Los Alamitos Futurity | Josh Rodriguez

Well, foamy coffee, why not? You know, down in the Caribbean,

you're going to have some good coffee.

That's what it is. All right, Horse racing happy

hour, so Cal Saturdays hanging out with you.

No Berry this week. No problem.

We bring in our friend Josh Rodriguez from up there in

Chicago from the from the podcast.

Always appreciate when Josh can jump on the program.

That's a full 1 here. Alright, we'll get back at here.

All the program just takes jumping off buddy, how are you?

Hey, I'm I'm doing great. Any you know, always happy to to

hop on talk talk horses. So, you know, I thought this is

a fun card and I think we're going to have some fun going

over it. Yeah, we love these low sale

Saturdays seem to be frankly our most advantageous cards that we

pick on this show. This is South Cal Saturdays,

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wager.com. I know you've hung out with am

Wager for a little while too there Josh on your on your

program as well. Super nice folks, aren't they?

Yep. And actually one of the more

recent AD WS to come to Illinois.

So I think they came sometime in the last year or so.

So, yeah, so I was able to take advantage of that, that sign up

bonus not that long ago. So.

There you go. Yeah, man.

No, it a beautiful plat, beautiful platform too.

It just really is, especially if you are a laptop kind of player.

They've got a great app for you there.

But looking through the card here, Josh, we do have the

Futurity on Saturday. We saw Baffert pull off with his

other Baffert on the Starlet last weekend.

A set of Bafferts in this one. But I thought a fun field for

that one. Certainly we'll talk Derby trail

when we get there, but we'll open up with race one.

Do the same thing we always do with Barry here.

Guest goes first in this spot. So in race one, of course, A-125

claimer for non 2 lifers. So we're going 6 furlongs dirt

track only at Los Alamitos, $21,000 on the line here.

And this is 3 and up, Josh. Pretty straightforward

conditions here. Never won two races.

Who'd you land on in race one? Yeah, you know, I I think the

the number 4, the morning line favorite here, Dirty Words gets

Edgar Paeiros aboard, you know, broke its maiden last time out.

And you know, you kind of look at the speed figure seemed to be

a horse that kind of just started slowly but surely

improving. And then finally he was able to

breakthrough at Del Mar. You know, a horse looks looks

pretty tough. But you know, I think the the

second choice, the number one, no more Ding dongs also looks

good in this spot. And this is a horse that's kind

of got a little bit of dirty to form.

If you kind of look through it right, you got 1/3, a fourth, a

fourth, a 7th, a 7th. But when you go back to the, you

know, kind of June of this year, you see that low Sal race.

And that low Sal race looks to be pretty, pretty fast in this

spot. So maybe this is just a horse

that loves it at low Sal. It's got 2 pretty decent races

at low Sal and, you know, coming here at the daytime.

So so I like the one. No more Ding dongs like the four

dirty words here. Yeah, no more Dick Dongs almost

broke its maiden in state bread maiden special going at Los Algo

in the 6 1/2. Just didn't quite get there

under Joe Talambo, that's how long ago that was.

But Dickory, it's been in that higher level of the state breads

at Del Mar, as you point out. I do think the four in here,

Dirty words is the one to beat almost for sure.

I think there's a world in which that horse doesn't win.

Of course, we're talking about a 12/5 type of claimer, but man, I

love Edgar Palleris in this spot.

That's a guy who lives at Los Alaminos, works horses there,

rides at night and in the day I really trust him, especially in

sprints. So I think 4-7 and three for me

here. T and off will break from the

outside. Kazushi Kamura, who won the last

riding title at Los Alamitos, will get them out here.

Already has four wins and 12 mounts to start the meet and

this is essentially a class relief plays for me.

Josh out of that Steve Nap Barn, who is this is what he does. 370

starts just in the last year and a half in claiming races.

This is what Steve Naptis does. This is where he lives.

This is where he's best. He and Kazushi don't get

together too often, but last 17 races together have what, 1/4 of

those? So 4 for 17, their last

seventeen runs together. This is a cowbred, a son of stay

thirsty, a three-year old here. So I think they know that the 12

five tag gelding at this age probably pretty safe.

And so I think this is more let's go win the race than it is

a fire sale or anything like that.

So I'll go 4-7 and three in the first race to kick off that

early. Pick five at Los Alamitos.

This is the horse racing happy hour, so Cal Saturdays, every

single Friday here, presented by Amwager and amwager.com.

Go sign up with them today. We'll move on to Race 2 as we

move a log here, another claimer, excuse me, an allowance

here, a 6250 allowance. I love that they're carting this

race because you know why? Because we got a good nice field

of eight for it going 5 1/2 on the dirt there. 16,000 on the

line in this one, Josh, I will first hear a four race 2 and

landed on the 8 horse on the outside.

Speaking of eight horses, Edgar Pirez, there he is in another

Sprint, gets to be on the outside for this one, treated by

Sergio Morphine. The two of them unbelievable

numbers in the daytime, winning at 35% together.

Love this horse in the spot. Gets a little bit more distance

than that 1000 yard thing that we've seen.

