Live at Turfway | Jeff Ruby Day 2025

Alright, welcome in Ruby Edition live here Turfway Park.

Why not hanging out with you on the horse racing happy hour.

Luther Bow my Co host from Blood horse Monday, his name is Sean

Collins. Thanks so much for making us

part of your Derby trail. A weekend here at Turfway. 100

points on the line here. We have done some interviews

with different people around California.

Burrito. Is Sean Collins able to separate

himself from being fan? Sean Collins and I got to write

for bloodhorse.com. Sean Collins.

I am when I'm writing, when I'm actually here at the races.

And like this morning when I was on the backside, I was able to

just kind of walk around and kind of go go see some of the

favorites that I have going into today.

So I'm able to separate it in the writing.

But like when we're here, we're here to be.

Fans. No, I get it.

Yeah, we want to be here on site for these things.

That's exactly right. The other part of this too, like

you got to visit with this morning, one of the cool horses

we've had the last couple years that you know, the marathoner

that is based here at Turfway Park, that's the cool stuff too.

And I think people forget because of the nature of this

place, the surface, etcetera, horses are here year round,

right? So people really make this their

home. This is the spot where they set

up their operation and significant barns are here as

well. Yeah.

And it's really only been like a year or two that they've been

stabled year round. And so you're really starting to

see kind of bigger names keep a larger presence here and we'll

see that in the races today. There's plenty of top trainers

that are going to be be on the card.

There you go. All right, so you're sat down

with me. We're going to go through the

Ruby field itself, try to pick out which horse might be or two

in the in the gate, maybe 3 Cripes, if California breeder

runs third or something honestly like that, we could get 3 Derby

starters out of the race today, frankly, right.

Points fall. That's exactly right.

And so an interesting field here, I thought in true Turfway

Park style is that, as Tony Kayla likes to say, standing

room only for the Ruby this year on Ruby Day here.

My name's Louis Rebo. This is the Horse Racing Happy

Hour podcast hanging out with Sean Collins.

You can catch us every Monday on the Blood Horse Monday podcast

as well. So Calling Card is the first

horse we're going to talk about here comes out of the Mic Maker

barn. And this is a guy that knows

Turfway really well, right? It's a guy who's willing to have

his horses switch surfaces, etcetera.

This is one that they tried in the Gotham before that they did

try in the La Compte as well. So getting off of the dirt, do

you think this is kind of a last ditch effort to get in here or

just, hey, this horse might like the synthetic?

I'm not sure if it's necessary last ditch as far as trying to

get in the Derby. I think maybe this is kind of

figuring out what are you going to do with him the rest of his

career. He started his career 2 races on

turf and he didn't run bad on the turf.

And you know, he had a big main win on dirt at Aqueduct back in

November. But since that race, he hasn't

really been, he hasn't gotten back to that performance.

So I think this is kind of all right, let's experiment with the

synthetic. Let's see how he does depending

on how he does in this race. I would then determine whether

we keep going with the dirt. Do we swap back to the turf?

I think that's what we're looking at here as far.

Whereas him being a legitimate Kentucky Derby horse, I don't

really see that. But of course, Rich Strike came

out of this race three years ago, so.

Two fills who did much of the work before Mage was able to

take over that race just two years back.

Obviously I think endlessly last year we learned as part of that

process is much more of a turf horse, one that we're looking

forward to getting back into serious races as a four year old

this year. Calling Card is interesting to

me in that it's a son of complexity and I don't know that

we've quite figured out what the complexities do well yet, right?

And so if he does go on and win today, it might help us fill in

the gaps on that kind of question.

But for me at least a toss today doesn't mean that down the line

we won't see this horse in good. I don't know, grade three kind

of company, high allowance kind of company, but probably on the

turf after they try it here. Moving on, Charlie's to blame on

my oldest is named Charlie. He is commonly to blame.

So I like the name of this one here.

Betting on him today then. That might be a hunchback here

for me for sure. Juan Hernandez in to ride this

one. All of Santa Anita is here.

Him. Umbe's here rismally, of course.

And oh, there's a third one. Gosh, who's here from who's here

from There's one more I feel oh, oh, I'm thinking of someone else

who used to be who's coming up from Oaklawn.

