Santa Anita Saturday | G3 Royal Heroine

I'm looking for I'm. Trying to get him on all the

smoke. I don't know why they wouldn't

put him on he. He would be amazing on that

show. Oh man.

He's crazy. Oh, The thing is, I started this

campaign on my radio show today. They they have gotten older

guys. Doctor J was just on in February

when they did the ABA movie that came out, Soul Power.

And all I could think was is not only has stories about all those

guys from the ABA, he's got like, new stories.

Yeah. But just just about, I mean,

just about Kareem. Like he could go for an hour and

a half on Kareem, like that kind of stuff.

Anyway, So Cal Saturday, hanging up horse racing happy hour.

By the way, our Derby draft will be this Sunday.

So get in with us this Sunday. Just saw the retweet from Steve

Kornack. He doesn't get much better than

that. He'll be alongside Mackenzie

Pfeiffer from the Maryland Jockey Club.

We'd love to get one of our Maryland folks in.

We'll go visit with her in a couple of weeks there at Laurel

Park as part of their festivities.

Barry Spears, your bomb. How are you?

I am doing good. It's Friday.

It's Friday before the Oaks. Yeah, that's right.

And I'm just ready. I'm I'm excited.

A reminder that Barry and I will be live Kentucky Derby week from

the backside Monday through Wednesday and then on the front

side Thursday through Saturday. I mean, Barry thought he was

going to come up here and have a nice time, but instead we're

going to make them work 8 hours of radio between Monday and

Thursday. We'll do 4 on Friday, 3 on

Saturday on Derby day. We would love to have, you can

stream it anywhere in the world, ESPN, louisville.com.

Easiest way to do it though. I will tell you we have a free

app in the Apple Store or in the Google Play Store.

Just go get the app, man. You have a smart speaker in your

house, Just throw us on. I'm telling you, coverage starts

at 7:00 Eastern Time every weekday, Monday through

Thursday. Tons of coverage from there on

the backside of Churchill Downs. I really don't.

And if you're looking for bloodhorse.com, we've got the

full press release there. I Barry, I don't think anyone in

the country spends as much time on radio covering horse racing

in a singular event like ESPN Global does.

And so it is, it's awesome. You'll hear from every trainer

in the race. You'll hear from every ownership

group in the race. We will take care of you those

five hours from 7:00 to noon Monday through Thursday there at

espnlouisville.com. Barry, get you up here for your

first Derby. But first we're going to talk

California, man. And this is, I thought this was

a fun card because those turf races that you and I love to cap

are all in this card. And then there's this eighth

race thing right in the middle of the late sequence.

Little lower level claimer it just it just it spices it up in

just the best way. Good Friday to you, Fred, How

are you? Great, man.

I'm just, I'm just, I'm just waiting for that eighth race.

That's that's the one getting on the most.

OK, All right. I like that a lot.

I had a ton of trouble working on the eighth race.

If you're new to the program, this is called Socal Saturdays.

We hang out every Friday at this time, 11:00 AM Pacific and 2:00

Eastern Time right here. Bury and me every single week.

Presented by Amwager, a $50.00 deposit match right now.

If you're betting to California or betting on the racing in

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Don't need a promo code, any of that kind of stuff.

They're just running that right now.

We go through the entire card, give our top three.

By the way, we also put up all of our picks after the show is

over and ahead of the Saturday card at our website,

horseracinghappyhour.com. You're welcome to go join us

over there. Barry and I will be doing picks

for every race day of Derby Week starting on Tuesday, so you can

go up there and find those for free as well.

We do not want to charge you for anything that we do.

That's the sponsor's job. We get paid by them and you get

to hang out and join us for the ride.

Please join us this week for Derby Week and certainly find us

every Friday doing this program as well.

Barry, I'm not sure you and I will have time to do this show

next week. I didn't think so.

So enjoy this one. We'll see you in two weeks on

the California side of things. But do hey appreciate our

friends at Amwager for hanging out with us on the program.

Race 1 Barry, as God intended it a mile on the turf there at

Santa Anita Park on Saturday, an optional claimer here, $50,000

level. They're running for 35 in this

one. This is on for three-year olds

and up in this spot. And Barry, I've noticed this

trend and this is something because we do the this show and

you know, I'm always watching the card in Kentucky, whatever

that might be, you know, watching that New York card, the

Florida cards, whatever it might be.

These 3 and up races are starting earlier and earlier on

the are they not? Yes, yes, absolutely.

And they're, they're usually competitive events, you know,

you got a lot of horses that are very lightly raised doing their

thing and maybe trying it for the first time and stuff like

that. So it makes for wide open events

Quite. A bit.

We saw this a lot on the Derby trail, frankly, Barry, where,

you know, horses are like an emerging market, for example, go

straight in to, you know, straight into the Louisiana

Derby and in in you know, or a patente in the San Felipe,

something like that. You know, to use the California

example, these horses used to run at allowances.

And by used to I mean justify like.

That recently. Right.

I mean like like justify. So it's interesting to see this.

This is just another one of those races where we're seeing

that 3 and up sort of condition on the card.

Where'd you land in Race 1? So in race one, I I thought this

race was pretty interesting, but there seem to be a lack of

speed. And I know Coco San, the

favorite number 5 showed some speed, but it seems like that

horse doesn't like to be on the lead by themselves.

The times that they've done it, the horse just quit late and it

seems to be sort of a trend. So I would gather that group

would want to come off the pace slightly and that might open it

up for a lone speed horse. So I took the two sneaking

candy. I can't tell you how many times

I've seen horses go long or longer than the distance that

they're running on a particular day.

Get to the lead, fade late, come back, get a perfect trip.

The next time, almost the same exact thing but able to finish

it off. They cut back in distance.

I think Sneaking Candy fits that bill to a tee.

You and I have the same top 2 here.

We'll go to five with the favorite in the second spot.

