Live at Turfway | Jeff Ruby Stakes Day

It's true. Sean Collins, life is good.

Horse racing Happy hour live Turfway Park.

Jeff Ruby Day here in Florence y'all, thanks for joining us

here on the program. Gary Spears will be alongside

momentarily. The young Sean Collins are

playing the music. They got everything going.

We were joking coming in about all of the good things at race

tracks. Use it constantly while you're

walking around. Doesn't have to be one of those.

Things no it. Be one of those things.

Maybe we just noticed it because we're content creators in some

capacity and we have to deal with the, you know, the

potential copyright music. So I'm just going to keep

talking over it so that way you don't worry about it on your

end. You're welcome.

It's such a good point, but yeah, it's what if Spotify pulls

this episode because of what turfways do it?

Exactly. No, that happens to me on

YouTube all the time where the music in the background.

I got to go back and re edit it or silence it or something.

So, so, yeah, I, I for one, I would vote against having the

constant music over, over the races.

But you know, maybe, maybe that's just me as a, as a video

person, I don't know. I thought it would be cool to

have you on to start. Of course, Sean, my Co host.

If you haven't checked this out yet on Blood Horse Monday, we'd

love to have you as part of that programming as well.

And today, by the way, we are presented by Stockton Mortgage,

our friends over there based here in Frankfort, KY, but found

all up and down this middle part of the country.

So make sure you go check them out as rates start to drop.

Or hey, we're coming up on summer, which is the big house

bike season. I'll be Sean in a couple years

here, I'm sure of it. But but Sean, you know, just

coming into Derby season here, you've now been to a set of

preps. I mean, so you've been at

Gulfstream at at Arkansas, you know, in Oak Lawn, you've been

to 1 down there in Fairgrounds. You've now been out to to the

San Felipe and California, Virginia Derby, Virginia Derby.

Is there a couple of performances, maybe a

performance for sure, that stands out amongst them?

Well, right right now I I really liked Incredibles win last

weekend. He was a horse that I liked in

the 2 year old season at Churchill Downs in the.

Well, throw in the street sense, yeah.

And I know the, you know, the Holy Bowl kind of took a lot of

people off of him. I'm just happy to see him bounce

back so strongly last week in the Virginia Derby.

I don't know, he ended up beating in the Virginia Derby,

but it didn't matter the way that he won.

He kind of, he showed more maturity in being able to sit

between horses, kind of bounce between horses a little bit, sit

closer to the pace, explode with that run and just put 4 lengths

on the field fairly easily. So I liked that nearly really

impressed me in the Holy Bowl when I was down there, the way

that he drew off in the Holy Bowl Stakes.

I unfortunately the one horse that I've not gotten the chance

to see run live and probably won't get to before the Derby's

palleted of all horses. So unfortunately I haven't been

able to put my eyes on him. He obviously is.

I think should be considered the top of the class.

Why is that? So I wanted to ask you about

that. We're we're here, there's going

to be 100 point race here. There's going to be 1 in New

Orleans today and we're at this point of the Derby prep season

and we're leaning on a horse that all of a sudden, oh, he

look green, but oh, he look like this.

Oh, he look like this. And we've got him at the top of

the stepping. Now I know part of that is you

got a Tetonoffee off of the Derby trail, that kind of thing.

So I know that part of this is just the nature of the Derby

trail this year. But can you remember a year

where we've been leaning so hard on potential in March?

No, I I mean. I'm not mad at it, by the way.

Yeah. Well, The thing is we're leaning

on potential. We're expecting him to be able

to get a mile and a quarter. We're expecting him to figure

out all the greenness by the 1st Saturday in May.

But he's winning without having that.

And. He's been and he's been winning

impressively. You know, now his last race in

the Risen Star. I've commented many times in our

Blood Horse Monday show that I, I don't think the Louisiana

bunch is the strongest, but he went down there and he handled

them. I think we'll get a real test in

the Bluegrass. I think the Bluegrass is shaping

up to be one of the better prep races, especially for this final

round. So I think he's going to get a

real test in there as we look forward to the Derby.

I personally, I just had that gut feeling that he's going to

be the horse that everybody's kind of pointing to and then

he's just going to run second or third.

He's not going to get the job done.

So I'm looking elsewhere when you're looking at the Derby.

But I think he has earned the right to be the top of the

class. But for me, incredible nearly.

And I've also really liked Silent Tactics late, late

running down at Oak Lawn as well.

So I really those are kind of my 3.

Right, you see them both in person.

You talk about late running stuff, that was something that

went away in the Derby for a while.

It was a lot better off, you know, if you are bad for trainee

to be in the front of the pack or to be near the front of the

pack frankly, for many of these horses in those.

Top three spots. Yeah, be, you know, it's

certainly in the last, you know, 50-60 derbies being in the first

or second spot by the time you get to that 16th pole is a huge

difference maker for sure. But you know, you talk about a

silent tactic. We were out at the San Felipe.

You saw patente in person. Between those two, which one has

more of a late kick? I think of a patente or like a

grinder gets to the mile and a quarter where silent tactic a

much more swift, you know turn to flirt later on I think.

Silent tactics got the bigger rush, so when he when he really

kind of locks in and he goes, I think he's got the bigger kick.

But Potente a lot of times, especially when you're looking

at the Derby, it is that grinding closer that kind of is

the more successful. And you think about sovereignty

last year probably just kind of grinded through through the

field. I think Poncete runs more like

sovereignty than than a, than a into the Sierra Leone type or

something like that. Yeah, yeah.

Style tactic. Remind you that running style of

a Sierra Leone. I know, probably not as

powerful, but I don't know. Not at this point, is I?

Did like in the in the Rebel Stakes last time, I did like how

he kind of had to wait a while and then he still kind of came

with the kick. I do think having to wait

ultimately cost him the race because I do think as you see

them getting the track ready for the Ruby behind us here, you can

tell that we're here right now. Go by.

