought he'd be a little bit closer to the pace.

I didn't think he'd give himself that much to do.

I was a little concerned when they turned up the backside and

he was as far off out of it as he was, but I didn't know there

was a honest hot pace up front and they should back up and he

ran. He ran really well.

Yeah, son of not this time. Do you think in the future with

more, I don't know what more reasonable paces, I'll use the

word reasonable on purpose here. I actually thought I thought

Lucas's horse ran a great race, frankly.

He did. A ton of the work in that race.

Obviously disco time picks up the pieces at the end.

Do you think, you know, for Laura, I'll be able to have him

closer to the front in future races as long as it's a little

more, you know, I don't want to say tap it on the front, but at

least reasonable on the front. Yeah, I do.

And you know, I did have an outside post the other day and

hadn't run in a while. So I think, you know, just

everything, you know, moving forward in his next start, you

know, hopefully he'll break and be a little more forward and you

know, like you said, maybe not leave himself so much to do do.

You think he'll stay in New Orleans for the preps down

there? I don't know it it'd probably

either be the The Risen Star or wait one more week and run him

in the Rebel there at Oakland. Do you have an update for anyone

listening? And Brad Cox with us here on the

Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680-1057 were presented by

the Kentucky HBPA. Do you have an update at all on

Immersive? Can you tell people sort of what

happened there? I was out of Delmar for the

Breeders Cup and one of the great performances, certainly a

Friday alongside Lake Victoria, but of the whole weekend, how is

she number one? And then #2 what?

What did happen so. We we brought her back to

Churchill, flew her back to Churchill.

She was fine. We decided to give her a few

weeks off over at Johnna Bell Farm in Lexington.

We did. We brought her back.

We rode her around for about two weeks down here at the

fairgrounds, just jogging. The first week was just, you

know, being ridden by a rider in the in the barn.

And then we got her out on the track and started jogging her.

She was fine jogging. She was sound, but when she

broke in to start galloping a little bit, just wasn't quite

moving right. And like I said, she was sound,

but just could tell she wasn't comfortable.

And, you know, seen enough of this through the years to kind

of seems to be what we call bone bruising.

They just their condo, the bottoms of their condoms are all

four ankles. It doesn't have to be an all

four ankles, but they just, they just get, you know, bruised up.

And it's from, you know, just the work that she did throughout

the summer and fall and, and it, and it just, you know, when,

when sometimes when you give a little break, you bring them

back, they're just not quite moving as well.

And it's normally a really easy fix.

It's like 60 days off total and then 30 days light exercise.

And then you got a fresh horse. So you know, the timing's tough.

You know, it obviously is going to knock her off the Kentucky

Oaks trail. But you know, hopefully in the

spring we'll have a, a fresh 3 old Philly and she'll be able to

campaign throughout 2025. Maybe maybe point her toward the

Saratoga Stakes, that kind of thing, the Oaks down there and

then, you know, maybe the, the Alabama, something like that.

Yeah, for sure. I think those would be things,

the cotillion and and like you said that the races there at

Saratoga would be something we would look at with her.

So, you know, look, it's just, you know, I wouldn't trade

anything. Yeah, yeah, the timing, timing.

But I mean, you know, she's a three time Grade 1 winner.

She's a champion and one of the most accomplished hero Phillies

to ever race. So, you know, look, she she

deserves a break. We gave her a little break.

It just wasn't enough, bottom line.

And now she'll get an extended break and hopefully be back

ready greater roll second-half of this year.

She got my vote for a 2 year old Philly I.

I assume you'll or at least someone will be down there for

the Eclipse Awards. Is that, is that the kind of

thing that still matters to Brad Cox?

Do you love winning those? Are those awards for your

ownership groups and those kinds of things?

Yeah, absolutely. It means that it means a

tremendous amount. And you know, I think it gives

you're obviously client confidence in you that you can

get in us that we can get their horses to, to, to do things like

become champions and win grade ones.