I think this horse would be in really good shape if that had

happened in the last race. But boy, if we go back to when

Paers has been aboard this for horse, we get a first, a second,

a first and another second just this year.

And so this is a horse that I'm watching for.

Look has been a mixed company, but also obviously been a

thoroughbred company as well. I don't mind to step into this

kind of company here, especially since we're dealing with 60 to

50 type of level here, Josh. And so I'll try grazing sun on

the outside, the 8 horse on the top spot.

I'll then go to the 6th here afterward in distant fleet,

Bardella gets the ride here for Jose Valdez.

This is one that's also been running in mixed company, but

has been spending all of its time since being claimed out of

the Parabon barn at Los Alamitos.

And so this was one that ran in this condition before at the

allowance level, ran a good third, or, excuse me, ran 5th by

3 1/2 lengths under Carmona. But since then, at that 1000

yard kind of level has been really, really good.

Hasn't missed the board except that one run and fifth in the

last four runs. All of those at Los Alamitos.

Give me a horse for course in this case.

So I'll go 8/6 on top here. Josh, where'd you land on this

one? Yeah, You know, I the morning

line favorite the three, the big Chizola, you know, it looks to

be OK. This is this is kind of tough

should be the speed I think inside drawn in this race.

But now, like I said, you have some of these horses that have

been running in these mixed breed races at LaSalle, the the

thousand 1000 yard races. So I think that this horse is

going to be able to get out to get on the lead.

But you kind of look at that last race and, you know, wasn't

really able to to break cleanly and, you know, ended up and

they're just kind of off of it and never never interested in

that race. But we are coming kind we are.

You know, I think this might be a little bit easier spot with a

lot of these horses kind of taking the jump up.

So although the condition is pretty similar, you know, still

an allowance race. I I think that this is a bit of

class relief here for for the three.

So so I like the three in the spot.

I think he's going to be in with his friends in the spot and

going to be tough. But I think if you're looking

for a alternative, the seven wind ribbon is the other horse I

like in here. This is another horse that, you

know, has run at low Sal a number of times has been here

last, you know, last five races running in the night time and

those 1000 meter races. But I I think, you know, the

horse has been running fine in those races, but those low Sal

races during the day also look pretty good.

I think speed figure wise to kind of match up with the rest

of this field. You know, time forms got this

horse as kind of maybe your your late pace, best late pace, but

is a horse that's not going to be coming from all the way from

the back. I think this is going to be kind

of a mid pack type. And I think that, you know, if

this is the horse with with the best late kick coming from mid

pack at Los Al is a little bit easier to do than than you know,

coming from way, way in the back.

So I like the three, the big cheese hole and the seven wind

ribbon in here. $1.00 pick four starts here.

If you're not familiar with Los Alamitos, $1.00 minimum on both

on most bets. Excuse me, including trifectas

in pick threes. Those sorts of Rangers includes

the pick 4. How many would you include the

pick 4 here? Josh 2.

OK three and seven for Josh there.

I went 8-6 and three in race 2 here at Los Al on Saturday

because this is So Cal Saturday's on horse racing happy

hour presented by AM wager. Josh Rodriguez in for Barry

Spears this week. My name is Louis Rabo, thanks so

much for hanging out with us. Move on to race three.

Another claimer here is 16,000. We are going a mile.

That is the length of the course there at Los Alamitos, $25,000

on the line here for three and up.

No other conditions other than the claiming price here.

Josh. Odd numbered race means you get

to go 1st and you landed on the same horse side.

Yeah, I mean, I, I have two horses written down here and

they're the 2 outside horses. I, I think the eight please

focus is very, very interesting in here.

You know, this is a horse that's been running on the turf and

running very pretty well on the turf.

And I don't know what it is about low the low Sal track, but

for some reason I feel like the low salt track is much much more

forgiving the turf forces. No doubt.

Than other other dirt tracks, you know you see it all the time

at in the night at night time. If you ever if you ever watch

you know the the 1000 meter races or the four furlong races,

whatever they run at night, you see these turf sprinter show up

and just blaze and win those races pretty frequently.

So back in the day used to be Golden Gate shippers when used

to come in these Golden Gate turf shippers and come in and

win those races. But this is a horse that has run

here on the daytime track a couple of times.

Figures look fine. And you know, I I like that

there. You know, there's kind of a

quick turn around here. Last ran here last week.

But you know, maybe we just got a horse that's got a little bit

of a paid work there last time out and is going to come back

and and fire fresh. I think that yeah, I think the

eight please focus makes a ton of sense here.

And then the number 7 Mighty Kai is another one that I'm going to

include this. This is a horse that just I

think likes LaSalle. I mean, you kind of look, horses

kind of been perennial kind of hit the board type, you know,

cash a couple checks comes to LaSalle first time out, you

know, closes and wins by by an open length.

So yeah, I I think the seven mighty Kai here is is definitely

here with a shot. But the Eight Please folk is

definitely my top pick. Yeah, tough race in here because

I, I'm not, I'm not going to fight you on the 8th.

But George Lopez only has one win this year as a trainer,

right? I mean, this is, this is a tough

spot as far as trying to figure out who's going to do what here.