Oh man. By the way, this is going to be

kind of our desk for the day. So if you're headed out to

Turfway Park today, we're right next to the winner's circle

here. We'll kind of be hanging out

throughout the day. But I, I did like, I do think

that that kind of having to wait kind of cost him because it

didn't allow him to get his momentum.

Well, I think if he had the full momentum, he would have been

able to kind of cruise past class president rather than, you

know, kind of coming up to class president at the same time he

was getting going. But I do think he's got a bigger

turn of foot so that then when you're looking at potente.

So I do think that. Of the horses that haven't say

won a Derby prep or haven't won a high level Derby prep, Chief

Wallaby, the name that comes up a lot at this point, I'm very

much thinking very highly of that horses at this point on the

trail. You know, something you said

earlier I think is really interesting is, is, is guys who

study the Derby trying to get ready for it and in different

ways. You're just a fan of the Derby

and so you want to know all the trends, all those kinds of

things. I want to know from the betting

perspective, where do the best contenders come out of?

Part of the reason that picks off Last year he came out of

Florida Derby and horses recently coming out of

Gulfstream Park have been very successful in the Kentucky

Derby. The Bluegrass is not like that,

not historically. Certainly many winners of the

Bluegrass went on to win the Kentucky Derby, but in recent

years, certainly since 2000 or something, it is not a spot that

you want to go. Are you surprised that it has

become a spot for Chad Brown, Those different kind of

connections? Obviously we saw Sierra Leone

and look, if the world's slightly different, he wins the

Kentucky Derby. So it isn't as though the

Bluegrass was the reason he ran second in that race, but rather

are you surprised that people are going that route or is it

more just say proximity, there's a million bucks in the

Bluegrass, etcetera. Well, there's a million bucks

and there's the Grade 1. You look at a horse like

Paladin, who's owned by Coolmore, you know, so many

things can happen in the Derby, but if you can go ahead and

knock the Grade one off already in the Bluegrass, that's a big

poll and it was Florida Derby does the same.

So I think that has a big poll. The fact that you get the grade

one win and that doesn't really matter what I mean, obviously

you want to win the Kentucky Derby, but from a breeding

perspective, you already have the grade one under your belt

after you, after the bluegrass. I just think the bluegrass

trends going to end soon because there were a couple years, I

think during the time when it was synthetic where people

stayed away from it. And now that it's back to dirt

and had lost the grade one status for a little bit.

Now it's got the grade one status back.

And you're starting to see where you know, kind of the the Chad

Brown, his top horse is pointing for that race.

Brad Cox, usually one of his top horses is pointing there.

Todd Pletcher's got one of his top horses pointing there.

The bluegrass trend is going to end soon.

We're going to start seeing that race start pumping out success

in the next couple years. I think you heard it.

Here first from Sean Collins, we're putting you on notice.

Wood Memorial get better. All right.

So see what happens when that goes to Belmont, I guess.

I don't know. Hey, man.

I, I, I think the wood memorial is much more of a matter of time

kind of thing than anything. Yes, I think it's just a matter

of time kind of thing for sure. Just like the bluegrass is Sean

Collins. We were hanging out with you

live here at Turfway Park ahead of the Jeff Ruby Stakes, a 100

point prep for it. And I got to say, you know,

we've seen sort of a a a trend turn into something that I think

is more concrete now in the sport, Sean, as we move into

these preps, but also as we look at where turf purses are at this

time of year. The runners of the Jeff Ruby

Stakes are all except for one coming off of either turf or

synthetic. Yeah.

OK. So this is a year where I think

a lot more people are shooting at the Ruby as a $777,000 race

more than I'm trying to get in the Kentucky.

Now. I think if you qualify for the

Derby, you have that conversation with your

ownership, with your team to see if that's the best route for you

to go ahead and do that. But in my mind, this year we see

horses out of races like the Malibu coming out of different

places. Now.

Last year we had a second place finisher come off the turf out

of an allowance at Fairgrounds, that kind of thing.

So it isn't as though you can't go ahead and do that.

And then we saw the winner of this race last year run pretty

damn good Kentucky Derby. So I mean, we're starting to see

that trend as well. But that purse here, the purses

at Kentucky Downs, we're starting to see on opposite ends

of the calendar in Kentucky, March and then August,

September, People have to shoot for this.

And if you've got a three-year old who's ready to go this time

of year, that happens to me at Turf Force.

It's worth it to try to take a shot.

That's what Michael McCarthy's telling us.

That's what you know, those connections from out West that

are shipping for this race. Kazushi Kamara is going to be

here today, for example, instead of riding out of stakes day in

California, they got pair of stakes out there at Sanity Park.

But he's here today. Yeah, he's here today.

And I think we saw when the first, the first couple years

years where this race was worth 100 points toward the Kentucky

Derby, I think people were looking at it just strictly as

that. So we were getting horses that,

you know, you think of two fills.

Obviously Rich Strike came out of this race.

I don't know if he was really on anybody's radar going into this

race or not, but you think about a horse like 2 Fills who had had

success on the Derby trail and they were kind of viewing this

as let's get it. Let's get a race of the timing

that we properly want and maybe we'll be considered an easier

spot in order to get us into the Kentucky Derby.

And it worked out. And he ran second, almost won

the Kentucky Derby, now the last top.

Pick of that race actually, I felt really strongly about him

going to the Derby and. Now the last couple years we've

seen where I think now as you mentioned, the purse is kind of

taking over here and this is starting to become a a top spot

for the turf horses. Now.

We still had the top 2 finishers of the race the last couple of

years end up in the Kentucky Derby because obviously the

point. The Wood Memorial last year.

Yeah, right. I mean, that kind of thing,

you're totally right. But.

Like, you know, obviously the points are maybe going to sway

you after the fact, after you get them.

But I mean, if you have a turf force right now, why would you

not be looking at the $777,000 purse and thinking, you know,

maybe I can get the winning share of that?

Yeah, I can get the grade three. I get the winning share of that.

I then have six weeks until the American turf if you decide not

to go in the Derby, and that's a Grade 1.

So you have that coming up and you don't necessarily have to go

up against the top turf forces in the three-year old division

right now running in the transit because a lot of those top grass

horses are pointing for that race.