Obviously you need to win grade ones to become a champion.

But yeah, it means a lot. It it, it certainly, most

certainly does. You have a great 2 winner in

good cheer. Luis Saez rides here.

This is out of the The Good Dolphin Group, who I also voted

for for the Eclipse Awards and so she seems to be in great

shape. Hasn't run since November.

When do you think we'll see her again?

The plan right now is the middle of February here at the

fairgrounds. She's training in Florida at

Payson Park. She's done very, very well.

But the planes to run into Rachel Alexandra here at the

fairgrounds middle of February. Another one that Floral wrote

for you is Mukima. We haven't seen her and at least

a little bit. Is there a plan for this this

one out of the three chimneys? Yeah, she's down in Payson as

well, training away. Real happy with her.

Came out of the Demoiselle in good order, shipped her down to

Florida. We're we're looking at either

the the race on the 22nd at Oaklawn.

I think it's the honey bee. Yeah, the honey bee or maybe the

Devona Dell at Oakland or I'm sorry at gold.

So we'll we'll see. I'm really happy with her.

She's a big physical Philly that we've thought a lot of pretty

much since she came in. And and, you know, I think we're

set up with two really, really good Phillies moving forward

that that give us an opportunity to to win an Oaks.

You got to be looking around at what other people have as well.

Kicking around. Simply joking, of course, was

really good on the weekend. We'll see You see it in in other

people's parts. Whit Beckman, by the way, you

know, another Louisville guy. Kind of fun to watch him come up

through the way the ranks that he is.

Who else have you seen sort of on this three-year old Philly

trailer you really like? Well, there's yeah, like you

said, the the race is down here at the fairgrounds seem to

always play a role in in what what's happening.

The Martha Washington is going to be run this weekend at the

Oak Lawn quiet sides in there. She was second to she was

second. It's been a way to immersive.

She's won the watch. So you know, we'll see how

things go. But those are those are a few

that that definitely I'll be a factor moving forward.

You had Chase and Run in the silver bullet day.

She finishes 4th. How did she come out of that

one? What do you think her path

forward is after that race? I'm I'm saying right now just a

first level allowance and that certainly need to go back into

the state company. I do think she's a very good

filly. Obviously she's a half the

idiomatic, but I do think her best, best, you know, time to

move forward will be down the road.

I don't think she's there mentally.

I think she's got a little a bit of growing up to do mentally.

She's a big Philly, covers a lot of ground and hopefully, you

know, with just more racing experience she'll be able to

pick it up and be competitive at the greatest stick level later

in the year. If someone heard you talking

about a young Philly and you talk about the mentality

required, is it more that you need her to learn how to get to

the front and be comfortable there?

Is it that she might just be comfortable running with other

horses, not making those decisions?

What do you mean by the mentality of a young Philly like

that? You know, she looks around a

lot. I mean, she wore blinkers, you

know, they're all different, but she's just one that just seems

to see a lot of stuff. I know it's kind of hard to

explain, but if you kind of watch your train and watch other

horses train, you probably pick up pretty quick.

She just tends to look around a lot and not in a bad way.

She's not hard on herself, which is a positive some days, you

know, when she would gallop, be more interested in looking

around as opposed to going forward and really, you know,

putting a putting a lot into her training, which is the positive

sometimes. Sometimes horses overdo it and

want to put too much into their training and they're too hard on

themselves. And those are the ones that are

hard to keep sound. So, you know, look, I think, you

know, she'll get better as time goes on.

Florence said that several times have several riders say that as

well. And I can I can see it just

watching her training. She's just mentally not quite

there yet. But you know, look, she started

her career out with a wind. And I think when she puts it all

together mentally, she'll she'll be a great at stake filler.

You had Sharp Smile in the Busano over the weekend and I

got to admit I was rooting for her because I I, I have a soft

spot for jockeys who have a mount like Manny Franco has with

Immersive. And then she's off the trail for

a little while and you feel bad for a guy because they seem to

fit so well with a horse. Obviously he was a board off for

Sharp Smile. What's the next step for her?