Oh my gosh, I'm sure his name will come up.

Hernandez is in for Peter Urton. This is one that we saw last out

in the kittens joy over a mile and a 16th down at at at

Gulfstream Park. Obviously a chance to jump up.

Look, at the end of the day, yes, this is a Derby prep, but

it's a $777,000 purse too, right?

This is a big boy race as far as money is concerned.

Charlie's to blame is in that group, Sean, that I can't quite

figure out how to place. But if they end up second or

third here, I wouldn't be stunned.

Yeah, I wouldn't be stunned either.

And he's shown speed in his last several races and he's already a

stakes winner, so he's got that going for him.

You know, this was one that if I was just kind of looking at him

on his own, I think I'd probably lean towards toss.

But the fact that Juan Hernandez is going to come in to ride this

horse, I do. I do really like that.

I think they must have some high expectations on this, this

horse, I think. Horse has also gotten to work in

here. This is part of Urton's Kentucky

string, right? So this is a horse that's also

been on the on the surface here working at least most recently

A4 furlong work and not a bullet, but boy close.

So might like the surface quite a bit of 15 to one there.

As you mentioned, Juan Hernandez in the mound of Triple Crown

nominated horse here in California.

Burrito, we saw as the winner of the Battaglia, has now won three

times in his career, including a win in the Slap at Churchill,

but has taken significant steps forward under Irving Moncada, A

person that you and I are both fans I think a lot of as a young

jockey. He's confident too.

He's confident. I talked to him this morning.

He's he's feeling pretty good. And they should be confident.

This horse looked great in the Battaglia.

Still a little green. It's interesting after, you

know, 5-6 starts, 6. I think that was a six start

career wise last out, but Irving got the horse to switch leads in

the stretch. This is the kind of horse that

if he's able to switch leads more on his own in the race

today, I could see very much not just winning, but maybe very

much being the best here to be a top three contender in this

race. Yeah, and he's also the key to

the race in my opinion, because last race we saw in the

Battaglia where he broke out of the gate, he went straight up to

the lead. But that wasn't really the

original plan. That was just kind of by default

because no one else went for it. I talked to Tommy Drury earlier

this week. He said that's probably going to

be the same game. We're going to force anybody who

wants to go to the lead to go up there and they're going to have

to beat us to the lead. And if they do beat us to the

lead, we're perfectly fine with just sitting back and stalking

the pace. So I think his his ability to

adjust, his adjustability, I believe that's going to play a

real key in this race. What does he end up doing,

especially from post three? He does have that speed of

Charlie's to blame inside of him.

But I do think he's going to hold the key to the race and I

definitely could see him winning this race.

He looked good this morning, was able to go back and catch him

while he was having breakfast, not eating a California burrito.

He was eating normal horse food good unfortunately, but he's

looking good heading into the race this morning.

I and by the way, I will be swimming in the Turfway Park

pond if California Burrito wins today.

Aaron Haberman, I'm calling you out right now on this show.

If you listen to Blood Horse Monday, you understand of that

reference E Shawn Collins Lubro hanging out with you trackside

Turfway Park ahead of Jeff Ruby day here.

Final Gambit's in the four and for the Cox and Machado

combination alone, this horse is 6 to one.

They did try this one in maiden company as several times comes

out of a maiden win last out at a mile and you know, which is a

very typical sort of set up here.

I like the four hole. I love Luan Machado.

Frankly, Would we be stunned if a Cox horse jumps up and gets to

2nd place here sneaks into the Derby?

The answer's no. This is a big step up.

We're we're dropping Lasix lots of different variables with

final game, yeah. There's a lot of variables with

him here, but I was thinking about it this morning because I

was looking at the morning line odds and I saw he was six to one

among the favorites. I feel like nobody's really

talking about this horse that much.

He's Brad Cox's horse. He's, you know, Lolan Machado's

always a threat here at Turfway for sure.

And then on top of that, I mean, it's a judgment home bread.

So he's got the right connections in his back pocket.

This does kind of seem like, you know, the perfect spot for him.