So you're getting the large sum of money.

You don't have to go up against the top turf forces and then

you're getting yourself prepared for the American turf.

Or if you would decide you end up wanting to try the dirt, you

have a free spot in the Kentucky Derby if you run well.

And so you're looking at where we've got that in this year.

As you mentioned, all but one of the 12 horses is coming out of

the synthetic or turf race, and you're getting horses like Turf

Star, who was in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf last year.

You have Stark Contrast, who was second in that race, Argos, a

Grade 1 winner on the turf last year.

You're getting those kind of horses that are pointing for

this race. They're thinking they're going

to run well on the synthetic because of their turf

background, and this could potentially set them up down the

line. You come out here and you get a

nice purse. As you mentioned, the runner up

of the Pasadena Stakes is in this race coming in from

California to come participate in this.

So yeah, that I think that we're going to start seeing that trend

over the next couple years where we'll see what it ends up doing

in terms of producing Kentucky Derby horses.

But this really is a key spot if you have a a turf horse that you

want to get a large first money, get that graded win and kind of

set yourself up for some of these springtime races.

We just got the news this week. Bob Baffert will have a sizable

string at Churchill Downs this year.

Michael McCarthy, Peter Urton. We're seeing those names in

Kentucky almost as an outpost for those guys to collect some

of that first money for their base there in California.

And if you're a good. Air Force here, man.

You're still. Going to have all those graded

opportunities in Santa Anita this summer.

Once you get to Del Mar, you're still going to have those as

well. And high level stuff too, right?

I mean, these are horses that are going to be able to go back

to California running grade twos, running grade ones, get in

those big days like Pacific Classic days eventually.

And if they want to guess what's around Kentucky Downs, you can

come right back to Kentucky and chase those purses as well.

Anyone that you're looking at in particular that you're

fascinated by? You mentioned one that I'm

fascinated by and that is stark contrast is the favorite in

here. I was surprised to see that

horse the favorite. But damn it, that horse we're

hit with Gestad in the in the Breeders cup.

I mean, why would that horse not be favored here?

I know. I, I really like this horse.

I liked him a lot going into the into the Breeders cup and I'm

not surprised that he ran as well as he did.

I know the connections of the horses exercise rider was

telling me they they're really high on this horse.

We saw the connections do the exact same thing with Endlessly

a few years ago. Endlessly back on the car today

as well, Kentucky Cup classic later and so I I do really like

this horse. It'll be interesting to see if

he can take the synthetic. He did debut on the dirt and ran

forth there, so and then after that you saw him really kind of

start to catch fire on the turf. So I do really like him and I

mean, full effort has been grabbing my attention every

single one of these turfway. You know, he likes the course,

he's getting the extra distance. Brad Cox told us on Blood Horse

Monday a few weeks ago that he does think the bet the longer

the better for him. I don't know how quick the pace

is going to be here, but I think he's shown in the last two races

it doesn't really need to be quick.

He's going to come regardless and so I really want to see if

he can maybe get the job done today.

Very difficult to figure out pace wise.

Yeah, just on the bourbon net outside as well.

It's very difficult at this point to determine who's going

to try to go and all that. But I'm hopeful with the

infusion of this California turf, sort of, you know, runners

in here, we might have some speed up front.

We might, it might actually open it up where we get kind of a a

mix of of horses on the front and then those that are closing

later on. And I do absolutely expect that

because look, if you're coming out of the Pasadena.

Yeah. A mile turf race in California,

you're running Buck 34. I mean, like you're, you're

moving right? And so, yes, it's going to

slowdown here just based on the surface, it's going to slow the

horses down sort of in general. But Sean, I I mean, if they're

not in the 20 threes in the in the first quarter, I mean,

anybody can win that race, yeah. Anybody can.

I'm also interested to see Chaos Agent coming out second start.

He's coming off a debut win at Gulfstream on the Tepita.

So we know he can do this around 2 turns going a mile on the

16th. And obviously, I mean the

connections pin Oak Stud just had a big week last week with

Incredible and so they could maybe get another one here,

sneak them into the Derby. He's one of those ones where

obviously he doesn't. He hasn't shown anything on turf

with Independence Hall as a sire and into mischief on the damn

side. He's probably one of the ones

that, if he runs well, I would feel feel the best about going

into the Kentucky. To be in this race so.

I am very interested to see how he runs in here and I want to

give a shout out to our boy Baytown Dreamer.

Let's go. I said this on on Blood Horse

Monday after the Battaglia. I feel like he's going to be

that horse that sneaks into the Derby somehow.

He'll run like a nice fourth here.

He'll come back in Saratoga, Yeah, he'll he'll come back in

like 2 weeks and run like third or something in the Bluegrass

somehow and end up sneaking in on points.

So expecting a nice run from him.

I don't think he's going to win, but to ride that.

One. Why not?

Let's go. All right, man.

Well, I'm gonna let you go, all right.

What should people look for? A blood horse today, Now.

We're going to have lots of coverage from not just here at

Turfway Park today on bloodhorse.com.

We're also going to have coverage from the fairgrounds as

well. Louisiana Derby.

It's going to be a big day of prep action, so you can catch a

lot of our coverage on that here.

A lot of the follow up in the next couple days.

You can catch us on Blood Horse Monday.

We'll talk to the winning connections of one of the two

races on on Monday as well. It's starting to get in the

Derby time. I myself am about to go into

Churchill Downs lockdown mode once these horses start shipping

over there. So follow me on BH under score S

Collins on Twitter to see videos of the horses as we're getting

close to the Derby. Also a Pharaoh 12 on.

YouTube. That's going to be your best.

All the races from here today, yeah.

You're going to see all the races from here today.

That's going to be your best as well for a lot of this Derby

training, especially as we get within that two week time

period. So make sure you check that.

My wife did the thing the other day.

She said, oh, it's Selection Sunday.

OK, I'll see you in June. Yep.

Like she literally, Like, literally she's like, oh,

basketball Derby. There it is.