Will you keep her sort of in that Aqueduct trail?

I think so. It's been good to us in the

years past. We had Jin Jin come out of there

last year. There's been a couple Phillies

through the years that we've had been able to get some black type

with. So I mean, that was a big step

up for her. She got a good trip the other

day, ended up third. Once again, Philly got picked

up. Black type increased her

residual value, and we'll probably keep her there for the

time being. All right, so now the important

stuff. Brad, you're an Iroquois High

guy, and I have to hear about a guy named Scotty Davenport a

lot, and they've even put his picture on the front of that

building. What do we got to do to get a

Brad Cox poster on Iroquois High School in Louisville, Canada?

What do we got? To do here?

I don't know, hopefully maybe when.

You got to like stand in the Derby winner circle, not just

win a Derby. Is that what we got to do?

Yeah. Exactly that's that's hopefully

the plan sooner rather than later.

I've asked you before, but I think it's, it's been a couple

of years. So I'll ask you again with

Mandaloon and, and look, his name's on the wall at Churchill

Forever. And, and it's, you know, he's a

Derby winner. It is what it is.

But not getting to stand in the, in the winner's circle, not

getting to actually do that when your dad started taking you the

track, you know, about 40 years ago and you know, you, you

learned all those things. I mean, is it still a Brad Cox

dream to go stand in that winner's circle?

Well, sure, yeah. I mean, look, I'm taking nothing

away from Mandolin. I mean, he, he's like you said,

he'll go down as a Derby winner, but there was no thrill of

winning the Derby at all. I mean, that's, that's not how

you want to be known as a Derby winner.

So, you know, we're looking forward to to winning it someday

once again, sooner rather than later, and maybe more hopefully

multiples. But yeah, it's definitely goal

#1 and you know, I think we've got a good group this year and

hopefully we'll be a player in the race.

At disco time, Admiral Dennis, we will have to wait and see,

but his name is Brad Cox. Find him at Brad Cox Racing on

the socials as well if you'd like to go follow them there.

And he joined us here on the Kentucky Racing Spotlight.

Brad, you are always very generous with me and I always

appreciate it. I hope, I hope you get dug out

of the snow there in the next couple days in New Orleans.

And don't be a stranger friend. I'll talk to you soon.

Sounds good. Thanks, Louis.

Bye. All right.

Thanks, Brad. There you go.

That was Brad Cox. Join us here on the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. We are presented by the Kentucky

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The great people that make our great sport go here in Kentucky.

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Welcome back to the Kentucky Racing Spotlight on ESPN 680 and

one O 5 seven Now here's Louis Roubo.

Hi, welcome back in final segment.

Of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Roubo in the studios

of ESPN 680. I am Louis Roubo at Radio Louie

on the socials. Find the show at KY Racing

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We'd love to hear from you on socials.

Thanks to Brad Cox for joining us in the previous segment.

This show, of course, presented by our friends at the Kentucky

HBPAKYHBP a.com. Our great friends over there at

the in the little house next to the little house that could next

to church hold down to appreciate all the folks over

there being such great partners on this show.

Talk to clips ballots to open the show.

But of course we've got we're into the 20 point preps people.

So of course in the little comp last week you heard about it

from Trina Brad Cox there. Disco time gets the win there at

the fairgrounds. Looked a little like Sierra

Leone, didn't he, folks? It was dark, it was wet, it was

cold. And that's what seems to be

happening in so many of these preps in New Orleans this time

of year. The weather just seems to fit

that way. Does charge on the outside.

We'll have the Martha Washington this weekend at Oaklawn Park

ahead of the Southwest, 20 points for the Oaks, 20 points

for the Derby in those two races.

But Martha Washington is race 9 and by, oh, by the way, Laurel

Park this weekend, the spectacular bid on the Preakness

side and the oh, goodness gracious, sorry, the extra heat

on the Oaks are on their Black Eyed Susan side.