Now, to be fair, Armando Yuso has really gotten his feet

underneath him in Southern California. 17 rides so far at

this meet at Los Al four wins, 4 seconds.

And so he's over 50% in the top 2 spots.

And so I'm not going to fight you on a any horse piloted by

Armando Ayuso at this point. I also landed on the 7th and

Mighty Kai here and it's because of that last race what you

talked about. I think that there is enough

pace up front that this one's going to be able to run and do

all of his best running late again and and once in a while,

like like you've said, it's just a horse that likes the course.

And I think that he's one of those locile type of runners as

well. I went to the five horse in the

second spot here with Doo Wop Don, who I assume is named after

my grandfather, who's no longer with us.

Rest in peace. But no, but this is one that's

been running all over the place. But again, another one that at

the distance has six times in the trifecta out of seven runs.

And so this is one that just seems to be a bit of a

specialist at the distance. Last time was at the distance.

Was it A-125 claimer? That was at LaSalle and that was

a win. And so I'm looking for Jeff

Mullins, who again lives in the claiming ranks like some of

these other guys, 22% in the claiming ranks over his last 120

races. Seems to be a good fit for this

one and frankly, I think has the best work on the sheet of any of

the runners here. Not surprised to see that one in

at 5:00 to 2:00 on the morning line.

And then after, excuse me, we make sure I get the right number

here. Yes, there we go.

I went to the four horse after that.

Josh ran really well, just missed last out at Del Mar

before that was third behind Mighty Kai.

Actually in that previous race was resemblance has moved back

and forth between different levels.

Last one was at the 12 five kind of level.

So this is an ask to get up into this kind of level, but a four

year old gelded son of Nyquist should be able to get the kind

of trip, especially in a mile where the horse has been in the

trifecta 7 times in eight runs lifetime. 5 to 1.

I get Tyler Bay as a guy who has to win races at Los Altos is an

opportunity for him to get some decent checks and so I will land

in race 3 on the seven, five and four.

Again, if anyone's what Josh went seven and eight, I went 7-5

and four. I haven't looked, but I don't

think Josh and I are likely to have too many horses in the same

race on top, and so that is a good sign I think, for the 70 in

that one. Moving on to Race 4 here on the

card at Los Alamitos SoCal. Saturday's Rolling on presented

by Amwager. We're here on the horse racing

happy hour. Josh Rodriguez and Louis Rebeau

hanging out with you. A $20,000 claimer awaits here at

the start of the $2.00 Pick 6 as well. 5 1/2 on the dirt here in

race for $27,000 on the line. Josh Phillies and mares that are

three and up here. I'll go first in this one.

I'm going to eat a little bit of chalk here.

I'm going to go 1/3 and five. How lovely.

Will break from the inside you pointed out Very friendly to

turf courses is Los Alamitos. This is one that I think will

really enjoy getting back to that kind of run. 2 back in a

$50,000 starter allowance for non 3 lifers under Antonio Frasu

ran a very, very good second by a neck over six furlongs on the

turf at Santa Anita. I expect that form to show up

here for trainer Doug O'Neill, who who's best angle, and I

don't think it's close, is turf to dirt.

No question about it at 19%. He does it all the time.

He's not afraid to put his horses in spots.

Use Los Alamitos for claimers, whatever it might be.

And this is the horse coming off the best workout as well.

It was over the Tepita at Santa Anita should be able to transfer

right over to Los Alamitos. I went 1-3 and five, which means

Elton's Elton Sing Another is in the second spot for me, but I'll

move on. I'll talk about the five horse

and mania. This is one.

That last out was at Los Alamitos in the daytime just

seven days ago. So going 8-8 days off in this

case, I actually like that angle a lot.

Josh, If a horse, especially a sprinter, is ready to go and the

trainer just says, you know, we don't need another time to work

out, we don't need this kind of stuff, just get back out there,

we're ready to go. This one strikes me as being

ready for exactly that. Last out in a $60,000 claimer.

Ran a decent second, but before that was in a 6 1/2 for a long

race at Del Mar and did win against non 2 lifers as well.

So this is just one that's been in the conversation. 2 second

places at the distance as well. So give me one, three and five

here in Race 4 or Didn't want to talk about the three though,

because I know you have that one on top.

Yeah, the three is the only horse I'm gonna use in this

spot. And since being claimed from

Mark Glatt, this was a horse that seemed to start taking

steps forward, right? Took a step forward, took a step

forward and then the connections decided, hey, let's try turf.

And this is not a turf horse. And I mean, I think you could

look back on May 28th, May, May 10th at Santa Anita.

They also tried this horse on turf and you basically had the

same result, right? This is the I I don't think this

horse wants anything to do with turf.

This horse is 1 for one on at the track.

And you know, like I said, the, the 72 buyer last time is the

fastest dirt buyer I think we have in the field.

So you know, you, you are asking a lot of of the one to basically

be able to pair up that number from Santa Anita on the turf on

dirt. And so I, I'm going to take a

shot and just, I'm just going to single the three here, you know,

trying to try and save, save a couple bucks.

And especially if you're playing that pick four and you're

playing that, you know, $1.00 base, you got to make a decision

in some spots because a dollar base, it gets expensive quick.

Well, and it's a it's something I like about Los AL's.

