SoCal Saturday 10/25/25 | Santa Anita

Some poor person is just having a normal day, some Friday.

They're excited about the weekend and then they see this.

Imagine, Barry, me playing terrible drums, you dancing

around poorly. I mean, it's just a whole.

It's a vibe. What a vibe this show is, as the

kids say, I'm Lou Rebellions, Barry Spears, the horse racing

happy hour, so Cal Saturdays. So so excited that you decided

to spend part of your weekend with us.

Yes, we're an hour early. I know which boy is busy.

Breeders' Cup next week will be out there.

Barry and me. You can hear us live on ESPN

Louisville, ESPN Radio Louisville Thursday and Friday

from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM Pacific Time.

New 11:50 here in the Eastern Time zone, as our guy Chase

would like to say 9 to 11, of course, in God's time, but we'll

be out there paddock side both mornings.

Tons of guests, tons of fun leading up to the races on

Friday and Saturday out there at Delmar.

Hell, Barry will probably have some ridiculous picks for

Thursday as well, so make sure you are tuned in for that.

I'll be on the blood horse feed as well throughout the weekend.

Blood Horse at the Breeders Cup. So if you're interested in

hanging out with us on that as well, Thursday, Friday,

Saturday, we'll be putting those up up at YouTube as well.

Very good morning, Afternoon, afternoon, afternoon.

Hi. Hi, afternoon.

Hey. Afternoon, hey.

It's morning in California you know what bleepa this is so Cal

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Breeders Cup races. Of course, all the action as

well at Santa Anita. Go ahead and get in with them

over there. Busy 10 race card here.

Barry and IA little worried about the chalk picking that may

have happened or not happened prior to this show.

Thanks. But the early pick five, I hate

this Barry that it came up as light as it did as far as the

numbers, because many of the contenders of the races are

interesting. I just wish they were deeper

fields. And so it's disappointing that

way. There's still some very good

high end tail in those races. Yeah, you know, I, I think it's

just that weird period of time before the beers cup and and,

you know, a lot of the the better horses are kind of saving

themselves for next week and. Or to go to Del Mar for

something or whatever, Right? Exactly so.

So it's a little, it's a little special kind of situation, but I

think they they made do had a nice card put together.

The late part of the card is definitely better.

Well, and you and I were chatting about this off air

yesterday. Frankly was the races that

filled the most were the claimers, right?

And frankly, maybe moving forward, it's something that,

you know, we can take a couple cues on in Southern California

and include more of these races. I'll take a dime.

I'll take a dime. Claimer pick five with 14 horses

in every race. Yeah, throw it at me.

Let's figure it out. Let's have.

Fun together. It's funny you say that because

that's kind of what happens during the championship meet

down at Gulfstream is the early part of the card is typically

the lower level claimers and they run on synthetic and turf.

Sure, which they don't get the opportunity to because, you

know, a lot of places don't run those kind of races are really

lower level types like, you know, open $10,000 claimers on

the turf and you get those that that's usually like the first

race on the car to go stream. So hopefully they can, you know,

talk to each other and and get those those kind of situations

aligned. Well, and especially with the

low take out on the early pick 5, right?

I mean it, it, it makes sense that you would want to have a

great early pick five. I understand back loading cards

and you know, by the time people roll around to the cards, blah,

blah, blah. But when you're on the West

Coast, man, you're already getting those East Coast batters

early in the day and all that kind of stuff.

I, I just I think you could go ahead and do that again.

And wager.com for our friends over there, appreciate them

hanging out with us. At some point we will go inside

the mind of Spears and we will have multiple berries boring

plays of of the day. Today.

I raised one. We'll get it kicked off here on

SoCal. Saturday's Luder Bob Berry

Spears hanging out with you here at the horse tracing happy hour.

Starter optional claiming here. So starter allowance in this

spot. You can put your horse in for a

50,000 tag or not, $34,000 on the line here.

And this is one of those races. Barry I this is a fun one to

handicap, but unfortunately, only six horses in here.

You and I landed a very different spot.

You landed on Aloramo. Excuse me, the two horses.