So they've got their own trail going on right now at Laurel

Park ahead of the switch to Pimlico there in May.

And so if you are interested in watching the three-year olds

around the country, a couple interesting Sprint races in

Maryland this weekend as well. The Quiet Side will come in in

Race 9. It is the Martha Washington A

list that stakes their amount of 16th on the dirt of Oakland Park

in Hot Springs. Quiet Side comes in as the

favorite. Here she is the winner of the

Golden Rod or second place finisher, Excuse me, of the

Golden Rod behind Good Cheer. It was Immersive out.

We talked about that with Brad in the previous segment.

With Immersive Out Good Cheer seems to have moved largely to

the top of people's rankings amongst the two year old

Phillies, but this is the one that's right behind her.

Ran in that fast conditions in the Alcibidis under Louisi is

there at Keeneland. That short stretch didn't really

have a time to make up the ground that she needed to, but

she needed more frankly that day than she gave 8 to 5 is really

short, But Whit bet Megan and and we need to talk about this a

little bit. Whit Beckman's doing the thing.

He just is. It is.

It is cool to watch the local guys grow up in their careers,

is it not? Is it not fun to just see a guy

like Whit Beckman, who last week won the Silver Bullet Day

alongside the Lecompte at Fairgrounds with simply joking?

You have to imagine the transition from being the kind

of trainer that that you are when you start out and Whit

Beckman's had some of the greatest guidance as an

assistant trainer that he's going to have it.

It's not surprising that he's excelling now on his own.

I want to be very clear about that.

If it wasn't. But he starts simply joking in a

stake. Her maiden run is in a stake and

she comes from off the pace and that stakes to win over six

furlongs. Then she comes back in the

silver bowl a day over two turns, gets the lead, runs a

completely different race and runs them off the page.

That's awesome, man. That's the good stuff.

In Wit's got one in here. Her name is her laugh.

She's a daughter. Practical joke point of entry on

the damn side. By the way, Truth Goddess is her

mother's name and she won the Untypable last time.

Mile 70 at fairgrounds, Tepid fractions in that 124 and

change. 49 flat 113 and change during that race.

Axel Concepcion was a board. She set those fractions.

So as I always say when I do these shows, it ain't Axel

Concepcion's fault. His job is to get the lead and

keep the lead and win the race. And that's exactly what she did.

She pulled away at the end in doing it.

He asked her for something at the top of the stretch and she

responded and then he wrapped her up late.

Golden Gamble was in that race. California Sunset was in that

race. That was a good field.

That's essentially their version at fairgrounds of the gun runner

on the same day, but for the Phillies at the end of December.

She comes up here from fairgrounds in this one.

I think she's going to be really, really good.

If you watch a long shot, it's not hard to figure out who it

is. And that's goals to light the

five Kennyman Peaks get a train. Colby Hernandez gets the ride

here. This horse on debut under Colby

at Fairgrounds, win a mile and a 16th and a maiden special in a

minute 46. Is that the fastest time?

Is that going to win the Kentucky Oaks?

It is not, but is that good enough on debut?

A5 and a half length lead and winner and something we see from

Kennyman Peak. I think almost more than anyone.

I'd love to know the stats on this.

It just seems it's very anecdotal, but starting his

horses over two turns, what is How does he do that more than

anyone else? Starting his horses at over a

mile. She puts up a 75 buyer first

time out. She does drop into category

where she cannot have Lasix. So her first start was in late

December because she was running at fairgrounds.

She could have Lasix. No Lasix here.

We'll see if she's able to hold up at 8 to one on her.

That might be my play. The other one is the other

Mcpeek. He's been teaming with Julian

Leperu quite a bit. They're winning around 20% in

Oakland right now and Take Charge Milady, of course, the

daughter of Take Charge, Indy is up in this one and ran a mile in

the mud at Oakland Park last time.