I agree with you on sneaking candy.

I think the other part of this, Barry, is if you go back to that

race at Santa Anita at this level over the mile, horse runs

out of gas at the end of that race.

That was First off the layoff, right?

So we're talking about a couple of months off and away from the

track. I think that this being the

third in the form cycle here and frankly, even less than a month

since the last race tells me that Mike Pipey thinks this

horse is in very, very good form.

Armando keeps the amount does Armando IU so and like you said,

ate a bunch of speed in here. So this one's probably going to

get a lead and probably be able to get similar fractions to what

it's had the last couple of races, 23 and change 47 and

change maybe even 48 flat. That kind of things will be

watching for sneaking candy to try to get up on front a

daughter of into mischief. I agree with you on Cocosan in

the second spot. You went to a different spot

here though, in the third. In the third spot with

Rostovsky. A little chalky for you to start

the card here. Yeah, Rostovsky kind of hanging

out with with Coco San a couple of times before they both broke

their maid. In fact, Coco San beat Rostovsky

the the the time before Rostovsky broke their maiden.

So that that kind of speaks to the level and and how they kind

of fit all together here. If if this pace happens to heat

up I I think Rostovsky might have a shot.

Prostofsky will come in out of a a second place finish by ahead

at a mile and an eighth did break its main going a mile and

an eighth by four and a quarter lengths with Ricardo Gonzales,

who keeps them out here in race one.

I went to the seven on the outside.

Barry, that is a moon lit Sonata 3 to 1.

Kazushi Kamura gets them out once again.

This was one that finished a little bit up the track last

time. Essentially just hoping that Tim

Yak teens got this one ready to go.

I'm not going to lie, but this is one that we've seen have

success before, but she has not won in a long time or excuse me,

he has not won in a long time. So interested to see if he's

able to get back on the winning side of things.

But boy, I think you could probably lean on those top two

in my mind. Bury the two and the five in the

race 1. Yeah, they look pretty tough in

that event. Race 2 starts the early pick

four. If you're betting the pick four,

of course, check out our friends at am Wager am wager.com

claiming event here $32,000 is the claim price, $37,000 in the

purse. 3 year olds in this one we're sprinting 6 furlongs on

the dirt. Even numbered races I usually go

first. No difference here.

Barry and I landed on the same horse in Send It MO.

This is Barry's boring play of the day as well.

Comes out of a 25 claimer and was a winner there. 3 back was a

second place finisher at the $50,000 level.

So I think this 32 kind of level won't be a problem.

George, Papa, Patrolma, listen to these numbers.

First claim 36%, second off this kind of layoff, 22% and in

claiming races in general when it's a 22%.

Those all sound very good to me. Barry, you also landed on the

one, I imagine for many of the reasons that I did.

Absolutely. You know, it's clear that the

trainer definitely knows what he's looking for when he takes

claims because he doesn't do it a whole hell of a lot either.

But when he does and he turns him back around, they're usually

pretty live. He found a great spot here for

Send it MO I I really don't think anybody in this race can

hang with him. We got the four in the second

spot here, 5 horse field straight, a buzzing, a little

bit of a layoff here. Ran in February.

I thought a disappointing effort there, but boy, if that horse

can get back to the effort we saw in January, could be right

there. Yeah, that's what I was

thinking. I think the last time back in

February, they caught a wide trip, didn't didn't really do

very much running and you see the layoff.

That makes a lot of sense. Maybe something went amiss.

Horses started picking up training again, and this horse

has been training pretty well. They attract Juan Hernandez,

which has to count for something in a race like this.

SO14 and five for Barry. I just went 123 here.

I'll put the two in the second spot.

Rolling with Poland in for the tag here for Doug O'Neill.

They tried the turf last time. Barry just didn't work.

One first asking in a maiden 50, which is the highest level of

claimer in California. That was at Santa Anita going 5

1/2 in March of this year. That horse has already seen the

track and what I like about this man when he turns a horse around

like this, Barry, he thinks it's in form and just didn't do

anything last time. Essentially, the race didn't

mean anything. It was essentially a crappy

workout or something like that. Turns the horse right back

around. The last 12 times he's done

that, he is one with three of those horses.

So I'm fascinated to see the quick turn around on the 2 here

as well. Would you single the one if you

were playing the early sequence? Yeah, absolutely.

I think I would as well. All right, Race 3, not too much

more to talk about there in Race 2.

Race 3 is still on the dirt. 6 furlongs here.

Maiden optional claimer in this one, 36,000 is the purse. 62

five or 50,000 are the optional prices in here.

What's in the favorite at 2:00 to 1?

Barry in here. Excuse me, the second favorite

for 62 five. We've got two big time favorites

in here. Did you lay it on those?

No, I actually went another direction.

This is usually my my calling card here, but I thought this

race was a little bit more wide open than just the four and the

three. So I went with the six.

Pacer, not the Indiana Pacers or Jeff Teague, but Pacer John

Sadler. You know, he does pretty well

with first time starters in general.

And this is a This is a kind of peculiar spot, but.

Not by the way, By the way, not pretty well.

He just does. Well, what's first?

#20% is the same. Number.

That's great. Yeah, that's a pretty good

number, but this horse out of all the horses in this race has

been working steadily. Not many gaps in the workouts,

which means the source is fit and healthy ready to go.

The only other one that has that kind of work pattern is the 2

rags over Riches, but obviously with Sadler stats with first

time starters plus this one drawing on the outside really

adds to the intrigue. 9 to 2 is a great price.

Why not? If someone looked at that horse,

Barry, the 6th horse here in Pacer, son of Nyquist, $300,000

purchase, he's in initially his first race for the tag AT625 and

someone was concerned about that, what would you say to

them? I would say poo poo with all

that noise because there's not really many spots for horses

like this and it seems like this horse must have had a set back

for them to be starting this horse, you know, April of their

three-year old season. So it's not necessarily a

detriment that the horses in this race.