Yeah, Aloramo, the horse I picked way back in September ran

really good in that maiden $50,000 Claimer 1 going away and

I finds a similar spot. I think this horse could do it

again. Honestly.

There's only really one speed horse in Willow T who got a

really, really exceptionally easy trip in that maiden breaker

back on in August, and I don't think that's gonna hold up.

I I think this horse is a little bit better Aloramo and we'll get

a trip, you know, kind of sitting behind that one and and

ready to pounce. I I think that alarmo if we can

get 3 to one, I'll be very very happy to start.

Off the game with a. $8 winner. Comes out of hand no doubt about

it out of the maiden 50 there at Del Mar going the mile a turf

course there of course and look that's an angle that I love and

I don't have that probably a bad job I'd be I did laying on the

chalk here in time to shine on the outside of Antonio phrase.

You get some them out from Mark Clatt was second in this level

last time was second at this level essentially 2 back did

break air maiden in a maiden optional down back here at Santa

Anita and that was on the dirt actually.

So this is 1/3 try consecutively on the turf.

Ironically, this horse now we'll have six starts on the turf with

only one on the dirt and the dirt 1 wasn't winning one.

And so just saying what happens with the condition book and

different things. So Barry, go ahead.

You have that one second. But the one horse you and I both

have in our handicapping as well.

What do we, what should we like about Willa T?

By the way, my niece's name, Willa in love with this horse

pops up. Go ahead.

Nice. Yeah, I think this horse might

be the speed, although that race I I did mention was very, very

slow, but it doesn't look like anybody has the desire to get

out of the gate and I think this one lands in front and and

probably will take him a long way just on that alone.

So I I think this horse is good enough to hang around.

Might be a little bit better than what that slow paced maiden

breaker was, but we'll see. Is there a horse in here you

think just pace wise can get out front?

Just keep it? That horse, is it her?

It's got to be her, right? Yeah, sort of a similar angle.

Tim Yaktine. Not great off these breaks, so

hopefully she's ready to go to the work.

Sort of indicate that she is not exactly a fast working group,

unless you want to look I guess to with love the five here.

Do you like Hector Barrios aboard this?

One no, I, I mean, that horse hasn't been out since January

2024, January 1st on the horse's 4th birthday last year and ran

OK. I mean, I, I, I wouldn't be

surprised if this horse jumped up in one.

But you know, it's hard for me at least to take a horse coming

back going a a mile from that long of a layoff.

I I would tend to think they may need one.

But this isn't the greatest field in the world.

And if that one kind of drifts up in price, I I would look a

little harder at it. Very seriously with you.

So Cal Saturday is here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour Network.

We go to race 2. It is the Tokyo city.

It's a black type 4 runners in this one.

They are going a mile on the dirt, $85,000 On the line.

We see Pony Express Gaming Mining District and Privman in

this one. And Barry, this is one of those

races I was talking about where I like 3 of the horses in here.

I just wish there were three more like them.

Yeah, absolutely. This is a this is a nice little

field and and I mean little. There's only four horses, but

the. You and I landed the same way,

by the way. Yeah, that's amazing.

When when we do, we usually score, but I was kind of taken

back that gaming wasn't the favorite here.

OK. So I agree with you on that.

By the way, what do you think it is?

Is it simply the morning line maker looking at speed figures

and saying the handicappers going to look at a one-on-one,

for example on the buyer scale with the one horse here in Pony

Express or look at Privman who's been well into the 90s and we've

got that shared belief last out from gaming in the 70s.

Is it essentially that? Do you think I I?

Think it has to be, it has to be because if you look at the body

of work and gaming, of gaming and privman.

Just yeah. What?

What? Just what?

What company they've been in? Right.

I mean, especially gaming, I mean you got Citizen Bowl,

journalism, Speed King. So this horse was basically

running with the best horses of this generation that are out

West and running well competitively.

I I really don't see how gaming loses this race.

You and I both 2 four and one in this race, Would you be

surprised to Priman won? No, Priman's a decent horse,

just probably needs a little more time and better

competition. But that that horse is

definitely on the improve. It's just, you know, a shame

that they're running into their own horse here.