All right, Louie's gone forever. There it is today.

Was 1 today was one of the last days where my alarm was not set

for 4:30 in the morning For the next couple couple weeks here so

until I want to be. Really clear about something.

Sean and I share that not because we're complaining or

something. This is our time of year, yeah.

This is our this is our best time of year.

This is the good stuff I. Get into a mindset that I never

reached the entire rest of the You put the Derby horses in

front of me, I'm ready to go some.

Of us have Lent leading into Easter, you have Lent leading

into Derby. Yes, get up early.

April April is the best of the year because it's leading into

the Kentucky Derby and then in recent years I've extended that

on an extra 2 weeks up until the Preakness.

So good stuff for sure. All right.

Yeah, at least I'll call it Catch This Blood Horse Monday,

just a couple days from now. I appreciate him hanging out

with us. I'm going to bring in Berry.

Is that OK? Yes, it is.

That's a good replace. Yes man, I'm I'm OK with that

replacement. We'll let him handicap.

You can do that in the whatever this time filling thing that we

do every Monday on both. All right, appreciate it.

There you go, Josh all college joining us here.

I'll blood horse Monday. I'll slide over one chair here

at Turfway Park and get presented by Stockton mortgage.

This is the horse racing happy hour.

Lou Rambo hanging out with you trackside at Turfway Park.

I have been to every Ruby stakes.

I was thinking about this man since the mid teens and I was

even here in 2020. It was us and and one guy from

TBG man which trying to hold it down here.

But let's bring in Barry Spears as we roll along on the live pro

part of the program here. Barry, welcome in to Turfway

Park. Brother, how are you?

Hey, what's up man? Is that your tropical outfit?

It is my. Tropical outfit.

It's already in the 50s here, which feels like 103.

It's fantastic. So yes, there you are.

That's what I need. We're having fun.

No, it's good I got to get this off though.

This is that credentials going to smack me in the face and

that's only funny to everyone that isn't me.

So we're not going to do that. Barry Spears, my Co host on

Socal Saturdays here on the platform every single Friday at

2:00. So he is back today doing some

extra work. Barry will be up for the Derby

this year. We'll do a seminar Tuesday night

of Derby week ahead of the Derby with our friends at Blind

Squirrel Restaurant. So get on over there for that.

Guess how much it cost Barry? So.

Come on over free.com. That's exactly right.

So come on over. Hang out with us for that one.

I'll buy dinner, I'll buy the drinks.

Come on, hang out with me and Barry for a Derby seminar there

at Blind Squirrel. But Barry, the synthetic thing

up here at Turfway Park, when you look at these races, sort of

just generally speaking, are you looking more for turf horses?

Are you looking for previous form?

Are you looking for breeding? What is Barry Spears generally

looking for? You know, it, it's really tough

when you have horses that have never run on synthetic run on it

for the first time that have some form.

And, and especially the ones that are actually running well

because you, you know, it's kind of like a crapshoot.

You don't really know what you're going to get until they

actually run on it. And I, I would say and, and my

advice to the betters in that kind of situation is just get

your price because you don't want to.

Get on a horse who's never run on synthetic at a short price

with the unknown. So try to get your price on any

kind of horse like that today, yeah.

Especially on a day of quality like this one, Barry, where

you're going to have horses that do have experience over this

surface and certainly success over this surface as well.

Something we'll get into is a little bit of talk about how the

weather might change things around here.

Many of the horses that had previous success here, Barry ran

on this course when it was like 35° out.

It's going to be more than double that today.

It so should be interesting to watch some of the friends in the

earlier races to see if speed is holding up or if in fact closers

are coming. So, Barry, let's go ahead.

We'll get started here with this.

Look at you being a gentleman. Sean Collins.

What a guy. With the race 7, it is the

Latonia that we get a big old favorite in here.

Barry on the rail with literate. Is it worth trying to beat her?

And I think if you are, you would look to 5A side who will

break from the seven here. Has had some success here as

well at the optional claiming level.

Was really good last time out in a time that could win this race

under Gerardo Corrales. Who keeps them out here.

Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of not a big believer in literate, honestly,

I don't like the rail draws you, you hear me say all the time.

And and I just can't believe that this horse just turned into

something that I don't think they are I I I do believe they

got some perfect trips in the last couple races, but stylish

Sue the two horse is very interesting here, coming off a

really poor effort in the Wintergreen.

But this horse is going to have a really big pace advantage and

I think they're going to be able to to get the trip they want.

It's just a matter of them finishing this race off getting

Irad is definitely A+ here and the other horse that I think

might have a shot might be the five warming.

I think this horse is coming in the right way at that one race

at Gulfstream on the synthetic and that was good enough to ship

up here for this race. And you know, Graham Ocean does

pretty good with his synthetic runners and Johnny V you know,

he's one of the best in the biz. So corner shot.

You know, he he really will have to get this horse in the race

because I don't think that this pace is going to be all that

quick and, and Warming's got to get good position early.

What do you make of a horse like Devaza?

What do you, what do you do with a horse like that?

If you are not buying into illiterate, is this a horse in

your mind? Then that could turn it right

back around and go ahead and be in this one.

I mean, Literate handled this horse twice fairly easily.

So I I would think that this horse might have a shot

underneath because, you know, literate is definitely a

formative foe in this in this spot.

I just don't think the pace scenario is well here for either

of those two horses, honestly. Got it all right, well, let's

move on Barry looking at the pick 6 by the way, pick 6 all

stakes pick 6 the 20 cent minimum here Barry, if you're

more likely to play a bet, which one do you think you would look

at that Bayou bluegrass pick five with a dollar base there

three races at fairgrounds 2 up here at Turfway Park or the 20

cent pick six up here I'm I'm going to be relaxed.

I think I'm playing the pick 6 here today Yeah the the. $1.00,

you know, between 2 tracks, Pick 6 is very, very difficult.

I know it, it's two pick threes kind of put together, but it,

it's a, certainly a hard bet. If you can go after it, do it.