If they're going to try to take a shot at get into the Derby,

this is the perfect spot for him.

He's been racing here all winter, so I do kind of like

like to see him in this spot. I just feel like he's kind of

gone under the radar here. And if you're looking for that

type of horse, you can maybe get an overlay on him.

We hear the voice of Tony Kalo means we're getting close to

race one here live at Turfway Park.

Yeah, Final gaming, an interesting one in here.

Here's my issue with him. I think he's going to have to

run a full 2 seconds faster on the mile to even be in this

field than he did last time. I just don't know if he's

capable. It's not a knock on Cox or or

the breeding or anything else. I just don't know that he's

capable right now of running that kind of pace.

We'll see later on, but man, if you can get a Brad Cox La

Machado at 6-7 or one something like that, it's usually not a

terrible place to place your bet.

A horse that you and I are both high on coming into this one is

Flying Mohawk coming off the turf winning, you know, in an

optional claimer last out at Fairgrounds.

I know we're not going to get anywhere near 15 to one.

I think we're looking at 5 to one, nine to two on this horse

by the time we get to the gate with Beckman.

I I try not to over read into what traders are telling me

these kinds of things. Her laugh is running in the

Fairgrounds Oaks today. She's an excellent, excellent

Oaks contender. He's choosing to be here for

Flying Mohawk in the Derby prep. Does that mean anything to you

or is just how this horse is set up for this race beats more?

I think I I could go both ways because there is also the aspect

of, you know, the ownership that's involved with this horse.

You know, you might be making that move just for that reason,

you know, Jason War, former MLB All Star and World Series

champions involved with this horse.

But that definitely gives me a boat of confidence that he's

going to come here. For those that don't know, he

was at fairground or he probably still is at fairgrounds right

now watching some of his horses breeze simply Joking and Anna

Marie and he's going to get here.

He's going to land around 3:00, so he's flying in specifically

for this. He's going to head back tomorrow

morning. That does give me a sign of

confidence and I mean, he looked good back there this morning.

He was full of energy. He was playing around and there

was a little bit of buzz with some of the other people I

talked to on the backside when I mentioned that I liked flying

Mohawk today. A lot of people seem to agree,

so there does seem to be a little bit of a buzz about him

coming into stakes company. Joe Ramos, local jock here,

spends most of his year at Horseshoe Indianapolis and of

course winters here at Turfway. The two of them 30% together in

their 10 runners, 3 for 10. Their last runners here up at

Turfway Park, Baby Max, we saw him run very well in the

Battaglia. Not well enough.

But this is essentially I I think for Kelsey Danner.

This is of course her best shot at the Derby, but also just a,

a, a type of horse. Actually, I don't hate the move

back to Abel Sedillo here. I usually wouldn't say that away

from a jock that I love as much and betting on as Luis Saez, but

I think, you know, Abel Sedillo here at Turfway Park just makes

a lot of sense for this one. I think he's an absolute must

include in every kind of wager because of Kelsey, because of

Abel, and certainly just because of what we've seen from him on

the surface. Yeah, and Abel getting back on

him, he's a jockey that knows this horse well.

He rode him for that win in the Leonatis a couple months ago.

One of the things that our good friend Jenny Rees, when she was

talking to Kelsey earlier in the week, one of the things that she

mentioned was in that Battaglia as they were coming down the

stretch, it seemed like he was almost getting a little, maybe a

little bit afraid of California Burrito, just not really wanting

to go by. So I think having a jockey

that's more experienced with him, I think that will help him

kind of, you know, make that run.

But that does give me a little bit of pause, a little bit of

concern that he wasn't wanting to pass that horse.

You saw the two of them were pretty green coming down the

stretch, drifting out to the middle of the racetrack.

So this is one of those ones where I think he's gonna be a

really nice kind of, you know, maybe Grade 3 and that Listed

stakes level. But when you're looking at a

Kentucky Derby prep race, when you're looking at, you know,

going forward into the Kentucky Derby, I do think maybe this one

will end up being a step below. So I would pass on him today,

but it sounds like you are confident.