It actually forces you to handicap can't just press that

all button whenever you feel like it, right, You really got

to you got to lean into these things because the all button

double S in price with the dollar minimum for sure.

That's exactly right. The interesting thing about

Elton Singh is another for me that I like in this kind of

spot, Josh, is that horse breaks well.

It's so often when you get into these claiming ranks, sometimes

it's just, oh, the horse breaks well once in a while, doesn't

break well another time, but this one seems to break well all

the time. And so again in Race 4, Josh

going to go ahead and try the try the three horse here as a

single. You'll see me using the odd

horses in here 1/3 and five in Race 5 there at Los or Race 4,

excuse me at Los Alamitos on a Saturday.

Race 5 is up next as we move through the card here on SoCal

Saturday's Lumierebo. Josh Rodriguez hanging out with

you presented by am wager am wager.com.

Go check them out for a new customer sign up bonus there.

Josh and I pretty similar in Race 5 here which is a maiden

$20,000 claimer for state bred horses there in California.

One mile on the one mile dirt course there at at Los Alamitos.

I thought a pretty tough race here.

Josh, where'd you land? Yeah, I, I, I, I mean the eight

what a gift is 7:00 to 5:00 in the morning line.

And if you kind of look seems to be the, the horse with the most

ability in this group, you know, they, they tried the five and a

half at Del Mar, ran fine, ran second, they tried turf and now

they're coming back here to they're coming back here to

dirt. But but they're, they're keeping

the route distance right. They're they're sticking with

the two turns. The horse did improve slightly

on that. So I, I would kind of expect

this horse to, to move forward from that.

So of the horses with starts, I think the 8 is, is the only one

I'm going to use, man. We're talking about two year

olds, we're talking California. I mean, like you got to, you got

to use the Mendez horse, right? Like, I, I mean, I mean, he's 15

to one in the morning line. I, I doubt, yeah, I doubt you're

getting 15 to 1 because they're going to see people are going to

see Luis Mendez. I I just don't think it's going

to happen. They got that bullet work last

time out. Yeah, I, I think, you know, if

you, if, if this horse is anything like anything else Luis

Mendez has, I mean, this horse is going to be, it's probably,

it might even be your second choice in here.

I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if this horse goes

off at 7:00 to 2:00, you know, 4 to 1.

I think this horse is taking a bunch of money.

But yeah, those are the only two I'm going to use here.

I'm going to use the 8 and I'm going to use the 9.

And honestly, like if we, if I'm seeing anywhere near 5 or 6 to 1

on this nine, I'm probably sending it.

So OK. All right, 15 to one on the

morning line here for Luis Mendez, who is very solid, 16%

in debuts and has won two of his last five debuting in claiming

company as well. I went 589 here.

I'm going to take a little bit of a shot here on lesser known

connections, including Rolando Quinones, who does not have a

win this year. It's time Rolando get it done at

Los Alamitos, Belmont up in this one.

Kevin Roscoe had to be out. The last two times out this was

one that's been running at the $50,000 level has been

competitive in those fields, but simply just run out of gas at

the end. I think any kind of rating with

this horse will serve it well and by the time we get to the

end, I think voucher will have something to say about the end

of this. So I went 589.

Josh, I totally agree with you on the outside horses.

What a gift seems to be the class here.

I like getting back to dirt for this one for sure.

I'm very interested in my favorite felon, not because all

of us have a favorite felon, but rather just that I this is a 2

year old set of Grayson Grayson. We've seen kind of a mixed bag

of what those horses want to do, whether it's turf or dirt, which

is why I think the locile start is actually kind of perfect

because it's sort of the in between surface there in

Southern California. I think that locile makes a ton

of sense for my favorite felon. You get Escobedo who's 2 for

four, and I know it's a small sample size, but man, you get to

work with Luis Mendez, you get to be two four.

That's essentially how it works. The two of them hitting together

at 18% thoroughbred races. I love the Louis as angle here,

so give me 589. Josh himself will be 8 and 9 in

race 5, closing out the early pick five.

Of course at Los Alamitos, the late pick for the $1.00 pick 4

will start in race six. That comes up, excuse me, as a

maiden 12/5. This is for state bred Phillies

and mayors that are three and up five furlongs on the dirt here.

Josh, This is an interesting layout in a an interesting

starting gate position in Southern California because of

that slight right turn, you know, veering to the right at

Los Alamitos. You essentially break and then

have to move to the right. And if you're looking at someone

on the inside like you and I will be here, they're going to

have to break. Well, where'd you land in?

Where'd you land in Race 6? I'll let you go first here.

Yeah, I, I, I like the two Gabella Luna quite a bit in this

spot. And, you know, this is a horse

that just seems like at last time out, you know, flipped a

switch, you know, decided, you know, kind of took a different

level. And I think maybe the, the, the

class, the class drop helped a bit there, right.

Was running an open company before then decided, hey, we're

going to cut we're going to cut the claim in price.

We're going to go to state bread.

And you know, I think I think she's, she's more in, in her

company in, in the state bread spot here.

So 3:00 to 1:00 in the morning line.