I think it just came up this way and 62 five kind of makes sense.

Yeah. You're unlikely to get a buyer

at that number frankly as well. I mean, it's just.

The reality? Of it in this case I landed on

the four on top here Barry you had him second here I but this

is me loving second time starters and Tim Yak team with a

second time starter which he wins at 24% cuz there's

converter rides here. Two of them are off to a

spectacular start in this meeting.

They've hit at 21% with their last 34 combined starters.

Liam's map on the sire side here was at this level last time.

I think it makes a lot of sense to try this field again.

Again, I went 4-1 and six went to the inside core Kinetic.

And here Barry, another second timer.

We last saw this horse in 2023 in a baby race in April at

Keeneland. So here's what I'm going to do

instead. Barry, this is a 5 year old

gelded son of Nyquist. Now I'm just going to treat this

like a first start. I'm going to treat this like

he's a first timer because we are now a literal 3 years past

his first start as a baby, as a 2 year old.

Best works from the gate. Are this horse a bullet 3 back

as well? I think there's a chance that

the one is just the fastest horse in here.

Do you like what you see from Core Kinetic, or is that time

off just way too much of A flag for you?

It's, it's a question mark for sure.

Not to mention it was a 4 1/2 furlong race.

So I, you know, my thought pattern tends to think that that

horse might need a race, especially being stuck on the

rail and such. But you might not be wrong.

I mean, this race could go a lot of different ways and I

wouldn't, you know, there's not, I don't think there's a horse in

this race that I think couldn't win.

I agree with that. App so you know I wouldn't, I

would never talk to you off a horse like core Kinetic just not

for me. Single in the last race.

Would you look at as many horses as you could in a sequence here?

Yeah, this is this is a spread race or what I would do

personally is just Chuck the two favorites and and and go with

that. Yeah, I think that's reasonable.

2 favorites, of course, in race 3 will be the three and the

four. Woodson and Dreaming on the

other horses in this race, including Pacer and Core Kinetic

on the outsides of the field. Barry Spears, Lurbo hanging out

with you. So Cal Saturdays, thanks for

hanging out with us. And am wager am wager.com for

that $50.00 deposit match right now for new customers available

for you. You can bet all the tracks in

California an optional 50 awaits us in race for a mile on the

turf there at Santa Anita Park running for $35,000.

And this is for three-year olds. Non to lifers essentially bury

even non bird race means I go first and you and I finally

landed on very different horses. We I went 4-8 and five in here

lean on prime artist. I'm hoping Armando I used so is

going to have a big day. Apparently Blaine Wright trains

this one comes out of a maiden 50 win.

Put it all together last time has been good for the last

couple of races, but this is the First off.

The claim for Blaine Wright was in the Leonard Powell barn

before. Excuse me, but I think really

did put it together. I think the speed figures make

sense in this kind of field. And the boy, the brooding is all

grass and all grass and all grass.

Churchill. You see the name Galileo, of

course you see the names exceed and excel, that kind of thing.

This is as turfy as a horse is going to get started its life

there in Ireland. Comes over here.

Took a little bit to get her feet underneath him, get his

feet underneath him, but man has been really good the last couple

of times out, so I'll lean on him here.

Went to the 8 second Berry on the outside.

Matt, be sexy. Not just because it's about me,

but also because this horse is a Doug O'Neill.

Who told you that? OK, so no one so the I need

everyone to kind of hear me out on this.

What stinks about how they, you know, the, the Sprint to route

thing is so often with Doug O'Neill, you have to kind of

just throw the surface out, right?

Because this guy goes dirt to turf at 17%, right?

One out of six times. He's just picking these races

off and two sprints to a route, 14% sprints around in general,

15%, that's kind of layoff, 15%. It's all just Doug O'Neill.

But I get MSIL Haramiyo, excuse me.

And to me, Barry, that pushes all of those percentages up 3 or

4%. And so I'm this is a jockey

trainer combination thing. Both of them looking at titles.

A blast out by the way. Harmio just showing up and

winning the title at Santa Anita Park.

Is that like the most underrated story of this year?

Yeah, nobody's talking about it. I mean, he, I always thought he

was a good rider because I saw a lot of him down here in Florida.

He's good at getting horses in position and in fact, his style

actually works better at Santa Anita than it does at

Gulfstream, even though they are slightly speed favoring courses.

But the way he rides really is conducive to quote UN quote

California speed. And, and, and obviously he's

excelling with it on turf and dirt.

I I mean, he wasn't winning a whole lot of turf races down

here, but he sure knows pace and sure knows how to get horses in

position. And I think that goes a long way

out there in California. I went to the five next and I

think this is as much me just not liking the turf horses in

this race as anything else. This is another dirt horse

flipping over a three-year old son of Grazin.

But we've seen these Grazins just stay and they're totally

fine on the grass, especially the Cal breads.

This happens to be a Kentucky bread here, but this is one we

last saw at Del Mar. This is back in July of last

year. Peter Miller, though, off the

layoff like this huge #23%. I'm fascinated by this one.

I love the 15 to 1 number on this and it's Ricky Gonzales.

So what's he going to do? He's going to go to the front

and say come get me right? And I sometimes I just works in

the mile races at at Santa Anita.

I'll go 48 and 5 here, Barry. Yeah, why not?

Again, this is another one that that's a fairly wide open race

with horses doing a lot of things.

I mean, there's, I don't think there's a horse in here that I

think couldn't win. Who you got?

Who I got, I got the three. I went to the three.

Gallatin with the idea that this race has no speed in it, no

speed in it. Well, not no speed.

But I think the two horses I have second and third are speed

in this race and I think they will go.