In him, I just think that if you're trying to figure out

who's going to be part of the, you know, if you're putting

together an exact trifecta, but we're also talking about, you

know, if he can finish second here, he's in the Derby, bro,

like, right. I mean, with his previous points

to who knows, a third place finish, you might, you know, put

him on the AE list or something like that.

So it's this is a baby. Max also feels a little to me a

little like a Seize the Gray type that might not be a winner

today, but ends up doing something later in the summer,

that kind of thing. It's the son of Maximus

Mischief, which is an interesting breeding line as

well. Obviously the end of Mischiefs

there as well. They bought this horse for 20

grand. Throw it on the blinkers, try to

get rid of some of that stuff that you talked about that Jenny

got through with Kelsey earlier this week.

Should be an interesting run. A lot of changes there, but I

think I think Kelsey's just fine tuning at this point with Abel

and with with the blinkers and so hopefully runs a big race.

Kelsey's just easy to root for it too.

This is great. So, yeah, yeah, Jocoso comes in

here and this is a horse that I think many, many people want to

like and then they keep many on this horse and good luck.

Look with that he did win 2 back in an allowance on the turf at

Fairgrounds. Tried him in the Risen Star.

This horse it look, man, look. And Speaking of cease the Gray

look, who's in town to ride this one, right?

30 to one. This is this feels like a free

space, at least in trifecta place.

He can win here though, can he? I think so, because, you know, I

think everybody's going to look at that last performance in the

Risen Star where he really did not run at all on the dirt.

But you look at his Forum 2 back, he won an on the turf in

an allowance race. He ran well on the turf all

throughout his two year old season.

So I do think that that's going to Oh yeah, we do.

Got it. Oh, horses on the track.

How about that? Let's go.

I'm pointing at horses. They're the stars, not us.

Sean Collins. But yes, I do think if there was

going to be one of these races where he jumped up and win, I do

think it's today. I think he's going to like the

synthetic. And so if you're looking for

that bomb price, we already talked about how we don't think

we're going to get the odds we want on Flying Mohawk.

Here's another horse that's kind of the same thing, a turf horse

that's going to be here on the synthetic and maybe get the big

odds on him. Yeah, broke his maiden back at

Ellis Park over the summer over their turf course.

Came back and won an allowance, as I mentioned, late in the

November meet at Churchill. Early in the November meet, I

should say, excuse me, at Churchill before trying him in

the Risen Star, a son of Not This Time.

We've seen those Not This times do a lot of different things,

correct, And so wouldn't be surprised to see him do that.

Innovators in the 8 hole for this race.

This is what I'm less high on, but it's a Wayne Lucas.

So good luck because even Juarez, like, you know, we're

going to go to Virginia and just win and by the way, embarrass

everyone. And so I simply don't know what

to do with him. Well, go ahead.

Is this horse a lemon muffin? I'll go ahead.

And do it for everyone. If you're watching right now,

this horse isn't winning today, so go ahead and bet it.

There you go. That's bold because I think he's

probably going to be up on the lead.

I think he's going to be up on the lead and I think if you

know, if nobody else goes with him, I think he might steal this

thing. You got the hot hand right now.

I could see Nick Juarez and Dewayne Lucas doing the exact

same thing they did with American Promise last week and I

could see it paying off again. Remember, this is the horse that

ran Barnes to a nose in that race, that maiden race at

Churchill. Do I like him long term?

As far as Derby? Probably not.

But in this spot, I mean ride the hot hand that we just got

about last week, I think the exact same strategy is going to

be in play here and we could see the same result.

Look, a son of authentic and and you know, moms an out of

unbridled song. And I mean, that's look, that's

two turns scream, scream, scream, right.

I mean, so who knows? We've seen weirder things than

than Wade Lucas winning at Derby Prep.

We've seen way weirder things than that for sure.

The posters in here, we've talked with the connections

there with Michael, Ben and and Godolphin on our on Blood Horse

Monday. This is a horse.

I got the sense talking to him. They, they know the talents

there. Certainly the breedings there.

They really want this horse to work out.

But the sense is they don't to be at least, and I'm reading

between the lines here, they don't quite know what they have

yet with him. That's what we're trying to

figure out with many 3 year olds this time of year.

So they're not alone in that kind of quest.