I, I really like the two. I I also like the first time

starter, the five subtle knowledge here for Jeff Mullins

and Diego Herrera. You know, the the only first are

in the spot. And you know, a lot of times you

get these, these races and like you look at some of these

outside horses that have had, you know, a million, a million

tries to be able to break their maiden.

You know, when, when you see a lot of horses like that, I, I

like to take a look at the fresh faces.

I mean, Jeff Mullins is 15% on first time starters, but he's 2

for six when he debuts at maiden claiming.

So he tends to only do this, I think when he, when he knows he,

he, he can win basically, you know, he probably just not, not

afraid to lose this one. And it's just like, hey, let's

just grab a check. So, so I really like the five in

this spot. And then, you know, I, I did, I

did talk about, you know, hey, you have a million starts.

Like I'm not interested. Well, the, the 9 horse has a

million starts. And you know, here's The funny

thing about this horse. You know, this is a, this is a

three-year old, still late year, late 3 year old.

And this is like, I, I've never seen this before.

You don't see this very often, right?

It's a horse that's got 12 starts and if you look at the

buyer, with the exception of one race where the horse like kind

of stepped up to a 38 and then kind of bounced back, this horse

has literally improved every single start, which is just

incredible to me that this horse hasn't won that.

This horse literally had, you know, got started with literally

the -0 mark, right? And then last time out ran a 49

buyer, right, But but did it the hard way, right, did it going up

like 3 every time. But looks like a horse that's

been gradually kind of improving, kind of improving.

And I mean the horse is still 3. So, you know, this isn't like

we're talking about a five year old, right, That, you know, hey,

maybe we're at the top of the top of the thing.

So I thought, you know, 12:50 drawn outside, especially like,

like you said, we talked about this and I know, you know,

friend of the show, the Wolf of Oklahoma and Chase Sessoms.

He used to keep notes on horses that ran at low Sal on the rail.

And he's like, he's like, he's like bet back.

He's like just bet back all the time because you get this weird,

you get this weird configuration where sometimes you're on the

rail and like, it's just a death sentence.

Now. I, I, I was talking with a

friend of mine earlier and I, I guess he said that the

configurations changed slightly. They've made a couple of changes

that the rails, not exactly the death knell it used to be.

But Even so, you know, maybe, maybe it's just an old bias in

my head. But you know, I see a horse

drawn on the outside steadily improving.

He's got a little bit of tactical speed horse I'm going

to be interested in using, especially at 12:50.

So I'll be I'll use the 2, the five and the nine in the spot.

Joshua 259 I'm going to go 2-3 and five only horse you didn't

talk about is Celestial skies. The three horse here Thiago

Pereira against the mount again, 6 to 1 here for Gloria Haley and

and everyone who watches this show knows my love for Gloria

Haley's runners for no reason at all.

But this is one that it comes out of the Neil Cockbarn from

last time out. This is one that's been running

lower level at Emerald Bounds. Tried San Anita first time last

time and rallied late. If this one could break just a

little bit better like it did at Emerald Downs on 2nd asking, I

think this one's got a legitimate real shot here.

Has been working at Santa Anita as well so it's been in Southern

California. Stayed there.

I'm interested to see just this company if this works for her.

And so yeah, I I think she really fits in this group. 2

seconds and three lifetime starts.

Both of those the last two runs she's been in stretched her legs

in that first run at Emerald Downs seems to be progressing in

the right direction as well. Speaking of buyers moves up in

each race as well. So I'll go 2-3 and five in the

spot. Josh are not too terribly

different from you. Certainly we both have the two

on top in Cape Bella Luna, which is an interesting one too.

Arantes, I think of, you know, he hasn't missed the board yet

in four runs at at LaSalle and he's the kind of guy, especially

in in sprints, that I really trust to.

I always think of sprints as two things getting out of the gate

and then staying out of the way of the horse running its fastest

as being really, really good at that.

SO235 for me here in Race A6. We'll move on to Race 7 as we

get into the later part of the card.

The late pick three does start here, $1.00 minimum at Los

Alamitos. A-125 maiden claimer here.

State bred a Phillies and Mares 3 and up.

We're going 5 furlongs again on the dirt here.

Another quick run to the turn here.

We get a seven to five favorite on the inside of the one horse

here, Josh and some other ones I think that are very worthy of a

deep look as we go through this field.

Where'd you land on this one? Yeah, You know, I do like the

one. Is it grain O'Malley a little

bit. You know, you look at the low

salaries 3 back in July of 24 that race, I mean, that race

towers over this field. But then they tried turf and

then they, they came back here to LaSalle last week and you

know, the horse didn't really fire, you know, was bumped at

the start, you know, horse lugged out and, you know, maybe

they're running this horse back off a week because they're like,

all right, like we the horse didn't, didn't run, didn't fire.

You know, we, maybe they still felt the horse was fresh.

And and, you know, obviously taking the humongous class drop

from a from a state made special weight to to this statement

bread made and claiming. But you know, there's question

marks, right? But, but the figure looks pretty

big. I hate the price.

I I I'm like I said, I'm not a big, big fan of the rail.

So this is probably a money burner move, but I am going to

use the one. I'm going to use the four tough

Virginia. Marsha.