And what do you make of Pony Express?

This kind of layoff for John Sadler is usually not a problem.

The horse worked well in September all the way through.

Now, here's my thing about Pony Express that I'm trying to

figure out, Barry, is why were they working this horse on the

Tepeda? Now, if I saw it once, I would

say, oh, it rained and they just wanted to run.

They wanted to stretch their, you know, legs, whatever, that's

fine. That's not it.

There's been multiple runs on the Tepeda here for this horse

who's getting on the dirt here and has never tried the turf.

What do you make of that? Well, I mean, in theory, working

on the synthetic is a little bit kinder, Sure.

And it's, you know, akin to a turf work because you know it.

The the surface is a little bit kinder and.

Bounced at least closer, yeah. Right, right.

And maybe this horse I, I would think because of the layoff

lines that I see, this horse might have some foot issues that

may prevent this horse from being out there all the time.

So working on the synthetic might be a good idea.

I mean, all this obviously is speculation, but you know it.

It could be a reason like that, an injury, something like that

or something nagging thing that keeps the horse from from

running his best and they don't want to waste it in the morning

and they want to get in the afternoon.

What do they need to do to get more horses in this race?

Probably run this race a week or two earlier.

I don't get it. I don't get it. 85 is a nice,

it's a nice purse, man. It's a nice purse.

That's tough. All right, Race 3 maiden

special. We're going 6 1/2 furlongs here.

This is a 2 year old race on the boys side of a things and it is

open company. We've got a horse in here that

is a second timer with an 80 speed figure Berry.

We've got some first timers that are very interesting as well.

Where did you land with experience or with a first

timer? I went with a first timer.

I'm under the notion that a horse like Blacksmith who is in

the Baffert barn but training at Los Al can't be one of his

better horses no matter how you slice it.

That being said, it's it's really peculiar that this horse

is just starting this late in the year.

How much they paid for the horse.

It's, it's just not a good sign, at least to me it isn't.

I'm going to try Easy Company. I think this horse has run

equally as good workouts as the five.

And actually the one that really sticks out to me is that October

12th workout, Easy Company had 112 and ones for six furlongs

and Blacksmith did that eight days later and gets a bullet and

it looks a lot better on the page.

So I think they're probably comparable, at least speed wise.

Maybe we'll see, but that's all we got to go on. 15 to one on a

horse that's working equally is a horse that's six to five.

I got to go with a longer shot. And you get 14% first time

winners for Richard Mandela with that and frankly better.

You know this too. We watched them all year.

Mandela isn't pushing his horses for the the fastest workouts.

He just wants them out there building.

Frankly, this horse is before before a debut multiple 6

furlong works. We don't see that outside end of

the Baffert barn terribly often, but we do see it with Mandela.

So I'm with you. If you wanted, especially in a

see in a sequence, Barry, where there isn't a lot of value

potentially, right with a four horse field in Tokyo City,

etcetera. This might be a spot where you

take a shot with a horse like that.

Unusual that you and me and A5 horse field come up so

differently. I will put Blacksmith on top

here. The most recent work at Santa

Anita seems to indicate that this one is ready.

Baffert moving this one over for the last two works most recently

as you mentioned though it's this is the son of Liam's map

$40,000 to breed over a half million bucks paid by the Lofman

folks and so should be interesting to see there maybe

one we should put on the Kentucky Downs watch list for

next summer. But I went 5-3 and one in here

and so I'll have Rio Grande. Second is 1/3 time started for

Bob Baffert. And then I do think acknowledge

me please is interesting except that it's a lot of time off

since June, man. And I do wonder why a horse who

showed up so well would need this amount of time off.

The works have been sort of whatever and and that bothers me

a little bit. So I think you got a chance to

kind of beat a nine to five here.

Get that one out of the way. I'll go 531.

Barry, you went 4-5 and two. Tell us about a postmodern spot.

Yeah, Mark Glad does pretty well with first time starters and,

and like I said, I'm not really enthused with the the 2 Bob

Baffert horses in here. You know, Mark Glad does well

enough with first time starters that I can give him a shot here.