I think he's live here for sure. I really do trust the Hardy

barn. I obviously trust John Velasquez

in in races like this. I think he's live just because

of the talent. We'll be we'll see how he likes

the synthetic, but 2 for two lifetime on the turf.

Yeah, 2 for two lifetime on the turf.

So that does give you a little bit of confidence in him here.

Now he's the one, you know, when you're looking at the, the bets

I'm going to place, he's one that I'm going to kind of leave

out at least at that top spot just because I for some reason,

I just have this gut feeling he's going to get beat.

He's going to take money because you know, he, he should be the

favorite in this race. I do believe that terribly.

But I just have this weird feeling that, you know, he's

going to maybe be a little bit back in the pace.

It's not going to set up for him, But also, you know, being

on the backside. Today I was talking to one of my

buddies who's actually in the same barn as him, and he

mentioned that since he's come back from Tampa he hasn't been

as energetic as he was beforehand, which he also

mentioned could not be a bad thing.

It could just mean that he's a developing 3 year old and he's

finally understanding what he's. Being a pro, right?

Being a pro now, so that's possible, but with some of the

other horses in here that I do like, I am going to try to beat

him. I'm a little concerned he's just

not going to run to the way that maybe he's going to end up

running this summer. Breaking the Tory is going to be

riding the 10 American maximal problems here.

Excuse me, a son of maximum security, which I love.

There's multiple maximum securities on the card today by

the way, and this is for Kenny Mcpeak.

This one was, you know, Luan Machado had the the ride in the

Battaglia. This was the 3rd place finisher.

So we saw that stretch jewel between California burrito and

and Baby Max last out. This was the 3rd place horse.

First time trying the synthetic. I like the angle of trying

synthetic. The second time I get Frankie

Dettori, who by the way, bothered to show up yesterday to

ride here so that he could learn the course a little bit ahead of

the stakes races today. I think 5 to one, you're going

to get every bit of that number and I think he's very playable

at that number. We need a Kenny McPhee course in

the Derby this year. This could be the one.

So I do really like him. I liked him a lot going into the

Battaglia last time and I didn't really see, you know, obviously

he didn't win the race, he finished third, but he got stuck

really far back. I didn't see anything to really

discourage me from liking him again this time.

I think he's going to be coming with that run.

I think he's going to like that extra bit of distance here and

like you said, second time on the synthetic, I do like that

angle as well. So I think he could definitely

run big in this spot. Peter Miller's got some that

we're going to have to watch on the card here today, which is

fantastic. Corvino will be the first one we

talk about. Gerardo Corrales.

Local hero. Made me much money at this

place, Young Gerardo. Breeders' Cup winner Gerardo

Corrales, you understand me a little.

No balls reference there. Yeah, he he comes in to ride

this 120 to one on the line. This horse last ran in an

optional claimer at Oaklawn, but before that was out West at Del

Mar. Running on the grass.

No wins on the grass, One win on on sloppy track.

I don't quite know what to make of this horse, but Gerardo

Corrales makes me think that this horse is at least going to

be part of the race. Yeah, he's definitely going to

be part of it, probably in those early stages.

And you look at some of his PPS who he's been running against in

those lines, you see a horse like Iron Man Cal, you see

journalism in there. He was in journalism's maiden

victory. So he has been running against

decent competition out there in California.

But yeah, I just from the wide post position in post 11, he

does seem like a little bit of kind of that wild card type, but

I'm I'm not feeling him going into this one.

Fair enough. He's not joking.

He's in the 12. Hernandez and Carol here, Good

combination up here. They won two of their last five.

A turfway. This one ran in the Holy Bowl up

the track before that was in the Kentucky Jockey Club.

Did win the Grade 3 Grey Cup up at Woodbine before that.

So we've seen this horse has synthetic before and before.

I think this one's really interesting at 15 to one.

I think so too, especially getting back to the synthetic.

This is, I really liked his winning the Gray Stakes.

I remember watching that when I was actually a fun fact.

I was on the airplane flying back from the Breeders Cup and I

had to write the recap for that race at Blood Force.