A reminder about the layout of Oakland Park.

There is no mile shoot, so a mile race is A2 turn race.

She was dominant in doing it. That was her first time with

Lasix. It was at the beginning of

January. She drops Lasix again here, but

in my experience, better get some Mcpeaks at your own risk,

especially on the Oaks trail. He's hitting at 24% right now is

Kenny Mcpeak overall at Oakland Park, Julie Lepre, riding an

incredible 11 for 48, has hit the board an additional 9 times

in 48 runs, winning at 23% right now at the the the meet at

Oakland. And like I, you know, I did this

last week. I should do for for Julian as

well. Last week I I gushed a little

about Jose Ortiz making that move to Kentucky for Keeneland

Churchill and now for fairgrounds in the winter as

part of that circuit for him and just what a fruitful thing

that's been for him. How smart of a move that was.

She was at Peru. Going to Oakland this year has

been absolutely fruitful and I'm very happy for him.

The first family, it's been just a great move.

The Southwest is the next race. It starts the late pick three

there at Oakland Mile and a 16th on the dirt for the boys.

It's a great 3 here. We've got 20 points on the line

for the Kentucky Derby and it is $1,000,000 race, which means Bob

Baffert's in town and he's breaking gaming and this is the

one that everybody wants to quit on.

Let me say it again, this is the horse that everybody wants to

quit on, and I always look for a couple of things when I look at

Baffert trainees, but this one ran in the low S maturity, which

is interesting after the Breeders Cup.

Juvenile, right? This was a horse that he brought

back. Big favorite in that one.

Journalism ends up picking off the race there.

Journalism largely, I think going forward at least, going to

be a turf horse. If you follow Southern

California racing, you know that Los Al is very friendly to turf

horses for being a dirt only track.

They've got that slight bend to the right going into the final

turn when you run two turns at Los Al as well.

This horse before that under Irad Ortiz in the Breeders Cup,

Juvenile finished a good second behind Citizen Ball.

Citizen Ball just got the lead. No one was ever catching him.

He ran a 95 buyer in that game, in that race.

It is not an accident that Bob Baffert is bringing this horse

here. And one of the things I always

look for is the 5-6 training pattern.

We say that again, the 5-6 training pattern with Bob

Bafford. 5 for a long workout, then a six, then A5 that are

timed. He has gaming running only fives

but here's a giveaway to me. If you look at the times of the

workouts and you watch them. The hard training for this race

happened on the 11th of January at Santa Anita.

This horse ran a sub The Source ran 58 and 3 / 5 furlongs in

Santa Anita. A bullet out of 34 works that

day, comes back, runs a one O 1 on the 18th and then ships to

Oaklawn. And if you watch Baffert, you

know, it's that second to last. If he thinks a horse is really

primed, it's for that. I don't know that gaming is a

Derby horse. I'll be very clear.

Is this not a game winner? It's a candy ride, you know,

Johannesburg on the on the damn side.

I don't know what this horse will be, you know, and and the

Pegram folks, they paid, you know, a quarter $1,000,000 for

this horse. I don't know what the future is

for him, but I do think he's absolutely a contender coming

into this one. A wild card in this one coming

off the mud in a maiden special at the distance at Oaklawn is

publisher. We saw that horse up here at

Churchill. Twice started his career at

Ellis Park, has never been worse than third.

Finally broke through last time going the two turns in the mud

runs a massive 92 figure. Before that the highest had been

67. And so I'm just not sure that

that's repeatable coming back. But you do get Eclipse

award-winning Eric Asmussen in the irons there.

No more bug. Wait for that guy.

He's only hitting at 6% currently at Oakland Park.

So I will toss publisher in this one.

The three horses, Monet's magic. Francisco Arrieta gets the ride

here for Ben Colebrook. Horse did win in the mud over a

mile last out at Oakland Park. There will be the late speed in

this race. So if we do get a speed battle

up front, Monet's Magic, while probably not a winner out of the

three hole, I think has a legitimate chance to at least

hit the board or even finish second in an exact kind of play.