You know, I, I would recommend it if you have two singles to,

to really have at it, but if not, you know, kind of take your

time with that one. Race 8 up here at Turfway Park

with Barry Spears. I'm Blue Ribohorse Racing Happy

Hour presented by Stockton Mortgage today presenting our

Road to the Kentucky Derby series in two weeks.

We will be at Keeneland as part of this series for the

Bluegrass. You'll see Barry live in person

for that one. Excited to have Barry up for our

trip to Keeneland in just a few weeks with the rush away.

We'll be race 8 today, a mile and 116th on the synthetic here.

And this is for three-year olds Barry and I have in my notes

here. Boy oh boy is this the undercard

of undercard races. This is a tough one in fear,

Barry. I'm not by the way.

I'm not picking on anyone. If you have a horse that's just

a level below the Ruby, of course you should run on this

thing. There's, you know, 250K in the

in the in the Kitty and there's no reason not to find out if

your horse wants to go the two turns at this point.

Maybe point to a Derby during the summer or something like

that. Where'd you land in this one,

man? I thought a really tough field.

Yeah, this is a tough race, but there's a horse in here I like

quite a bit and it's the number 2 trendsetter.

This horse started off the career with two wins at Colonial

and Restricted Company. Got out of that race and and ran

at Kentucky Downs and they were wide the whole way.

Drew the 10 hole and just never got a shot at it.

Then went over to Keeneland, lost to Schwarzenegger, who was

really, really the horse, the buzz horse over there at that

time. Came off the bench January 3rd

and ran a really, really good race in that Turfway Preview and

then got a less than ideal trip at Laurel.

And I think this horse is sitting on a good race getting

back to the inside again in in a really, really favorable post

position. I think they're sitting on a

really good race, 6 to 1, probably get most of that, and

that's the horse I'm kind of leaning on here.

I decided to go the luminary route here.

We're bringing in Tony Kalo for this thing.

I'm up as my computer decides to uninstall the virus protection.

I was just coming down to say hello.

I didn't know I was going on air.

Come on now. You have a jacket on.

Tony, we got to put you on air at these moments.

I got the other. Exactly.

Big day. Lots of prep, man.

How you feeling? I'm feeling good.

Good energy. Hopefully the loudspeaker, the

speaker system isn't too loud. Last year we had a major echo

effect, but we're ready for it. I've been doing it a long time.

This is fantastic day. Great weather, all that stuff.

Does clear weather help with the calls I imagine having?

I don't think it can hurt. OK.

Yeah. Well, good.

It's not like there's any snow in the infield at Finger Lakes

where you get a reflection at the seven eights.

I think we'll be all right. I think you'll be all right.

We'll have a bunch of great calls.

Brother Louie. Great to see you.

Good to see you, Tony. There you go.

Say hi to Barry Spear. Barry, my man.

The Urban Handicap. How about that?

Well, Popeye. I see it, Tony.

There you go. You attract all the celebrities,

you know you're the guy. Right now, I, you know, I texted

him. I said I know you're busy as

Bleep. And Tony's one of these guys,

you know, he, he's like me. Barry.

This is very funny actually. He is prep, prep, prep, prep,

prep, prep, prep so he can have fun when he does, when he's when

the, when the, you know, when the, when the lights turn on or

whatever the mic's on, whatever you want to call with him.

He wants to have fun and his calls reflect that.

They are fun, but they are super accurate.

And I, I, I think a lot of Tony Kalos.

That was really nice of him. And by the way, underrated on

the desk at Churchill Downs is the pick five player.

Holy moly, that guy, I know he's a horse player for sure.

That happens to call races. That's exactly right.

So Tred center right here. Kazushi making the trip, man, I

was saying to Sean earlier, it's interesting to see so many of

those California runners really trying to set up a shop here.

But boy, obviously Kazushi get the get the ride for Ben Cobrook

here. Yeah, yeah, I I think they stand

to have a really good shot in this race.

I also thought JJ Gray might be the, the kind of horse on the

rise after that one win at the Fairgrounds and then coming over

here for Mid Peak and the and the crew.

But beyond that, this, this race is, is just tough.

I, I think all these horses are very competitive.

I, I think a lot of these prices are going to be similar.

You know, I I would I would probably expect somewhere around

A5 to two favorite maybe. Yeah, no, that sounds about

right to me. 541 and 8 will be the favorites on the morning

line. Should be an interesting one

there. John Velasquez on Bull by the

horns on the outside. Tried the Fountain of Youth last

time for Sappy. Joseph.

Will try the rush away today on the undercard here as part of

the program for Jeff Ruby today. Thanks again to Tony Kalo

popping by. Why not?

That's a man who looks good in a suit jacket.

I'll tell you what, I'm very jealous of that.

I don't have a I'll have the shoulders for it, Barry.

That's how it goes. Ruben on the Race 9, though,

here at Turfway Park. Thanks for hanging out with us.

He is Barry Spears. I am Louis Rabo, so, so happy to

have you alongside. And Barry, how about that?

Decided to go ahead and put that one on the top for me on the

screen, even though that's never been done on this show Stream

yard. That's something we definitely

want. Is my face getting cut off by

Race 9, which is the Animal Kingdom Barry It's already been

15 years since Animal Kingdom's Derby.

How old do you feel in this moment?

Barry, Absolutely. Unbelievably old.

That was yesterday, I swear. To God, yeah, alright.

I heard grand motion this morning, get a different,

different interview with Mike Petta and it was great.

And they were going back and forth on that horse and just the

the Derby man. I mean, the Animal Kingdom is

just one of those stories that'll stand out forever.

It's a six furlong synthetic Sprint. 4 three-year olds here,

quarter million bucks on the line.

Here's Barry. Joel Rosario's aboard

longshoremen here coming out of the attorney.

But we do have a couple of horses coming out of other

stakes, including outfielder who makes a return here for John

Velasquez, obviously out of the Wesley Ward barn.

What do we make of an outfielder off the layoff here?

It's going to be tough. I mean, this horse is going to

probably have to do something they they really don't want to

do is just kind of come off the pace if they're going to try to

win this race because there's a ton of speed in here and horses

that can get good position early.