The October 20th last work, one minute and three handling from

the gate is a decent work in comparison to the rest of these.

And the post position actually is, is, is OK too because of the

fact that the one is in the race.

I'm not really sure why the one is 9 to 5 here, but we'll take

that. I, I hope they bet that way

because that'll put postmodern in a in a different kind of

scenario and possibly even a better win kind of proposition

than if this horse gets bet down to let's say 2:00 to 1:00.

Should be an interesting maiden special there.

We move on to race four. Another maiden special.

We're on the Philly side of things here, but this is for

Phillies and there's 3-4 and five years old going 6 furlongs

on the dirt at 60 grand up for grabs here.

Six horses in this one, Barry. Of course, even number races

means it's time for Louis to go 1st, and I landed 6, four and

three in this one. You settle down over there, of

course, Juan Hernandez riding for Bob Baffert in a maiden race

at Santa Anita. The two of them, you know, I'm

worried about their partnership dissolving here, Barry, because

they're only winning at 40% together right now at Santa

Anita. And I, I got to imagine when

you're only winning at 40% in horse racing, you're not

sleeping very well. You know, I it's just got to be

sleepless, no? Checks not cashing any, you're

not making any money. You're not making any money, so

your wife's like, yo, where's the money?

And you got to deal with that. So I'm worried about it.

But this is a chance to get back on track.

You understand me? Get back ready ahead of the

Breeders Cup being a little a little nudge for that Baffert

Barney feels so bad for him here with this $300,000 purchase.

A daughter of Justify, a three-year old.

First run was in August at Del Mar.

I thought she looked OK. She kind of stayed and I didn't

like that about her first run. So you've seen her working in

tandem more recently at Los Al and trying to get that done.

Another one that's been working at Los Al the Mafford.

I know that, but you see the debut, what it was I could, you

know, after I slandered Blacksmith last race, I'm

actually all. Feel a little better?

Nico in this race, because of the fact that this horse had a

run, I, I think second time out is going to be perfect for this

horse. There's enough speed inside.

He's going to stick to them like glue and stalk that pace and win

this race fairly easily, I think.

You and I are both 6, four and three in here.

The four horses into the hall who almost won last out just ran

out of gas in a similar race at Del Mar at a similar time of the

same day actually at Del Mar as well.

What do you make of Into the Hall here?

Yeah, I think the fitness going that way is going to do this

horse a lot of good, especially getting to the lead.

My I think this horse is quicker than Magnificat who's inside of

them. Yeah, but they're both gonna be

out there kind of winging it and and probably Ding Dong ING out

front and that'll just yeah, that'll just leave everything

wide over for Nico. That's why I think that horse

gets a perfect trip. Now, if Nico gets the perfect

trip in this race can. You stop saying things like Ding

Dong and then wide open right after it.

I can't live like this Darren Spears.

I cannot do it. I got dad jokes in my brain.

I got I'm still a very immature individual.

You can't do this to me that that's my bad.

That's. My bad, but I'd fade Nico next

time automatically if this horse gets the trip.

Got it. OK, there you go. 643 for both

of us in that one. We'll move on to Race 5, the

closer of that early sequence of course.

And it also starts the pick 6th Twilight Derby Grade 2 feature

on the card. We're going a mile and an eighth

and another one of those races, Barry, We get five horses.

Hopefully say hopefully because I mean as miles really get

around on this thing, I hope so. This is a mile and an eighth on

the turf course there at the at San Anita, 200,000 on the line.

Of course, this is just for three-year olds.

So we do see the shipper from across the country in test

score. Who will be the four to five

favorite here? Obviously the ownership there in

the Ambermans trying to get a graded stakes win into this one

once again after that Belmont Derby win.

Barry Ridgeland in this race. It's as easy as 123 here.

I, I thought September 64. I, I, I really like the way that

this horse was ridden last time. I know they, they kind of

petered out, but I appreciate those kind of moves because a,

it's good for the, the race they're in and it's even better

for the race that they're going into next.

And I think that's really the key here is this horse is going

to get out in front and be able to control that pace.