But I think a horse like Gallatin, if you wanted to make

the the case for Gallatin, you would just say this horse is

going to be faster on the front. I think that is that exactly

what I'm gonna say is I think Gallatin gets faster than the

seven and the 8 and the six. So I, I think they're going

right to the front cuz Suzi Kumor is very aggressive in that

way. Really got nailed late last

time, so it was a really close call between the three and the

four here, but I ultimately went to the three because I think

they're going to have a pace advantage and take advantage of

it with Kimura and Peter Miller does really good First off, the

claim as well. 3-7 and eight for you, Gallatin, their savage

warden, which is a spectacular. You know what?

I had forgotten about this that you were awarded at one point.

Technically, yes, a screw or correctional officer CEO, yeah,

I was for a short period of time, but.

Build a auto train Savage Warden Antonio Fraser.

Who gets them out here? Explain this one to the folks.

Well, the ship from Gulfstream in a race like this may mean a

lot. I I think this horse might have

a class edge on these horses just because of that.

You see the races that this horse ran on the synthetic.

There's an obstacle claimer 75,000 and then the start of

lounge 35,000 which none of these horses have been in open

company. So that might make a lot of

difference. The layoff makes a little sense

coming out here being in the D'amato barn, but he does well

with good with first time acquisitions gets Fraisu who

rides well for this barn is and four to one seems to make a lot

of sense. It's just the the fact they have

to get in the race earlier than they have been, which I think

they could just based off class alone, but I I still think they

might be second best to Gallatin. 3-7 and eight for

Barry here in race 4. I went a very different

direction. 48 and five. We both have the eight there in

our handicapping, but otherwise a bit of a mismatch.

They're moving on to race 5 here on the card Saturday at San

Diego Park here on Socal Saturdays.

This is the horse racing happy hour.

The late pick 5 does start here. 6 1/2 on the dirt, $32,000

optional claimer here. They're running for $37,000 in

of the purse. Berry odd number race means you

go first here. Red flag eight to five.

I know you don't like. Yeah, red flag is a red flag in

this race, but I do like this horse.

I do like this horse, but favorites can't win all day or

we don't want them to win all day.

They can, but we just don't want.

They can I say that? But this source is a closer.

I I I I'm really not fond of closers at Santa Anita in

general, especially in shorter races.

And this is what we have. We're going to have a 8 to 5 or

less favorite in a race where they're going to have to come

from off the pace. And I think a horse like the

four Mega moon could get the jump on them and get to the wire

first. This horse has some back class

some races after the claim. This horse has really turned

into a a different sort of horse that they've improved and hooks

a field. It's not that tough.

So I'm going to go with the four at 5 to 1 Mega moon on top.

It's really interesting, Barry, because one of the things you

and I have really praised while doing this series of shows, the

last gosh, we've been doing these fourteen months.

Whatever is these these claimers that we see Ron Ellis horses in

for example, tend to be those mile races that they used to run

in Northern California, right? Whether it be on the synthetic

at Golden Gate or at any of the at a pleasant 10A Fresno,

something like that. I wonder though, if you look at

this horse's form, right? So he's been on the dirt 4

times. He's never won.

He's won one time on the dirt when it was a little bit of an

off track. That was at this distance, man,

he's only been under a mile once on the dirt.

And I, I just, I think sometimes the condition book for horses

that are at this level forces them to go the two turns, forces

them to run a mile. I'm with you on the four here.

I think getting back to this distance makes much more sense

for him only having to make one run, really only having to have

one, maybe 2 speeds, but not having that, the gate speed than

the cruising speed, than the closing speed and having to do

those things you have to do over two turns.

I think a horse like Mega Moon can really benefit even in a

step up in class potentially from a race like this.

Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. The cutback makes a lot of

sense. They so they fit in this group.

You know, their races in that start allowance 25 were pretty

good. Just got beat.

You know, Navajo warrior beat this horse twice, once on the

square. Trusty Rusty I think came back

east and won at Keeneland. So those weren't the worst start

allowance conditions you've ever seen.

You've got the 8 in your third spot, Shady Tiger.

We've never called you that before.

Crappy outing last time, but that was down the hill on the

turf. We get back to the dirt here

with this horse is 2 for four in the kind of conditions we're

going to have on Saturday. Yeah, because I don't take pills

and then drive, so there's that. But I I thought this race, this

horse has some races to go back to, you know, back in 2024, back

in 2024, this horse went on a four race win streak, including

two wins in state bred steak company.

I think Jod Lindo watches this show.

How dare you say that? I like Tiger.

That's my guy, man. He's he's Florida.

You know Jupiter is not that far from.

Trippin watches this show. How dare.

You but hey, shout out to I'm so sorry.

I'm going to. I'm going to let Tiger use my

Uber account. Somebody needs to man when he

gets. Back from Europe.

Two and eight for Barry. I went 6-4 and two in this spot.

I just wanted to talk about hey, brother.

And this is another one of those Barry that I think I don't care

about the step up in class here. The Brano Borosio trains this

horse comes back. He is 25% off of this kind of

layoff horse gets to San Anita after spending the last couple

of months on a bunch of 2025 on the East Coast in the David

Jacobson barn and then in the Catalano barn gets back to the

West Coast. Liberato Barosio goes ahead and

claims this one for 10 last time goes ahead, moves him into this

race at this level. Doesn't have to be in for the

tag because of the conditions. One O 3 and 3 / 5 1/2 Barry wins

this race. It just does.

So this horse shows up like that again.

I'll take it again. I I did not think of that buyer

or that race as being out of line with what this horse has

done before. He's 2 for five at this place.

He's been in the trifecta seven of his ten runs on dirt in these

conditions. If you add wet dirt, frankly,

he's in the trifecta 8 of 11 times.

And so the numbers only get better.

I know he's been at a lower level, but at Delaware he wanted

the $39,000 allowance level. So I don't know.

I think hey brother absolutely has a shot in here.