So I remember that race pretty well because it was just so

abnormal. But so I liked him up at that

spot. I liked seeing that they were

taking the shot at the Derby trail.

He really hasn't run a step on the dirt, which, you know, I

think that's probably just a surface thing.

He might be big when we go up to Woodbine again for the summer,

but I do like him getting back to the synthetic in this spot.

I think he could be live and a little worried about the post

position, but I definitely think he could be live in this spot.

Getting back to synthetic. Some of the rare late speed in

this race, you would think of a synthetic race as having plenty

of of horses with late speed. But in fact many, many front

runners and frankly at this meet being upfront has mattered.

Had been very good for you generally speaking here at

Surfway Park. That one's really interesting

too, because of what you mentioned, getting back to

synthetic, but also Josie Carroll's numbers here recently.

Seven runs or excuse me, nine runs at Turfway, three wins,

which is already fantastic, seven times hitting the board.

So this is the kind of horse you could throw in at really good

value if he runs second or third, yeah.

Now I've got a trivia question here for you.

Oh boy, I'm bad at these, all right?

Which Kentucky Derby winner this century came out of the Gray

Stakes? Out of the Gray stakes, this.

Oh my gosh. OK, this is how I know you did

write the article of bloodhorse.com about this one.

Oh, I. Didn't even write about this.

Oh, OK. All right.

OK. So the obvious sorts of answers

are like an animal Kingdom or something else that would have

been more of a turfy. I'll give you a hint, which I'm

not sure if it's really a hint. I think he, I'm pretty sure he's

the only Derby winner of the century that's actually ran in

Canada. I got nothing.

I got done. Mind that bird.

Where did that horse not run? Where did that horse not run?

I mean, it's absurd. He started his career, yeah.

I know, but he ran everywhere, man.

Oh, it's unbelievable. All right.

I don't know. I haven't seen the scratches.

Is Candytown not not drawn in? Nobody.

Else got in, so nobody else scratched.

So yeah, Candytown's not gonna draw who's.

Your winner for the Ruby. I'm torn between either

California Burrito or Flying Mohawk.

Is that your exacto? Probably, yeah, I think so.

But yeah, I, I think just. Remember, it's 100 point race

top 2. Get in, man.

Yeah. I think I'll probably hammer

that exact because I think California Burrito is going to

sit the perfect trip. I do think Flying Mohawk's going

to like the setup of this race as well.

So I think those are kind of my big two, OK.

There you go, Shawn Collins. Catch us on Blood Horse Monday.

And of course, bloodhorse.com for everything all that he's

working on. Get out of the way.

Get out of the way. Get out.

Thank you, Sir. There you go.

Shawn Collins here at Surfway Park.

We're hanging out with you all. Wanted to go through the other

parts of that early pick or excuse me, that late pick for

that all stakes pick for as well.

It starts with the animal Kingdom.

The Afro mentioned. Animal Kingdom, of course, came

out of here in the Ruby to win the Kentucky Derby in 2011.

This is, you know, the kind of the kind of race it's set up for

her three-year olds. It's a six for a longer quarter

million bucks on the line here and I think there are a couple

that you've got to put in your A ticket for this spot.

I'll start with the four horse here, which is coming in hot.

You get Luan Machado for John Ennis here.

This horse did try the Battaglia last night.

I'm going two turns. Go back to the previous forum,

though, at the distance 2 for three lifetime.

I think an absolute must include.

And by the way, both of those races were here at Turfway Park

as well. So alongside him, the 7 is

really interesting to me as well.

And I just clicked on fairgrounds instead of Turfway.

That's a terrible decision. Kale's Angel 2 to one Ramon

Vasquez, whose whose name I was trying to come up with coming up

from Oaklawn Park. He's writing for Peter Miller

here. And as as I mentioned, a lot of

these California guys now starting to chase these purses

here in in in Kentucky. This is one of those as well.

Try to him at the Oak Lawn at Oak Lawn in a black type blast

out in the six furlongs. But this horse has won over turf

before. I think he's just fast enough to

get the kind of race he wants here.

Many times horses that are sprinters come here and do

really enjoy the surface. I think he'll be just fine.