Moving down the list a little bit, Tis Tastic is in here the

4th. Keith Asmussen gets the ride

here for his dad. Was a good third in the Kentucky

Jockey Club. Ran in the streets since before

that up here at Churchill Downs. The best running this horse has

done though, and it's not close, is on the turf.

I wonder if this isn't the last ditch with Tis Tastic to find

out if this son of Tis Law is actually just going to move over

to the turf. I think eventually he will

render judgement in here. He was.

He's the five horse. Emmanuel Esquivel gets the ride

here for Kenny Mcpeak. Randon, that gun runner was up

the track. I'm going to let that one beat

me at 15 to one. It's Kenny, so who knows?

I'll go ahead and try to beat that one.

Sandman is the 6th. Christian Torres gets the ride

from our Cassie did win last out at Oaklawn over that mile course

that we've talked about so, so much.

We saw that horse run third under Brian Hernandez, Junior

behind Sovereignty and Tastic in the street sense.

If I don't love Tastic here, then why would I love Sandman,

who finished behind him last out?

Maybe he's more of an Oak Lawn player.

He's another one of those that might be part of a later speed.

I think he'll be on the pressing group probably about 3, three

and a half, four lengths off the leader.

Most of the race, look, it's Christian Torres.

He's really good at Oaklawn, 2017% right now.

He runs second a lot though, and I would guess it's that Sandman

is more of a second that he is a first.

Patch Adams comes in here for Brad Cox.

Ran a huge number at 7 furlongs last time out under Flora

Giroux. Flavian Pratt in town to ride

this one. He's been training at Payson and

it is impossible for me. I'll be very honest to know if

the pace of numbers are going to translate to Oaklawn.

But to be fair to the source, he debuted at Keeneland at the

highest level over six furlongs. Was willing to do the work

early, got the lead, just lost it at the end.

Finished a good third behind David of Athens and Camp Hale

came back, like I said at Churchill, gave him a little bit

more distance and boy, he ran off the screen.

We've seen this story before. Sprint to route is what Brad Cox

does and he is doing it as well right now as he has at any point

in his career. You heard him talk to me about,

hey, what is the next thing? The next thing is the Derby win.

The next thing is more wins like this rated stakes for his

clients. It was an interesting way to

hear him talk about it. Patch Adams is one of those, the

son of his in the mischief distorted humor.

Mayor, this is Windstar, this is CHC, These are these

connections. You do not fly in Flavia Pratt

if you do not think that there's a serious chance here.

I'll put him on top in this race and see if Flavia Pratt can't

keep his incredible numbers going as well.

American promises in here for Wayne Lucas Bacon will get them

out here. This horse did break its maiden

last out. I only bring this horse up

because we watched. We watched Lucas pick off one of

the Oaks preps last year on this track.

This is actually an improving horse. 4 races back in a maiden

at Churchill and the Sloppy ran a 55 buyer.

Then they tried two turns with them.

It went up to 77 and 81, with the horse being within a length

and 1/2 of the winner of both of those maiden special races,

including Render Judgement and Monet's Magic who are both in

this field. He then finished in one by a

length and a half above Publisher, who's also in this

race last out in the mud here at Oaklawn Park.

Should be interesting to see if he can run it back.

The Bacon started really, really well.

Eleven wins in 100 races, 11 seconds and 12 thirds as well

hit the board like crazy for his ownership groups.

Look for that one to be a problem too.

And a guy I love in these kinds of spots is Rafa Bejirano.

And I think the long shot play of this race is the 10 speed

king. Huge early speed, huge early

speed, but breaks from the 10 hole.

It's going to be really, really difficult for this horse to get

the lead and keep it from there. And that's what happened last

time. But he's was in the three hole

in the springboard mile, ended up losing It's Cole Battle.