Yeah, Marsha starts. And here's the interesting thing

about this horse. You know, I, I was looking

through and I was, you know, once again, you know, we've

talked. I was talking about it before.

I I like these new faces when you see these horses that are

just perennial losers, right? And you're like, all right, like

who else do we got? Who are the lightly raced horses

and and the four tough Virginia, obviously first time starter.

You know, Marsha's stats are are fine, you know 13% you know,

with a huge ROI on first time starters debut made in claiming

he was one for 9, you know, with a good ROI.

So so things are looking OK there.

But then you look at the sire Mesa Thunder.

Mesa Thunder is O for 17 with first time starters.

But the funniest thing about that is if you look at any other

statistic for Mesa Thunder Humongous plus, I mean, at at

this point on dirt sprints is winning at 16% dirt routes at

28%. Like is 3 for seven on wet dirt.

Like, I mean, so Mesa Thunder, Mesa Thunder, yeah, Mesa Thunder

has put out great good horses, right?

Good solid horses. Just for some reason, just a bit

snake bitten, I think first time out, you know, over 17, right?

Like, I mean, that's it's a significant number, but I mean,

you're getting 12 to one here. You know, maybe, maybe we'll be

one for one for 18 here at the end of this one, but I'm just

going to go with those two. I'm going to go with the one and

the four. I, I mean, I, I think if you, if

you were to twist my arm and get another one, I, I think maybe I

would take a shot with a horse like the 9 Jaeger Angel, once

again, a horse on the outside. It's got a couple of back races.

I think that look pretty interesting in here, but we'll

go with just a 1/4 here. I think Jaeger Angel a big a big

candidate to at least hit the board at very first in this one.

I went 517 here. Josh, agree with you about the

one absolute must include here. This is my throwing it down the

field play of the day cut in curl.

Lot of it has to do with Edgar Paeras in this spot.

Really really trust him in sprints at Los Alamitos.

This is a horse. Nine runs.

I know, I know. Tenth times the charm.

Seven runs this year. 4 second place finishes.

Really hoping that all of those it can come to fruition here

step up into this one. This is an Edgar Pieris play.

I want to be very clear about what this is.

It is not anything else. It is not a Terry Eaton play.

It is not a last draw play. It is not a anything else.

This is an Edgar Pieris play. I'm going to try the five here.

I'm throwing one down field with him.

Very hopeful that we'll get some value there. 5-1 and seven for

me, which means that going great guns will break from the seven

will get the third spot for me on the I don't remember how to

say the excuse me, the Ruval Ruval Cava barn.

Excuse me about TC gets them out here surfing.

Come on ahead the last time and just didn't fire at San Anita

Maiden 12 got out to a good start, got bumped and then once

the dual started this horse just gave up.

I'm wondering if this is one that can't break a little

better, gets a little bit of class weight, you know, because

of the bug boy here in Bautista. Interested to see if that'll

help out. I'm just really hoping that we

see whatever these workouts have been the last two out for going

great guns shows up in this one because if this horse runs 4

furlongs in 45 and one, this horse is going to win.

So hopefully she gets it done for me here.

I will go with those 351 and seven in Race 7UP.

Next, of course, is the feature on the day and frankly the

feature in Southern California for Saturday.

And that is the lowest AL fraternity.

It's a Grade 2 race, $200,000 on the line a mile and a 16th on

the dirt there. You do get 10 points on the

Kentucky Derby trail for winning as well.

Bob Baffert has won 2-3 horses in this one.

As he usually does, Doug O'Neill will have acknowledge me.

Please break on the inside. Litmus Test comes in as the

favorite at 4:00 to 5:00. Ruben Gomez.

Ruben Gomez has a maiden in here.

Giovanni Franco with American King and Captivator will break

from the outside coming out of a maiden.

Optional win last time by 10 and 1/4 lengths under Hector Varios,

who keeps the mount below S utility.

Some Derby points on the line. Who you got?

Josh Rodriguez. Man, you know, normally this is

the time, this is the time where I'm just like, hey, let me, you

know, let me get some Baffert in the spot.

But you know, I I'm gonna, I'm gonna fade the Bafferts, all of

them. Well, I'm gonna use the three a

little bit. I got the three as my second

choice in here. But here's the thing.

Here's the thing, I I absolutely hate betting horses next out out

of a BC juvenile race. It doesn't matter what BC

juvenile, you know BC race it is.

I hate betting 2 year olds or or new or you know fresh 3 year

olds out of those races because one, they're over bet 2.

Those horses are pointed and so cranked for that race.

It's it's almost impossible for them to improve off that if not,

you know, even run to that level.

And it you know, this is one thing.

If we were going to, you know, try and see this three and, you

know, if we were running something, you know, early

January, maybe I'd be a little bit more interested right back.

All right, you know, the horses had some time off, you know,

ready to go, but this is kind of a quick turn around, I think for

for the BC juvenile kind of come back here in another, you know,

stakes race. So the three, I mean, the three

look has improved every time. It's a Baffert horse and what,

you know, Baffert horses do, they just keep coming, They keep

coming, they grind, they grind, they grind and Oh my God, now,

now they're opening by three lengths, you know, so we see

that happen all the time. So so the three is my second

choice, but I I really like the one.