So 64 and two for me to start the pick five, their late pick

five at City View Park on Saturday.

SoCal Saturday's on the horse racing happy hour.

Appreciate all of you hanging out.

Barry and I again out there for Derby week next week.

We'll put the schedule up on the screen before the show is over.

But horse racing happyhour.com for all of our picks, all of

next week and certainly for today as well.

Race 6 on the card at Santa Anita Park tomorrow.

Going down the hill, allegedly. Barry, allegedly.

I know they don't do that. That's a myth to me.

I I've never seen it. 6 1/2 down the hill it's an allowance here

3 years old and up never won 21,000 blah blah blah.

So non 2 lifers essentially Barry even number race means

Louis goes first. I landed.

I'm not horse though in the five in bro bro.

Wait a minute. I just caught on to that.

I went brother brother to bro bro.

That's very, that's the hell of a double.

That's almost like the potente El potente double we went with

when we were out there. I think we almost got that by

the way. I think I have to play this now.

I think that just happened bro bro.

Cuz if you don't. Yeah, that's going to hit.

Yeah, for sure. He'll break next to Lonesome

Stew, who'll be the eight to five favorite in here who hasn't

raced in over a year. I get a horse that won last out

in state bred company but put up a 20.

Excuse me, an 82 buyer, 108 and two on the turf for this one

last time is going to go down the hill.

Now, Barry, this is one that was very close to back going down

the hill at exactly this company.

I'm sure you remember that race. It was on Valentine's Day of all

things, five horses right at the finish line together.

Was actually a very cool race. I think he'd get back to that

kind of form. This horse has wanted a mile

before as well, son of Nyquist. I think the distance, all the

things going down the hill, not an issue at all.

Then I went to loan some Stew. Yes, a lot of time off, but this

is a horse that last time we saw it in state bred steaks company

down the hill won that race as well.

Love a horse that's been able to get it done down the hill

before. Then I went to the three horse

and of course that is on the whim.

Dean Peterson trains, I think just the fastest horse in this

field, Barry. And so once in a while the

fastest horse just gets there. Was in that race with Lonesome

Stew, part of the blanket finish at the end there as well.

Tried the Sensational last time as well, just missed in second

place. This is a major step down from

that kind of company as well. So I'll go with those three in

this one, Barry. 5-6 and three. Where'd you land going down the

hill? Well, I hope your horse is the

fastest horse in the race because my horse, the horse I

picked on top, is going to clock that one to a tee.

I went with the seven. September 64.

Now hear me out. This horse was.

Born in September of 64. Yeah, right.

It was September of 1934. This big difference, how dare

you. But this horse has been running

in really, really good races and, and caught a wide trip in

the $100,000 non winners of 1 back in October of last year.

And it was weird because they were favored in that race.

How I don't understand. But they went straight to the

lead and put 7 lengths on the field and didn't last.

I, I think they, they probably did that just to kind of clear

the field and, and I think that plan went crazy on them and the

horse kind of ran off. Then they went in a mile and an

eighth, slowed the horse down slightly and still got beat by

a, by a stakes winner in test score, a Grade 1 winner in, in

test score. So those two efforts in my mind,

tower over anybody else in this field.

The cutback makes a lot of sense.

You know, he broke his maiden at Delmar going 5 on the flat.

But the cutback is really the key here.

This horse has a ton of speed. We'll be right there start to

finish. I I think this horse is really,

really live. 6:00 to 1:00. We'll probably get a lot of that

6:00 to 1:00 because of lonesome Stew.

So yeah, this, this is a horse I might concentrate my day on.

Mike Pipey, O for 22, his last 22 trips route to Sprint.

We'll see how that. You know what cures that talent?

One for one for 23. There you go.

But yes, I totally agree. No, I don't think that horse is

that horse obviously has a chance here.

I'm not putting it down at all. 76 and two for you, many of the

same horses I talked about, but the two horse in here Barry, I

do not have in my handicap. And what do you like about the

Neil Drysdale trained Sir Rocket?

Why? Not well there.

There's versions of this race where the pace gets ridiculous

up front and Sir Rocket could come flying late.

This The Source has some good races down the hill.

Seems to be improving every time they step on the the downhill

turf course, culminating in a almost win back in June of last

year and then kind of ran better.

But it gets better. Horses, you know, got beat by

Manor Rose, Lovesick Blues who was in the the British Cup and

so on. So that effort back in October

wasn't embarrassing either. I just think that if the pace so

happens to get hot, this horse will come running.

They'll be coming running anyway, but even more so if if

this pace is hot up front. By the way, Mana Rose is on the

work tab, which I was very happy to see.

While watching. That horse run.

Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean, I had to look that up

once you mentioned him during the segment.

They're like, it's a good horse. I like him.

He's he makes these California races a lot better.

So, yeah. So Rocket in the third spot

there for Barry in the in Race 6.

They're Santa Anita on Saturday, Race 7 up next, of course, a

mile on the dirt, $10,000 claimer for non twos, $18,000 on

the line. Phillies 3 and up or Phillies

and mares 4 and up, which I've never won two erases.

Barry I This is an interesting one.

And as we get into the late pick three, I wanted to ask you a $3

late pick three with the minimums 15% take out, very,

very good bet at Sanity Park. They've had, by the way, since

our visit a couple of records on that pool, not saying it's

directly related, but I'm saying it's absolutely directly

related. And so the would you play the

late pick 3 this week or would you play the turf pick 3 this

week? I would concentrate on the turf

pick three because I think you could actually play it for more

than $3 and still bang that out with a with a pretty skinny

ticket and the upside on that is a lot better.

It tends to be yeah, yeah, especially field sizes this

weekend. But in race 7 mile on the dirt,

we just talked about these $10,000 kind of claimers.

Who'd you land on I. Landed on the 1A fleet ride.

Now you'll see that this horse went to the lead last time.