That race had the kind of fractions that I think we're

going to see in this one, 23 and 447 and two, 1:12 and 1:00.

And I think with this kind of race, it actually sets up that

if he can get the lead, if he breaks, well, this son of

volatile Rafa can rate him on the front.

I'm honestly not worried about it.

He's been working at Oaklawn, seems to love the track.

They shipped Rob Rafa did the maquette folks to Remington to

run in that springboard mile. He gets them out again.

Here, give me the 15 to one Speed King.

The 10 ought to be included in all of my tickets, whether it be

an exacto or even a longer ticket, a pick 3A, pick 5,

whatever it might be that you're playing the 10 on the outside.

And Speed King, yes, it's a volatile yes, this might be

where he packs in, in the most distance he ever goes.

Maybe a mile and a 16th is where he absolutely maxes out.

But remember, we're not trying to find the Derby winner when we

place a bet tomorrow. We're trying to win money, and

if I'm trying to do that, I might use the, I'm going to use,

excuse me, the 10 in Speed King out of that Mochette barn with

Rafa riding there. We'd be remiss if we didn't

mention the Pegasus World Cup. You can go back, by the way, and

listen to Rabo and Co on ESPN 680-1057.

I talked with Brian Nadeau at 10:40 this morning about this

race, and it is a fascinating cast of characters.

And if you're really darn sure that you know who's going to win

this thing, my e-mail is Louis R at esp@louisville.com.

And I'd love to hear from you. But you get some interesting

horses in here and you get a shipper, for example, in mixto

coming in from the West Coast. Doug O'Neill is sending him and

Frankie Detori is going to get them out.

He ran third, last out by a length, had the lead late in the

native diver, ended up losing the Skinner who put it in a

clunker at fairgrounds this this last weekend.

To be fair to Skinner, he had never run the slop.

It was his first time. We watched Mixo run a good third

in that race. He was nowhere to be found in

the British Cup Classic. That isn't so surprising.

But before that did win the Pacific Classic.

Is there a chance that it's Mixo that comes in and wins?

Because I think you're going to get every bit of 12:00 to 1:15

to 1:00 on that horse. Kind of fascinating.

Sided Crown is the two horse here.

He's obviously got a shot. Used the Tenacious at

Fairgrounds last out at a mile and a 16 late in December to

prep for this one. He's never tried the course

there at at Gulfstream Park, but the horse does have six wins in

his two years of running in 23 and 24.

Three wins in each year. Has only only three times in

those 12 runs ever been off the board, and those were in the

Breeders Cup, Dirt Mile and different things.

It was good to see him pop back after that Breeders' Cup Dirt

Mile and after, you know, he won, he wins the Cowboy Jones.

They bring him back in that spot.

God bless Elvis Park, man. Can you imagine?

Saudi Crown comes back from the good Dolphin Mile, $10 million

race or whatever it might be, a $20 million race.

And the Saudi copy runs up a really good third behind senior

Bruskadore, of course, in 2024 in February.

But he's back to his spot. I think this is a race that

Saudi Crown can definitely win. New Grange is in here for Jose

D'Angelo. This is a horse that has really

struggled as of late in the field.

The motto barn. I'm not giving him much of a

shot here. The three in Newgrange.

Why did Barrio's back? It's a heck of a thing about him

because generally speaking with him, I don't love him, but by

God the horse loves the horse loves Gulfstream Park.

The one of the blemishes on his record is the Mr. Prospector

last out and that was at 7 furlongs and he's just not a 7

furlong horse. So why did Barrio obviously a

serious shot here, Saffy Joseph Junior, friend of the show and

Irad Ortiz junior getting them out there.

Wild card long shot play of the day would be croupy here.

Ran a really good second in the Whitney at Saratoga in the mud.

We might have slightly wet conditions at Gulfstream Park.

The horse has run a 98 buyer before at Gulfstream Park.

That was in the Pegasus last year.