Acknowledge me, please. In this spot, you know, didn't

didn't break its maiden first time out lost to a nice horse in

desert gate, which I think was the the horse that that won the

best pal. And you know, Desert Gate's

actually a horse that I was pretty, I was pretty high on for

a bit. I thought there's a couple of

races where where Desert Gate was like the other Baffert or

something. I was like, no, that's the one I

want. And I think I was wrong a couple

times. But that that first, that first

effort, very, very productive race comes back, breaks, breaks,

you know, breaks his maiden, you know, Blacksmith was in that

race, won by by 3/4 of a length over there.

Got a very nice buyer figure for that.

So, you know, now on the stretch out is going to be in my opinion

is probably the speed in this race.

You know, this is the sprinter stretching out going to be

inside drawn. You know, maybe you have some

questions with the the breeding on whether this is a horse that

really wants to go to turns. But you know, Armando Ayuso

seems to have figured out LaSalle.

He's got the answer key. He's at he's like we talked

about him before. He's 24% to start.

You know, Doug O'Neill knows how to win these kinds of races,

even if there are like 17 Bafferts he's going up against.

But but yeah, I I really like the one.

Acknowledge me, please. And here is my loan a I'll

probably have the three, you know, on a, on a couple of

tickets as well because, you know, God forbid, you know, you

get you get that I get that nine home or get a price home in one

of these other races. And you know, I'm like, why

didn't I use the four to five Bafford horse that I liked?

So I'll be one in 3 here. You and I have a very similar

mind on this. I do think Litmus Test is the

best horse here. It's OK to say it's all right

that Maverick has the best one here.

He was really good in that Breeders' Cup Juvenile Josh out

at Del Mar. I like a different horse.

Second, I do like the one in the third spot, but I like the six

horse here, the John Sadler trained Captivator, and this is

one that now has two races underneath him.

And frankly, if that 6 furlong race last out is any further, I

think that horse wins by 20. I don't think he was slowing

down at all. Now, how good was the company?

How good was all that? How good is a group of seven in

a maiden optional restricted race, blah, blah, blah, you

know, kind of whatever. I, I, I, I'm not going to lie, I

don't know, but man, we saw this happen in the Breeders Cup.

Frankly, Mr. AP, whose maiden breaking run looked a lot like

that one that Captivator had last out at Del Mar, went ahead

and ran a good second in the Breeders Cup Juvenile.

I don't know why Captivator can't do the same here.

And I wonder if he won't be part of the early equation and not

care. Get away.

Son of Charlotte in here, maybe the mile and a 16th, about as

far as he wants to go, but for a day I think he can be the best

and I really trust John Sandler in these kinds of races.

His horses go back-to-back at 22% when they come out of wins

and when he goes 2 sprints to a route that's an angle I always

like to watch. What are you trying to set up as

far as stretching your horse out?

He wins at 23%. So this is something he does

really well in an I think the most underrated trainer of two

year olds in the country is John Sandler Wins at 29% with them.

I love the six in here, man. I think 361 is the order of

finish low TB action tomorrow here in San Juan might just be

playing a straight up $10. Try just 361 as Barry would say,

called you looking forward to that one.

That actually look, I know it's not a big field.

I'm that's a pretty interesting race man.

There's a couple of horses that might just go do what they want.

Yeah, I mean, and you know, we only talked about those two

horses, but like a horse like blacksmith, right, Blacksmith,

you know, he his maiden looked great.

And then, you know, just didn't break, break his maid the next

time out, you know, kind of went backwards a little bit.

And, and obviously Hernandez stays aboard, you know, stays

aboard. Three, like he's taken a couple

weeks off of riding and he's coming up for this one.

Yeah, right. I mean, when Juan Hernandez

shows up like this, it's kind of a giveaway to me.

Yeah, so, but but like we've seen, we've seen the four, you

know, with, with a bit of, you know, a bit of ability.

So you know. Blacksmith can run.

You're not wrong about that, for sure.

Yep. Yeah, no, it should be a really,

really fun version of the Futurity out there at Los

Alamitos Tomorrow. Move on to the closer.

Here it is race 9. It is an optional claimer and I

think another really fun field in this one state Red optional

claimer, $20,000 price if you want to throw in for the tag for

non 2 lifers, $46,000 on the line here. 6 1/2 furlongs in

this one in a very solid field of 11.

Josh, you like the eight horse here?

What do you like, Bob? Speed, speed Paerus aboard.

I mean, we've talked about that, you know, for people who don't

watch low Sal at night, which if you don't, I mean, you must just

not be degenerate enough. But Edgar Paeras, he's kind of

the he's kind of the dude when it comes to the one turn races,

you know, the 1000 meter, the four, the 4 1/2 furlong races

that they run. Like he's the guy, right, The

straights, right? He doesn't, he doesn't really

ride them. I don't think he doesn't at all.

But you know, when it comes to those.

You know, he's, he's the guy and you know, I, I think that does

translate to, to these slightly, you know, longer races.

I mean, he, he rode this horse 3 back and, you know, just missed

his second by 1/2 length in that race.