So I I just don't like the draw. I think they're between a lot of

the speed and I'm not sure if they're the speed of the speed.

And that could be a real problem for a horse like outfielder.

The eight horse who drew well hometown bound looks really

good. Those two races that this horse

ran we're we're a lot better than even what I think the the

buyer numbers actually say. And this horse should probably

get a really good trip. They they've proven they could

pass horses a little bit and they should get a really good

stocking trip from the outside. The same thing for the four

Archimedes. I think this horse is looking.

I like this horse. I do.

Too let me ask you about. Hometown about real quick Barry.

So one of the things I wanted to get into one minute discussion

about here is 75° today. It was 35° when hometown bound

won the preview that was front running.

When it gets cold here, you want to be on the lead.

Do you care about that or is this just a six furlong Sprint?

Go get the lead and go figure it out.

I I really. Don't think they're going to

want the lead here. I I think they're going to try

to be patient because this horse is naturally quick.

You can see in both of those races this horse broke on top

and and that makes a lot of difference.

When you break well and you get good position, you can kind of

be anywhere and and I think hometown bound they're they're

going to try to break well. If they end up on lead, fine.

If not, that's OK too. People are.

Starting to stream in here. Gates open at Turfway Park at

11:30, which means people are running in to grab their picnic

tables. That's why I got here early,

Barry. I wanted a picnic table.

It's Jeff Ruby Day up here. I totally agree with you, by the

way, about our committees. I think he comes in.

This is a fascinating one. We watched the 2nd place

finisher in the Ruby come out of a race at the fairgrounds last

year off the turf there. I'm going to have our committees

on top of this race, Barry. Yeah, I, I don't.

Blame you. I think this horse stands to run

a really big race from Maker switching to irad, who you know

does really good work for this barn when he does get on horses

for them. The new acquisition from Mike

makers, another thing that he excels with and he does very,

very well with his synthetic runners.

I I think they pinpointed a good race for this horse.

Class wise, this horse fits very, very well.

I'm expecting good showing I I want to get that 8 to 1 but I'm

not sure we will get it. Don't think we will.

No, that's exactly. Right, that's right.

I'm expecting 5 to 1, nine to two, that kind of number, Barry

and I'll be, I'll be OK at 9:00 to 2:00 for sure.

I think 5 to 1's a very fair price on Archimedes in the

Animal Kingdom, he's Barry Spears.

I'm Lou Revo. Of course, this is the Horse

Racing Happy hour, the second of our third Derby preps together

live at the tracks. We're out at the San Felipe.

We're here today at the Jeff Ruby Stakes.

We'll be live in Keeneland in two weeks for the Bluegrass as

well, the Grade 1 Bluegrass. We'll drag Barry up there.

He'll put on his nicest Hawaiian.

Shirt What do you wear to Keeneland?

What have you thought about that?

Is that something that Barry Spears has to worry about is

what you're going to wear to Keeneland?

Yeah, it's it's actually a. Big thing.

I mean, I, I always overpack anyway, but you know, I have to

have options. You know, I'm a guy who needs

options now you're exactly right.

He's a he's a big. He's a big suitcase guy.

Race 10 there at Turpway Park going through the pick six with

Barry Spears, I believe, about horse racing Happy hour.

It's the 26th running of the Kentucky Cup Classic, one of the

two graded stakes on the card, the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup

Classic. And I got to say, Barry, you

know, we talk a lot in horse racing about, you know, for a

couple of years old man, the best 3 year olds were running

off to the breeding shed. We weren't having a good

handicap division anymore, that kind of thing.

We kind of had to hold on to those, those turf runners that

held around for four or five, six years in their running

careers. But boy, this might be an

edition of an older dirt kind of race.

But also, you know, because of what this race is.

Barry, $300,000 per sheet. Get the Grade 3 attached to it

feels like the kind of race that people are going to be pointing

to for a while. I really like the field in here.

Who'd you land on? Well.

I thought the outside horses, Wadsworth and Mercanti, you

know, are deserved to probably be favorites in this spot.

But this race can go a lot of different ways, and I'm going to

talk up a horse that I completely slander a lot in

endlessly. Yeah, there it is.

This horse is actually I I think if.

This horse is going to run good. It's going to be today.

You know this this horse ran behind Cabo Spirit and Mendego,

who were kind of loose on the lead leaders in those two races

out West the last two races this horse had.

So if they get any kind of pace to run into that backs up, I

think endlessly is going to come running with Kazushi Kimura at,

at a pretty decent price. I, I, I think we'll get most of

that 12 to one because the source hasn't really won in a

while. And, and I think this field is,

is a field they can handle because if you kind of separate

horses like Anna Marie, who I I think just needs a, an ultimate

setup and you eliminate that one and a few others, There's only a

few horses that that can actually win this race.

And Endlessly is definitely one of them and probably will be the

best price out of all of those horses.

Another horse. That's one.

On synthetic in here is Utah Beach.

Best off Chamino gets the ride for Brendan Walsh.

What do you make of the two horses here?

Has a huge shot. Because of the fact that they're

going to lay close to this pace, you know, I'm afraid that this

pace might get a little slow because there's not going to be

too many going out there. I think the two outside horses

might set up shop and, and, and let Tickle Quist and Willie D's

kind of fight it out up front. And that that's where Utah Beach

can slide into a really nice trip behind those two.

Just have to find room at the top of the stretch and I think

they're going to make a good run of the local runners.

Here Barry do you like either of them tap it shoes obviously has

been running here for a little while tickled Quist as well.

I think I would lean on tickled quist just based on the

back-to-back wins here speed figures aren't going to

overwhelm Barry but I I mean two O 6 is a little slow for a mile

and a quarter is that is it just too slow for this group yeah

yeah they they'll. Be out there.

They'll probably have the lead at a certain point during this

race, but I think typical Quest and Willie D's are just a cut

below these horses and more or less cheap speed and and I think

they're going to use that to their advantage.