And if you're looking for a longer shot, either to win or to

clean up your tickets, the two here in Killjoy at 8:00 to 1:00.

This is the Felix and Foster combination.

The two of them have now won three of their last six here at

Turfway Park. This one's coming out of a

dominating win in a six furlong race before that ran in the

Turfway Preview. It didn't work out, but this

horse otherwise does have two wins in three tries at the

track. If he gets back to that form

that he ran last time, he's got a serious, serious shot today to

at least hit the board. I don't know that he's fast

enough to win, but if he runs well, he can hit the board.

Race 10 is the Kentucky Cup Classic and this one's loaded.

By the way, listen to the past winners of this race.

If you haven't checked it out in a while, tell us last year,

Wolfie's, Didagos and Visitant have all won this race in the

last four years. This is a serious race for

serious horses. You go through the list of

trainers that have won this race, it goes to Baffert, it

goes to everybody. It's a really fascinating spot

for these. A bunch of horses are coming out

of a previous prep here and I'm going to lean on some of those

in this spot. Hush of a Storm is one of those

horses. He has run on the synthetic an

incredible 17 times and hit the board.

Fourteen of those loves it up here at Turfway Park.

He gets vessels Chamino in the in the irons here.

I think he's an absolute must include out of the Brad Cox barn

and any play that you have up here at Turfway Park today.

The 12 on the outside. I don't love the post position,

but because of the layout here with the 8th pole being as far

down the stretch here isn't as it is at Turfway Park.

I think he'll have time does Chyron to make a move.

If Sophie Doyle can get this horse out of the gate quickly, I

think he'll be totally fine. He's going to want to go early,

which will mitigate some of that outside post.

He's going to have to do more than he did last time from the

two hole to win his race, but he tracks beautifully last out.

Did he get a perfect trip? He did, but I think he made his

own trip there and Sophie Doyle, a great job piloting him to that

one as well. The six horses really

interesting to me as well in Encino and here's why.

This is a horse that people remember.

Brad Cox ran him in the Lexington last year to qualify

him for the Derby before he got sick and was unable to actually

compete in the Kentucky Derby. Came back in Fairgrounds in the

fall, excuse me, in January. It did win in an optional

claimer. They tried him in the Gulfstream

Park Mile that race that mine, that mine frame came back and it

just didn't work out well. He's getting back to Turfway

Park. Three runs never been worse than

second. Two wins in a second here As you

hear the horn for the first race up here at Turfway Park.

I think it's seen those months include because Luan Machado's

got them out here for Brad Cox. The two of them hit at 36% at

Northway Park, so an absolute must include in your tickets

here. Last one we're going to talk

about as far as precursors to the Ruby is the Bourbonnet Oaks.

Obviously A50 pointer. So one horse the winner of that

race guaranteed essentially a spot in that 14 horse starting

gate for the Kentucky Oaks as well.

Really interested in the in the three here in admit she's coming

in under Irving Moncada. Tommy Drury's going to be

training this one of course. Fan ran second in the Cincinnati

Trophy. I'd rather bet on Irving Mocata

9:00 to 2:00 than another jockey in this spot.

One one in one this year, 1-2 back at Turfway over a mile runs

in that Cincinnati trophy run second.

She's already over 130 lifetime earnings.

And they they built, you know, they they bred this horse for

25. And so this is already, you

know, a great horse, great return on investment for them.

I think she's got a lot left today for the Bourbonet Oaks.

Should be interesting to watch her run.

And here the seven horse is as catch can very hard for me for

some reason to say, but Frankie Natori gets them out here.

This is a horse that's and running at Woodbine last out

really ran well in the suite life at at at Santa Anita Park.

Excuse me, comes in here with Frankie.

I think this horse is going to get a good trip because of

Frankie and so interested to see if if she comes out runs well in

this spot. It's a daughter of Motown, which

is an interesting breeding sign. Obviously a daughter of Uncle

MO, a son of Uncle MO in that case should be able to get the

two turns and get the distance no problem there as well.