First time at this level 91 is A2 going a mile.

But I don't think they're going to employ those kind of tactics.

I think they just thought they were better than those horses

and just got beat late. You can tell sort of by the

switching jockeys here. You went from Edwin Maldonado,

who technically is a speed rider in my mind, to Armando Yuso,

who's a lot more patient and and willing to sit a little bit to

get his horse the best trip. And I think that's what's needed

here. There's a lot of speed,

especially from the outside. This horse is we're probably

going to get shuffled back anyway, so it makes a lot of

sense to have a patient rider who could find a spot, settle

and then swing this horse out to to run them down.

And I think this horse can do it Second time at the level is

really key here for that. You can see the improvement once

they they basically plummeted to this level and I think that will

continue. Get this horse in the winner's

circle. 6 to 1 seems like a fair price. 134 for Barry, I went 437

so similar handicapping, at least in the middle.

McKenna Rita is my my top horse here.

The four horse Barry, just one of the 20 level on the maiden

side of things will step into open, you know, against winners,

at least in this case. Kazushi Kamara keeps the mount.

I thought the last race, you know, just finally broke

through. I'm not sure that this horse

will win again. Took thirteen tries to break the

maiden, many of them at the distance as well.

Maybe she put it all together last time in that stat for

George. Papa Pedromo 19% going

back-to-back with winners I think makes a lot of sense in

here again, his claiming number at 22% as well.

Spots as horses as well as anyone out West in claiming

spots. Craig the lost trains Union

heiress here. Victor Espinosa gets them out on

this one. That was that was one that was,

excuse me, 4th place last time, but almost got there under

Victor 2 back at a very, very similar level.

And so I think getting to the Craig into Craig's barn gets

Victor back, throwing the blinkers on.

Try to keep her closer like she was in February.

I think if they get that trip again, she can absolutely be

part of the scenario here. So 4, three and seven for me.

Anything to add on the three horse Iron Union Eris?

Yeah, I think, you know, the blinkers on makes a lot of sense

here and getting Victor back because he's going to be a much

more patient and get that similar ride that they got

February 13th. Again, 1/3 and four for Barry in

race 7. Starting the late pick 343 and

seven for me in a race 7. Race 8 is the start of the late

AA $5 minimum on that race. 15% take out as well.

Another mile race, another claimer on the dirt.

Optional claimer. In this case, $20,000 is the

claim price if you're in and $67,000 is the purse.

That's for non to lifers Barry. Race 8 means I go 1st and so I

went outside it's. Your favorite race?

Until about 3 minutes before this show, folks, this was a

question mark, question mark, question mark race for me.

I'm sure you're like me, Barry, where once in a while you look

at a race and you're like, I can't do this right now.

You just have to set it down and you just look at the next race

and you kind of move on. This was that race for me on

this cart. I'll go to the 9 horse here,

Majestic Palisades, because why not?

This horse, at least in my defense, has been running in

this kind of race, this kind of company.

And here are the results. First, first, second, second,

third by three and three quarters lengths.

I get Juan Hernandez in this spot.

I get Lobrato Borosio who goes back-to-back in in huge numbers.

He wins 29% of his dirt races, Does LeBron Oberosio a 25% of

his races off this kind of layoff, plus I get Juan

Hernandez feels like a steal of a deal.

I'll go to Cowboy Mike next. Your old Omni fig thing I think

applies to him on the outside here, 85 and 86.

His last two at the 50 optional level is in for the tag here.

Barry which I'm sure you looked at and thought I don't want any

piece of that horse. It's a Flora Giroux gets them

out once again here. Look for them to try to be a

little softer with the pace up front.

They're taking the blinkers off to try to slow him down in the

early part of the race. Barry and I think they will be

effective in doing just that. 9:10 and 3:00 for me means Uncle

Chili comes in 3rd. Barry, has anyone ever called

you Uncle Chili? No, because my jumper is fire,

Sir. It's a basketball reference

Sprint to route 23% for Jeff Mullins, who's had this one

sprinting the last two times, both wins at the optional 50

level. By the way, Mike Pipe, he had

this one running at the optional 50 level, lost by half a length

3 back. So this horse is in fantastic

form since Malibu Day in December.

So give me Uncle Chilly 30, son of Uncle Tiger.

Where'd you go in this one? Yeah, I, I you were spot on with

your analysis of what I thought of Cowboy Mike.

I you're right about the Omni fig thing, but it's tough when

you lose to Ghazali, a horse who's just not consistent at

all. I I know this was at a higher

level, but man, this is suspicious for this horse to be

in this race because they probably could have waited for a

state bred optional 50. And if the horse is as sharp as

what they look like on paper, I would think that they would fit

there. Plus they're tinkering with the

horse, taking the blinkers off. A lot of that doesn't make sense

to me. So I'm I'm totally if we were on

Shark Tank, I'm out. But I did land on a horse that I

do like quite a bit in Here is the five Mickey's or Meses

Express. That last?

Race was pretty good against Coach Cronin who really had his

own way with that race. So it was it was really a merry

go round race where Coach Cronin broke on top.

Meses Express was not as fast and they ran 1-2 around the

whole track. Meses Express was 5 and 1/4

lengths in front of the third place finisher who's actually in

this race. So that tells me that this horse

probably might be in a spot to be a little bit superior.

They have some races to go to. I like the last workout, April

22nd, 36 and one handily Harmio gets on again for barn that they

do well with. All the signs point for this

horse just to get better and win this race and I'm on board.

At that price of 6 to 1, I think that's the sweet spot. 5-3 and

two for you. Go ahead and talk about the two

horse in here, at least Royal and Rando.

Another one that that. And I like how I said that.

Let me do that again. That was awesome.

Hang on, royal and rando. That's that's my radio voice.

By the way, don't ever listen to my radio show.

Go ahead. Sounds like a backyard wrestling

theme, right? Rando royal wrestling.