This horse finished third in the Pegasus last year.

So Luis Saez, who had an unbelievably good 2024 and is

already won 24 races this this meet at Gulfstream Park.

If you leave this horse out of your exacts and tries, I got

nothing for you. Stronghold's going to have to

show it to me over two turns in this kind of quality of field.

He's the six horse here. Antonio Fresu in town to ride

for Phil D'amato. I like the horse a lot.

He hits the board like crazy. I think you get an honest effort

for him. He's just not very fast.

He's just not very fast and I don't have him winning tomorrow.

Steal Sunshine is the seven horse.

Dylan Davis comes in, another guy who had an unbelievable 2024

for Robert Debona comes out of the Harlan Holiday last time out

at Gulfstream Park Mile and a 16th there for that one.

Going a little bit further here, but I think it was a good run

under Leon Reyes before that did win an optional claimer going a

mile at Gulfstream Park, 30 to one.

I don't think it's much of A play and I don't think even

include if you're looking for one in your exactness and

trifecta, skip down to Mystic Dan, the 9 horse here, 8 to one.

Brian Hernandez Junior is down in Miami to ride for Kenny

Mcpeak for this one. I don't know what to do with

Mystic Dan, but he's the Derby winner, which means he's going

to get some money, so I'm going to not bet him, at least in this

race. If he beats me, I'm OK with it.

I've started to accept in my betting life that Mcpeak's just

going to beat me. That's just one of those things.

I'll skip him here. Skippy Long Stocking.

I will not skip a 12:50. Tyler gets the ride here for

Safi Joseph Junior. Tyler having a a usual excellent

start to his Gulfstream Park meet there.

This horse last seen in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile.

I thought he was fine. Ran the Woodward before that in

the mud behind Tapatrice. I thought he was fine.

Did win the Charlestown Classic before that with Jose Ortiz in

the irons. I think it tend to one Skippy

long stocking is very playable. But my pick for the race is the

favorite. It's locked the 11 year old or

the 11 in the 11 hole, but the four year old, This is the horse

that we didn't get last year. This is the one that we missed

out on last year. The son of Gun Runner, but I

have spectacular news for everybody.

Gun Runner didn't do his best running at three.

He did it at 4 and at 5:00. What if locked is the next

version of that? Maybe not the heights that we

saw with a Gun Runner, but what if he is in addition to that

field that we talked about, that group with Sierra Leone, with

fierceness with Mystic Dan, etcetera, coming back to run

this year, hit shows in that group.

What if Lochte is that next one? Johnny Velasquez, of course, has

had the mounts since October at Aqueduct.

We'll have the mount down there at Gulfstream Park as well.

Power Squeeze on the outside is an interesting one because she

reminder loves Gulfstream Park, one that Alabama last year won

the Delaware Oaks last year. So if you're looking at a horse

who's not going to be intimidated by the distance and

actually can take back a little bit and close into this field 30

to one and you can Javier Castellano in a big spot, she

might be a play for you as well. So this has been another edition

of the Kentucky Racing Spotlight with Louis Ribow, Louie Ribow.

These are the studios of ESPN 681057, not too far from the

Twin Spires of Churchill Downs and from the little house that

could at the Kentucky HBAKHBPA. Excuse me, KYHBP a.com.

Go check them out on the website.

If you are a horse person at all within the Commonwealth, they

want to help you. They want to be a part of your

operation and help you in any way that they can.

KYHBP a.com. And if you're just a fan, go

check out the articles, the great photos and videos from

around the Commonwealth as well. Next week, we'll get into some

more Derby preps as we continue down the line.

There'll be three of them all across the country in New York,

all the way from New York to LA, which will be a lot of fun, and

we'll talk to different people about that for Thank you to Brad

Cox for joining us in the second segment, and of course to our

friends at ESPN Louisville for always airing the Kentucky

Racing Spotlight. Good luck with your wages this

weekend and we'll see you next week on the spotlight.

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