So yeah, this is a, this is a very consistent horse, right?

You look at the last four races, they basically all look the same

except for the finish and you know, speed figure wise.

So I do think the eight, you know is going to break out on

top and I I think he's he's got a good shot to go wire to wire

here because honestly, I mean the four crypto rides showed

some speed, but that was going a mile right and we're going 6 1/2

at Los alt right. You know, you got to go, yeah,

these are drag. These are dragsters, right?

Not your not your your big old semi or whatever you're you're

trying to do with this with. But yeah, I like the I8 here.

And then I'm going to go with the 11 special club.

And you know, this is another horse.

This is a horse that does have one really nice race at LaSalle

that kind of just sticks out. I think among the rest of the

races. The rest of the races he's

running in those low to mid 70s and then all of a sudden boom

pops an 80 going going this trip here.

But you know, the aforementioned Juan Hernandez decides to show

up and stick around and ride this race.

So you know, he's ridden this horse before at Santa Anita Del

Mar. So you know, he probably likes,

you know, he probably likes what what, what he's ridden there.

So I love the 11 in this spot as well.

But those are the two I'm going to use.

I'm just going to use the 8 and the 11 to to close this out.

Special club breaks from the 11. Last Call.

Zodlo will break from the 8 again.

Edgar Paeiros rides that one. I'm going to try Godzol in here.

This is a cow bred kind of we'll call a star, but this is one

that we saw in the snow chief last time.

That was back in May. Bit of time off for Annie

Mathis, who by the way is only one 6th of his last 14 in this

kind of condition coming off of this kind of layoff.

Ran well at Pleasanton on the dirt before.

Not always an indicator at Los Alamitos, but at least was good

in the maiden ranks back then. Broke its maiden over the turf

at Santa Anita going a mile. I like the shorten up here route

to Sprint for Andy Mathis, Small sample size but still wins at

29%. His turf to dirt number.

Larger sample size is 20% as well.

I just think in these cowbred kinds of races and certainly at

Los Alamitos where horses go from turf to dirt all the time

and are very successful, this one sets up really well.

He and Armando Ayuso hitting together at 21%.

They've known each other for a very long time.

Certainly from the Northern California ranks as well, I

think. God soul, not just the not just

the class here, but I think the very clear class in this

company. So 69 and 11 for me.

I'll also use silver. I am Giovanni Franco gets the

mount here. This one last out at Los

Alamitos. We're not seeing many horses on

this card out of the D'amato barn, but this one makes an

appearance here and I think this is an obviously smart spot for

it as well. Doesn't have to be in for the

tag. And this 3 year old gelded son

of Ken Tharos I think makes a lot of sense in this kind of

company. Didn't break well last and got

squeezed. If it doesn't happen that way

this time and the horse gets more of a run like it did in

June in May, I think it's also a real serious contender to win

the race here. Does have a win 2 back at Santa

Anita. I thought ran really well in a

good third place finish last out in September in that meet.

The Orange County meet at Los Alamitos has been working at Del

Mar, moved to Los Al for the most recent work and the horses

best work on the sheet is from Los Al.

That was back in October. So I think a little bit of time

off here gets back into this kind of form.

I think Phil d'amato, this is a shot at this one and then we'll

see this horse again, say spreading on the turf once we

get back to another spot. But no, I'll use the six, nine

and 11 here. Totally agree with you about the

horse on the outside. I think makes a ton of sense in

this kind of spot as well. So there you go, Josh.

You survived your first So Cal Saturday, man, How how was that?

You doing? Alright, You get to make.

Yeah. Yeah, it's great.

You know, I, I did miss, I did miss the mind of Spears.

So unfortunately there was no mind of Spears but.

Barry's Barry's boring play of the day did not.

Happen. Oh yeah, Barry's boring play of

the day. No, it didn't happen either.

So. Didn't go inside the mind of

Spears either. You're totally right about.

That no, but you know, I, I think it's good.

Like I think if you spend too much in the mind of Spears, you

know, you get, you get lost in there.

So you know, it's nice to get a break every once in a while,

even even if he is faking a wedding or whatever, whatever he

was making up. There's nothing.

No, he just wants to be at the beach.

I get it. I listen.

The Barry Spears, the Have you seen the movie?

Oh my gosh. It's about the girl who moves

from Minnesota. She plays hockey, she moves from

Minnesota to California, and I can't remember what the movie

is. Inside out.

Inside out. It's a cartoon movie, but you

don't have, I don't think you have kids.

So if you don't have kids, it might not be one of those things

that's first in your mind, but it's all about being inside of

her mind. And it's just this giant mess of

emotions and memories and junk. And that is the mind of Spears.

That. That is the mind of no one wants

to be in there. That's exactly what it is but

we'll miss you Barry. We'll see you next week my

friend Josh, thanks again man for jumping on.

Really do appreciate you being part of Socal.

Saturdays here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour Network were

presented by AM wager and AM wager.com 100% deposit match for

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there at los@amwagerandwager.com.

You should bet the low self eternity with them though.

Get on the site AM wager.com. He's Josh Rodriguez.

I'm Louis Rabo, we'll be back next week and I hope you are

too. Have a great weekend.