Now, if this horse is a runoff, they might be in trouble if they

can settle, if Kimura can settle this horse, they should be the

goods because I don't see anybody getting in the front of

this horse early and be able to take the the trip around the

track with no issues here. I, I mean, I don't think the 2

is going to pressure him and Scipio might want to, but I

don't think they'll be able to do that.

And last, even though Scipio has has run some really good races,

I, I, I really think September 64 has a real big pace advantage

in edge here. We'll get the lead almost

certainly right. I don't want to say by default,

but almost certainly right and and default might be the proper

term here. Kazushi Kumar keeps the mount

here. Any concern about the stretch

out and kind of the fade of the mile last time or is that more?

No, because I mean 3. Year olds are getting that

experience. Yeah, right.

And I think that experience is, is what's going to make the

difference. Now this time they can go slower

or right and, or to finish right and, and I think that that's,

that's a good move here. OK, so here's my dilemma here,

because you and I are the same except for the first horse.

OK, So we obviously agree on the two and the three being

contenders in this race. I, I, I'm going on two things as

far as using test score on top here, Barry.

And it's not the four to five number because I don't want it

to be 4 to 5 is a couple of years ago I remember saying

probably on this program. Todd Pletcher is placing his

horses as well as anyone I can remember right now and he was

having a a year ship at the Churchill ship in the I mean, he

would just drop horses in it was it was Todd Pletcher off the

plane. OK, it really was.

Do you know who it is this summer?

It's grand motion, man. It's grand motion dog.

And like he's, he's especially turf, of course, turf racing,

but like, but especially turf races, he's dropping horses into

spots that make a ton of sense. When this horse dropped into the

Belmont Derby, no one was like, Oh yeah, you know what?

That's it. That's that's what we're doing

here. We all need test score.

And now the horse ended up going off at a lower number because

this horse was in the American turf, etcetera.

Won the Transylvania at Keeneland.

That's a grade 3. Let's be clear, that's way

better than any Grade 2 that's been run at San Anita on the

turf this year. And so at least at the

three-year old level. And so I just think class wise

etcetera, they're not shipping by accident to this race.

And so give me, give me Tesla. Definitely no accident, but at

least for for my counterpoint on this horse is I'm not convinced

that this horse wants to go that far.

OK, I know they won the the Belmont Derby, but I I think

that horse kind of laid over that field at that time.

You know, they tried going longer the two times after that.

The horse ran well, but not much of A kick.

And I think maybe mile and 8th is probably the ceiling here for

for distance. And I don't know if this is the

best distance. I would rather see this horse

run a little bit shorter baby basically a mile and 16th or a

mile. Not saying that this horse can't

win. I mean class wise definitely

fits here, might even tower over this field.

So I was trying to take a shot with the the pace dynamics and

leaving this source out with the idea that the distance and the

trip might not be the best for test score.

I think, I think Graham Motion agrees with you to the point

that he's throwing blinkers on this horse.

Yeah, that's what I mean. And that's pay.

Attention to earlier right? Pay attention.

A little curious that that's happening.

In I don't disagree with you. Yeah, I, we'll see.

Race 6 is up next. And Barry, this is an

interesting moment in the history of the show, which is a

very short history here, but it is the first of the ratings

handicap races that will be happening at Santa Anita.

It is a, I'm not even going to call it a pilot program because

it appears we are way past that point with the folks over at

Equibase. Of course, that's Chance Moquet

and the whole team over there. So First off, the first thing I

want to say, Barry, is I, I, I know there's a lot of criticism

on the Internet. You could give away free puppies

and popcorn and trap and there would be criticism.

OK, so number one, I'm going to dismiss the online criticism out

of hand, frankly #2 the people who are begging for like, how do

I get the transparency on this? And the exact like everything,

it's. Pretty simple, no?

It is very simple frankly, and so like I just at some point

read. That's really all it takes and

trust me, in my personal life, I understand the importance of

reading because I come across so many people that do not.

Just don't read. Just don't read.