Yes, right, The royal rando. You know, I don't know.

Anything about wrestling. I'm the only white guy who's 45

years old that knows nothing about wrestling.

I'm it. I'm the one.

It's me and no one. Else that's OK I'm almost right

behind you cuz I didn't I stopped watching wrestling when

I was like 12 so. I feel like I grew up though in

one of the great eras and I just didn't.

Get it? I watched.

I was a Hulk of maniac. I did right?

Sure, but. I wasn't and I don't know.

I don't know why. I don't know, I don't know Bear.

I got nothing for you. The 2 horse here though, Royal

and rando. Yeah, it's another one of those

cases where I think this horse could just pick up pieces and

and get in the picture they they really haven't run too poorly,

just their running style doesn't right really isn't really

conducive to winning a lot of races unless they get a setup.

Really good in the bertrando at LaSalle, I thought.

Like it? Really.

Good. It just did.

I mean considering they were up against it, I I mean.

Who's in that race? You're not.

Winning that race, like, no way, no.

I thought that horse ran really well actually.

Yeah, and they were wide and and didn't get a great trip and they

still ran on pretty good. They fit in this company a lot

better. They just need a setup and I

think they might get somewhat a little bit of a setup here for

them to get in the picture at at a big price.

We don't usually have to wait until the closer on the card.

And this is So Cal Saturday's on the horse racing happy hour.

I'm Lou Rebeau. He's Barry Spears.

Appreciate all of you hanging out with us.

We're here every week at this time, 2:00 Eastern, 11:00

Pacific. Looking at the entire card in

Southern California this time of year, of course, at Santa Anita

Park, the closer is the grade 3 royal heroine, Barry.

And it's a mile on the turf here.

And this is a fascinating 1 to me.

Barry a four and up on the Philly and mayor side because I

think you have a couple of decisions to make in here.

Grand Slam smile comes in. This is the caliber that's been

picking off the Irish O'Brien and picking off, you know

sprints on the turf and and picking off you know the Solana

Beach and that kind of stuff. And then you've got a horse

coming off a big layoff like mayday ready who's been running

against much better horses does have a grade to win.

But boy we haven't seen that one since Keeneland in October

switches Barnes here to Richard Mandela.

That's never been something that he's especially adept at.

He seems to just he gets horses and he keeps them right.

That's what Richard Mandela does.

And then there are others in here like a Tirapati who, you

know, we saw in the wheelchair. She's she's done it at this

place. Go in the mile.

I mean, take a breath is in here. 1 the Santa Ana, but at a

mile and a quarter last time and boy, really charged really late

to do that. This is as interesting a mile

turf race as I can remember. I I love this field.

Yeah, this is this was real tough event until I I kind of

dug into everything and I thought mayday ready I.

Landed in the same spot here. I'm surprised but not surprised.

Go. Ahead.

Yeah. I thought Mayday Ready is kind

of a stand out here. You know, back in 2024, this

horse beat Destino de Oro Totally Justified at Keeneland,

then came out of that race into the juvenile Phillies turf, ran

second to Lake Victoria and beat Nitrogen that day.

Then they went over to Japan. You know, that didn't work out

so hot and then came back and, and the horse was in pretty

decent form. So in comparison to everyone

else, I, I think this horse kind of stands out a bit a bit.

And I think you picking this horse too might indicate that

they're, they're going to bet this horse quite a bit.

I, I, I could see this horse going down to being second

choice, maybe 2 1/2 to one or something like that has a good

shot. I would, I would prefer the 9:00

to 2:00, but I don't think we're going to get that.

No, I think you're right about that especially.

I mean, the Mandela horses are going to get, they're going to.

Get attention anyway, just off. Right number, yeah, they're

going to get respect is the word we're looking for here.

They're going to get respect no matter what.

They're going to not care about the first time in the bar and

they're not going to care about that stuff at the windows at

least. And frankly, I agree with them.

They shouldn't care about that. So I'll go I'll agree with you.

I've got 5 on top here. I went 8:00 and 9:00 next so I

went outside. I think take a breath is a real

interesting horse in here. MSR Romeo gets them out.

This is one that one in a mile and 1/4 in that Santa Ana last

out Barry. This horse is going to have to

do something it really hasn't done before and that is is

really be up and near it at this distance.

I wanted to give an example. So this this horse ran in a in

handicapped stakes at Sandown, OK, and that was a good to firm.

OK, Markwan got the the mount. Like these are all names we

know. OK, That race was run in a

minute 42 and three. OK, Now, if you're if you're a

10 for a long horse, you can win an 8 for a long race if it's

that slow, right? Because then you can just close

into it, pull away no problem. Horse carried 135 lbs a day, by

the way. But when you get to California,

you got this race, Barry. I mean, over under is 134,

right? I mean, that's what we're

talking about. We're talking about 8 seconds

faster than what happened in Europe.

And so horse like take a breath is just going to have to be

different than she's been before and be much closer to the pace.

Ha Romeo's going to have to have her ready for that stretch

because she's just not going to get the time to Rev her engine

like she has in the Santa Ana or in a mile and an eighth race

before that or in the American Oaks at Del Mar, which was also

a 10 furlongs. She's going to have to get

going. She didn't do it in the autumn,

miss last year in October. She didn't do it in an optional

claimer. She was in the Del Mar Oaks at 9

furlongs and she almost got there right.

Barry, had that race been a 10 furlongs, she probably wins at

Del Mar Oaks. She just seems to be a 10

furlong horse. But man, I'm not gonna lie, this

is, this is a hara meal play. It's just a hara meal play for

me. So I went 589 in this spot.

You went 5-3 and two or excuse me, 5, two and four.

Excuse me. Wrong right there.

What do you like about the two horse in here in Tirapati?

Yeah. This source has a lot of

versatility, can win on the league, can win coming slightly

off of it, and I think that versatility will go a long way.