Moving on, talking to. Pick 6 here at Turfway Park

today with Barry Spears, my Co host on the horse racing happy

hour. Catch us two weeks from today.

Similar time over at Keeneland for the Bluegrass.

But today of course we're talking Ruby and of course we're

talking bourbon. Net Oaks race 11 today on the

card win and in for the Kentucky Oaks Barry and this is this is

an interesting feeder to the Kentucky Oaks hasn't had a ton

of success yet, unlike the the Jeff Ruby sticks leading into

the Kentucky Derby peppering the board frankly in the last five

years with those runners. But we get to see a fair number

of horses in this race, Barry, that we have seen in California

races, La Ville Lumiere, certainly amongst them as well,

a Breeders' Cup, Juvenile, Philly Turf alumni, alumni and

as well in here, you know, a horse like like scratch it

coming out of Saratoga. We get, you know, a resplendence

on the inside that's been running here as well.

Where'd you land on the Bourbon Head Oaks?

You know it's. One of those rare occasions

where you see a horse get back-to-back good setups and and

I think Resplendence gets that. They kind of ran away with that

Cincinnati Trophy and I think that sets up the same kind of

way today and they should be winging it out there on the

lead. It's a just a matter of whether

they can finish this race off. But I also do like the two and

resist quite a bit as well. Got a really wide trip in that

same Cincinnati Trophy race. Gets a lot of post relief today.

A bullet on March 18th or March 13th for Tommy Drury and I think

this horse is sitting on a big race.

If we get 12 to one, I think that's the horse I'm going to

select. All right, I'm going to.

Make the the the case for the horse right next to her and

that's Barrow Peninsula, who's coming out of a Sprint but won a

mile race right before that here on the Tepita at Turfway Park. 2

for two lifetime. Barry, I want to be really

clear. A much lower level than what

we're looking at here. But you talk about horses that

have been closing in much shorter races than this one.

I wonder if the added distance for her in this spot actually

will be a good thing. 1 to 6 1/2 for a long race.

Last time that was blisteringly fast. 22 and 346 and 1, and I

wonder if we won't get that kind of pace up front.

I don't think we will. So in other words, I think this

horse actually be a lot closer to the pace today.

I would have bare a peninsula in a guy who knows this place

really well. And Luan Machado isn't 1 to

throw in your exactis and trifectas today.

Yeah, why not? I mean.

That that horse has as good a shot as any seems to be getting

better every race and Jeremiah Dwyer has been running a lot of

nice horses there and and getting some wins.

So I I wouldn't discount this horse at all, especially at a

huge price. Who do you make a?

Lovely Lumiere here coming in out of California, not great

last time in the Suite Life, but before that, of course, winner

of the Blue Northern. We saw her in the Breeders Cup

as well. Yeah, that horse is.

Probably better going longer and I think this this sort of trip

fits this horse, but I think the post really kills it.

Their running style doesn't isn't going to be conducive to

they're gonna have to kind of circle this field.

I know they've been keeping really, really good company.

So I expect to see this horse in the picture, you know, probably

around the top of the stretch, but we'll see.

I I just prefer the inside horses better.

They're going to get better trips.

All right, move on to the Ruby. Itself Jeff Ruby Stakes will be

race 12 today here at Turfway Park with Barry Spears.

I'm Lou Rambo. This is the horse racing happy

hour. As you can see, people are

starting to fill in here at Turfway Park ahead of the big

day here. 55th running in the Jeff Ruby Stakes, a grade three

$777,000 on the line here. You win this one, you get a

starting spot in the Kentucky Derby.

If you'd like to run that one, Barry, Let's go ahead and go

horse by horse for this one. Turf Star will break from the

inside. I think of the double digit

horses in here, Barry, this is the one that I've heard the most

positive things about. Grand Motion Suns.

This one. Yeah.

I I I kind. Of like this horse, but I think

this horse is going to get a lot of attention, a lot of buzz

because of the fact that they were, you know, kind of wide in

the British Cup juvenile turf and ran well before that, but

really hasn't sealed the deal getting blinkers today.

I, I'm, I'm not really enthused about that either.

So for me, Turf Star is probably a pass full.

Effort will break from the two good in the Battaglia just ran

out of time. We talked with trainer Brad Cox.

You heard Sean mentioned that earlier in the show about how he

felt about this horse. More distance the better.

Big chance here today Barry. Yeah, I like this horse.

Quite a. Bit they got a really wide trip

last time in the Battaglia and ran on well again.

A rider switch to Irad Ortiz kind of tells you all you need

to know about this horse. Probably loaded.

He did the same thing sort of with commandment at the

Gulfstream and I think full effort is going to give full

effort. Saint Elias and the Starlight

folks connected on that one. Not a surprise to see Irad Ortiz

flying up to CBG for that one. Baytown Dreamer, you heard Sean

mentioned him earlier. He just picks off little spots

here, man. Third in the Smarty Jones, 4th

of the Battaglia. Could he be in the Super factory

today? No, thank you.

OK, two out hero. Will break from the four

Corrales. You hear that name here?

Kevin Attard obviously trades a ton of them up on the synthetic

there at Woodbine Park. Excuse me.

This one was in the Battaglia last time.

Didn't run great, but that was on a cold day in February.

We get better weather here. We going to give this one

another chance. Yeah, I, I.

Would forgive that effort in the Battaglia I didn't get a good

start with why just didn't get a great trip gets post relief

today should be around it. I mean the the figures before

this have been pretty competitive minus that Battaglia

and and I think this horse could actually bounce back and run a

good race today. Black Hornet will break from

the. Five another horse that's

getting a fair amount of attention, but that's because of

a win last out in a black type there at Fairgrounds going the

mile and a 16th on the turf ferry.