Two more in the in the Bourbon Ed Oaks that I wanted to mention

resolves on the inside this another shipper coming in from

Santa Anita, last out in an optional claimer there at the

$100,000 level has run second last two out but was right there

at the finish. I don't hold that against horses

in turf races. Think of today like a turf race

with the Bourbon Ed Oaks. And I think you can arrive at

her with some certainty as well. And then the 11 horse here on

the outside will be interesting as well will be just inside of

Ethan. But White Rocks won the the

Cincinnati Trophy coming into this.

Both of her wins are at Turfway Park.

Her her maiden win and in the Cincinnati Trophy.

We're just stretching out another half for a long.

I think she'll absolutely be part of the equation.

But that mile of a 16th, having a break from the 11, I think

it's actually a detriment. It gives other horses in here an

advantage on her, at least early in the race.

And I agree with Sean. I think Flying Mohawk is gonna

be the horse to beat the five horse here in the Jeff Ruby

Stakes. So I'm gonna use the five here.

I think he's really, really interesting for this.

But if you're looking for a long shot, that's the one.

But the three, nine and six are also interesting to me here.

You got him a clue, Cal Burrito Irving is going to give him a

great one here. Posters just so talented that if

you leave him out of your tickets and he beats you, that's

on you. If you're if you're chasing

value, then obviously you can miss out on that as well.

And then baby Max, if that horse even straightens out a little

bit in the stretch, he wins the Battaglia.

We're talking about him very differently today.

If you're looking by the way to play that that bluegrass by you

pick 5. I I think with the stretch of

the distance, length of the stretch in Fairgrounds, you're

going to be able to use Sierra Leone and just move on with your

ticket. I think he's that good.

I think he's that capable in the Fairgrounds Oaks, though.

I wanted to mention Whit Beckman's other horse.

She came up earlier on the broadcast with Sean, but but her

laugh is in here. She had to scratch out of Tampa.

She was going to run on Sam F Davis day.

She they ended up not running her or she ran in the Suncoast.

She was gonna run another time. They waited for this spot to get

her back to Fairgrounds where she's 2 for two.

Reminder, this horse started her life in stakes company and won

in that race, Came back in the untappable going two turns.

It was no problem at all under Axel Concepcion.

Irad Ortiz picks up the mound today.

It is obvious they are escalating what they're trying

to do with this horse. So look for her to run big

today. But yeah, it's gonna be really

hard to beat good cheer in that spot.

I wouldn't blame anyone for going single, single there in

those two races at Fairgrounds, but man, in the Louisiana Derby,

I just can't put a figure on who's going to win that one at

all. I would grab as many as you can.

Obviously the talent with John Hancock.

Is there no question that the one horse should be part of your

handicapping in the Louisiana Derby?

I think the nine horse is really interesting here in instant

replay. It's the other Brad Cox.

Well, Ron Giroux gets the mount on this one lobby and Pratt

obviously no, no questioning whether he should be on John

Hancock or not. But with instant replay comes

out, wins last out in $100,000 optional claimer at fairgrounds

over a mile and three sixteenths.

Obviously going to have to stretch out.

None of these horses have gone a mile and three sixteenths anyway

before. This is not a maximum security.

We mentioned him earlier in the broadcast as well.

Should be able to get the two turns with though issue.

I think he's a really, really interesting one as well.

I got a ton of notes this week about hipness coming into this

one for Kenny Mcpeak. Kenny obviously trying to

qualify here, but also with hipness down after he ran in the

Rebel at Oakland Park, clearly thinks this is a little bit

softer of a spot to the Arkansas Derby.

So he's gonna run him in the Fairgrounds or excuse me, in the

Louisiana Derby as well. And then I think I got to

mention the three horse here, this Tastic.

I don't know what to do with this horse, so that's why I'm

mentioning him. But Joel Rosario's in town.

He's going to get them out for Steve Asmussen.

The two of them hitting at 23% together at Fairgrounds should

be an interesting include as well.

He was up the track a little bit in the Rebel, but before that

was really good in the street sense and the Kentucky Jockey

Club. He's due for a breakout at some

point. So I think he's one that might

be worth it to include in your tickets as well.

I blew your boat Cyber Race one up here at Turfly Park.

Good luck with all your wagers today.

This has been a special on site mission of the Horse Racing

Happy Hour.