Jonathan Thomas you can see had that run for this horse on April

4th, which is clearly the prep for this race in the Monrovia I

I don't think they had any intention of of winning that

race that day. I think it was just to basically

get a run in before this race. This horse is much better at a

mile. You can see those two races back

in March of last year where the source ran really, really razor

sharp against two pretty good fields and beat Alpha Bella in

the Wilshire, which is a pretty nice horse.

I think they're they're set up to win this.

The the the workout pattern makes a lot of sense.

That last workout was pretty good on April 18th.

All signs point to this horse being really, really sharp on

Saturday and I I really honestly couldn't split hairs between

Turpati and Mayday Ready. But I think when it's all said

and done, third party's obviously gonna be the bigger of

the two prices. So that one might be more of a

concentrate than made a ready who I do like quite a bit as

well. Phil d'amato's got Ripasare I

guess would be her name Vino Rosso.

I'm assuming it's in Italian, where that I don't know, which

is actually a little. Wow, I know.

Yeah, 11, going a mile under Flavian Pratt at Churchill

Downs, breaking her maiden. That was back in November of

2024. Since then, largely running on

the synthetic leaves, the Brendan Walsh barn comes over to

fill the Motto's barn. What do you like about her in

this spot? I think the idea that this horse

improved since their last run on the turf so you see the start

the career. This horse ran 2 pretty good

races on the turf, one at 6 1/2 at at Kentucky Downs, then a

little over a couple months later won a race with Flavin

Pratt at Churchill at 2:00 to 1:00.

Then they got onto the synthetic train for the winter this

winter, namely because they almost had a year layoff from

December 26th, 2024 to December 4th.

Came back running, which is encouraging at six, 6 1/2.

Then they go the mile, didn't get a great trip, got kind of

wiped out early in that one and then bounced back.

So I think this horse has improved and and getting back to

the turf makes a lot of sense. The distance makes a lot of

sense as well. This horse is going to be flying

under the radar, but I think they have a better than average

chance to make some noise in this race.

I don't think Phil, the model's just throwing her in there to

throw her in there either. I.

Agree with that. Correct.

That is not a let's try it out kind of move from Phil the model

so. Usually not a thing he does.

Usually not, he does. That's exactly right.

Once again, if you haven't checked the South Horse Racing

happyhour.com, you'll see all of our picks up there, our top

three plays throughout the card. We'll also have our plays for

the turf pick three up at the website

horseracinghappyhour.com. We'll also have all of the cards

starting Tuesday at Churchill Downs all the way through the

rest of the week, so make sure you check those out as well.

Completely free to you. Do not, do not, do not spend

money on tip sheets next week. Just come hang out with us.

Yeah, we've got all the wedding. Just, well, just save your money

for betting. I mean really just do that.

And if you are looking for a place to follow the Derby next

week, I would encourage you to go on over to ESPN

louisville.com. Let me get all the crap off the

screen here so that everybody can see us.

Hey. Barry's making the trip up here

this year and I am as excited to cover the Kentucky Derby as I

can remember because Barry is coming and he's going to have to

work quite a bit. That's how this works.

He is not going to be here for Monday's show.

I apologize. A guy named Mike Gandolfo who

started the horse racing. House, Mike.

Is going to be Barry Spears for the morning.

He'll be on from 11:50. Barry will be on with me for

everything starting Tuesday, so 11:50 Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, you'll hear me and Barry interviewing whoever is

willing to stop by our ridiculous tent.

They're on the backside of Churchill Downs Oaks Day on

Friday. 4 freaking hours of this thing.

And by the way, we have a text line that I can read while we're

live on air. If you can't have fun with us

during Derby week, I cannot help you and I'm not exaggerating and

I'm not trying to be a Jackass. If you can't have fun with us

during Derby week, you need to quit looking at horse racing and

quit. Just just quit.

I mean, it's just not a thing. Three hours on Derby day, 11 to

2. We're going to be on during some

of the races, Barry, which is some of the most fun stuff.

Oaks and Derby. You and I are going to get to

like spar back and forth verbally on who we're betting.

Again, ESPN louisville.com, if you have an I Heart app that all

works. Again, the ESPN Louisville app

cost you nothing. Put it on your phone and forget

about it. It's absolutely spectacular this

time of year. And then at Breeders' Cup,

you'll hear us over and over again.

I mean, cripes, we're going to we're going to Laurel, we're

going to Saratoga. Get connected with us for the

triple Con. We'd love to have you as a

listener on those programs. And again, if you are able to

join us on Tuesday here in town, we will be a blind school

restaurant here a couple miles from my house.

How about that? Dinner's free, the drinks are

free. If you can't have fun with us

during Derby week, I cannot help you.

It also. Broadcasts.

Seriously, I'm not like I try not to yell directly into the

mic. All the blood horses socials.

If you don't live in the area, check them out.

Facebook, Twitter, their YouTube page.

You'll be able to hear Barry and me give our thoughts on the

major, you know, most of the stakes races, frankly, over

Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs this coming week.

We'll go horse by horse in go horse by horse in the field

there for the Kentucky Derby as well.

So Barry, safe travels on Monday.

Yes, Sir. I'm going to need you to tell me

what your luggage situation is on Monday because I have to

decide if you're Ubering to the track or if I'm coming to pick

you up. All right, sounds like a plan.

I got a skateboard. I, you know, I could do that.

I'm pretty good at that sometimes.

Meet Barry Spears Tuesday, Blind squirrel.

I got my my caballero board Christian soy.

Listen to Barry on the radio. I'm Louie Ramo.

This has been So Cal Saturdays. We'll see you on this program in

two weeks. We'll see you on Monday for

Kentucky Derby week. Please join us.

Let's have a blast next week. He's Barry.

I'm Louie. This is the Horse Racing Happy

Hour.