I think with an absolute shot here for Brendan Walsh,

absolutely I I like. This horse quite a bit, those

two races, those two turf races, this source kind of turned it

around. Is is is a different horse and

it's something I like to see. Brendan Walsh does very well

with his synthetic runners, especially going from turf to

synthetic. Not that that matters all that

much, but I think this horse can be wherever they want this horse

to be. And that might be, you know,

that kind of versatility might be what it takes for this horse

to get in the winner's circle. But definitely has a huge shot

through the first five horses. And the Jeff Ruby Stakes, it's

the horse racing happy hour presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Barry Spears. Louis Rabo trackside here at

Turfway Park ahead of a big day. Mirko Demaro in town to ride

Medici. You and I follow this guy on our

SoCal Saturday series. And Barry, he's one that showed

up at Del Mar last year with the stated purpose of getting a

mount in the Breeders Cup. It was a rough start for him,

very clearly staying around North America at this point to

get a Derby starter. He's in town with Medici.

What do you make of Medici? You know this horse got.

Beat by Plutarch and Stark Contrast fairly easily and that

doesn't bode well in a race like this, especially with Stark

Contrast who's looming as a real menacing presence in this race.

So I I would defer to not use Medici anywhere honestly.

Maximus Prime ran a. Very good race in the job.

Metaglia just didn't have enough late kick to catch up with Great

One White in that spot. Is he a candidate to hit the

board again? You know he he could get.

Into, you know, tries and supers.

I think that's probably the ceiling for this horse, but as

as a consistent sort, this horse's numbers are just too

slow for this this kind of race. All right, the absolute.

Wild. Card in this thing, the 12:50

Chaos agent, second time starter here.

Started his career on the synthetic at Coldstream Park

going the mile on the 16th here. Josie Carroll deciding to ship

this one up and oh darn, only had to get you all started right

this one. What do we make of his chances

here? Goodness gracious, this one the.

The wild card and wild cards. Right exactly if you.

Think that that race was strong enough to prep this horse for

this race. Have at it.

Make sure you get your price like I was telling you earlier.

But this one is is up for grabs. I mean the horse is training

well. The horse ran well the first

time. Josie Carroll does very well

with synthetic runners. You know the the work at

Woodbine and all of that if you like this.

Horse. Fire away.

What's the? Fair price on that horse, yeah

12:50. The morning one, yeah. 30 to one

on Brave. Force Vassal Chamino's going to

ride that one for Jack Sisters and broke his maiden last out

here at Turfway Park. Like to step up here?

No, thank you. I largely agree with you.

Argos will. Break from the 10.

We do get Brad Cox and Luan Machado for this one.

What do we think of the other Cox?

This horse is interesting. Because I, I like this horse's

races at Woodbine last year and really haven't seen that horse

since we got to see it turn around, but six to one seems

awfully low for a horse like that.

I, I, I think this horse needs to really turn it around, but I

don't know. This is a really tough race.

This horse does definitely has the talent to do it, but haven't

seen this horse on synthetic so we don't know what we're going

to get. Here is a Grade 1 winner.

In the summer Stakes up there at Woodbine is very mentioned over

the miles, the mile turf course there, excuse me, which at the

time was a two turn mile. So we'll have to do that again

here at Turfway Park today. My favorite in this race is

stark contrast and Barry, my favorite.

I mean, it's the one who got me paid on Breeders' Cup Friday,

running second behind Gestat, but then immediately backed it

up with another spectacular performance in the Eddie Logan.

I'm not worried about a mile and an eighth here.

I love this move from Michael McCarthy to bring this one here.

Barry, this is my top pick and race.

Yeah, I can definitely. Understand why this sources run

good every time on the track, even against Butane in that on

the dirt they didn't they didn't embarrass themselves and came

out of that and started running lights out.

I think this source is going to be tough to beat in this spot.

The post position is a little bit of a concern, but this horse

overcame a lot in the Breeders cup juvenile.

I think this source learned a lot how to run and etcetera

because she should have this horse in the right spot.

I this horse is going to be really tough to beat in this

race. Everything you just said stop.

The car will break from the outside.

The only horse in the in the Ruby coming off of dirt in his

most recent race. Frankly, all of his races have

been on dirt to this point at Keeneland, Churchill and the

fairgrounds. He has two wins in three of

those races, first time in a maiden claimer, $150,000 maiden

claimer to be fair, and then in an option, an optional claimer

for $100,000 where he wasn't available for claim but then did

try the little cop Didn't work out there trying here.

Barry, what do we make of stop the car on the outside?

A lot of outside trips. I would say usually there's

there's maybe one or two horses that outrun their odds.

I think stop the car might be one of them.

OK, All right. OK.

Who do you have on top? Who's your?

Like top two or three in here my top.

Three would be full effort black Hornet and stark contrast.

I I would lean to put full effort on top just because the

price is going to be a slightly better.

All right. Well, Barry, appreciate.

You, man, have a great rest of the day.

All right, my man, You. Too don't get the sunburn.

What? What are you, what are you

suggesting, Barry? That I'm actually not wearing a

shirt. This is actually just my skin

color. Is that what you're suggesting,

Barry? It's like I it's kind of true.

I appreciate that at all, my man.

Well, they get they have shade. Here, you settled out.

I'll be all right. You know, I'm just looking out

for you, man. I'm just looking out for you.

You know, sunscreen. We had a rough time with no

chapstick out in Santa Anita. So Chapstick against Santa Anita

is real. That's real.

I was not going to fight. That's right, that was a real.

Thing for sure, all right. Barry, appreciate you, man.

Have a good rest of that, man. You too.

See you There you go, Barry Spears.

Appreciate him jumping on here on the horse Racing happy hour.

We're going to get out of here. Thanks for hanging out with us

trackside here at Turfway Park ahead of Jeff Ruby Stakes 55.

We'll be back in two weeks for a live program at Keeneland ahead

of the Bluegrass Stakes as well. We'll see where they set us up.

I'm guessing a dungeon somewhere at Keeneland.

You know, that's usually how it goes for the horse racing happy

hour when the green coats get a hold of us.

Rashawn Collins for Barry Spears.

I'm Leah. This has been another addition

to the horse racing happy hour. Thanks for hanging out with us

on the program. Back on this platform on

Thursday, back at ESPN Louisville on Monday, and

certainly Blood Horse Monday on Monday afternoon as well.

We'll talk to you then.