So go ahead and check it out. Based on multiple factors, of

course, the horses forum and lots of different, lots of

different things and how the weights are determined and all

that sort of stuff. Fantastic.

So go ahead and go check that out.

But this is the first of those ratings races.

They're running for $35,000. It is for three and up, which

have earned a rating number of 79 to 70 for each rating step of

two allowed 1 LB. So in other words, they are

creating a handicap system within a a decade within a 10

point part of the system. OK, this is a race in the 70s.

If you are 79 and there's a 71 in the race, you're going to

carry four more pounds, OK? That is essentially how this

works. And so that is what we are

looking at here. Barry Topolo comes in as the

favorite from the rail. I went a very different

direction here in Race 6 as I should probably put that up.

There we go and I went to the five in last call.

Zonlo not so different because this one is a 2 to one on the

line here. But Zonlo, we'll get Antonio

Afrezu in the mount here. We're sprinting on dirt.

I would have not mind. Kept keeping Edgar Paeras for

this one, but we'll go back to Alfrezu who won at the $10,000

level 2 back was right there at the optional 20 level in state

bread company last time. Barry.

Part of this learning curve for us, those of us who sit down

every week and look at Southern California is going to be do do

we have to simply look at the past work and and the class of

these horses while we're figuring out whether the ratings

fit or not? Because this is a 122 horse and

there are 120 fives in here. And now some of this is based on

weight and based on age and different things, of course.

But that horse I don't think should be carried 122 a little

bit more than that. So I'll land on the five here.

Where'd you land and race it? I thought Tepelo stands out

insanely here. I think this was going to be 1

to 2. And in fact, I wish we had prop

bets, more prop type bets, because I would bet that Tapolo

will not be on the lead and will come and do and and be a

different running style. That's how much better this

horse is than everybody else in this race.

I don't think this horse can lose them.

And if they do lose, either the horses hurt, sick or they're

cheating, which probably isn't the case.

So I I just don't think Tappolo can lose.

OK. All right.

So you are one seven and two. I am 5/2 and 7:00.

So we agree on the two and the seven here, Barry.

I'll talk about the two and drop them three to 1 here.

Kyle. Frank keeps them out or gets

them out back. I should say, after being in the

real the real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar just in August, this

one came back in an optional claimer on the turf just the

last time out. We get back to the dirt here.

I think that's where this horse wants to be. 4 times in the

trifecta in five runs lifetime. And so I'll use this horse for

that. Race broke its maiden on the

first asking at Golden Gate Fields.

How about that? Matt Dinnerman called that one

back in May of 2024. And then, you know, I say that.

No, he was gone by then. Matt was doing Oakland by then.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the other one that you and I

share in a handicapping here is the seven.

So we both found the 12:50 Don't fly standby.

Yeah, that horse ran some pretty decent races at Turf Paradise in

particular. Those steak races were decent.

You know these these races are are going to be tough because

you get horses like Tapilo and the Seven in the same race,

right? You know, this one's coming from

Turf Paradise, Zia Canterbury, Prairie Meadows, and this horse

has been hanging out so Cal the whole time.

It it it's hard to to match up how the better horses at Turf

Paradise match up at Santa Anita.

However, in this race in particular, I think the seven

fits pretty well. The running style in particular

is probably more of the attractor than the actual

anything else with this horse, because I think they they'll

fall into a really nice trip here with drop them probably

going to the lead with a little of tougher than the rest.

This horse and Tapolo will probably be lined up right

behind him with maybe last calls on Zonlow.

So I I think that will make a little bit of a difference and I

think the post position itself will lend to the fact that this

horse is going to not get bet as much but.

They won 7 cold exact the same. That's what I was going to do

1/7 old Medina. That's it.

That's all I see here do. You know where I am, people

inside the mind of Spears. You understand that I knew

exactly what was coming. You knew where you can bet you.

Had the map do. You know where you can bet exact

this? At amwager.com.

Do you know what else you can get at amwager.com?

You can get tons of great features.

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for the Breeders Cup. Double that, double that

bankroll, Barry, you understand me, double that bankroll that's.

What That's the that's the goal. And then you double it the next

day and the next day. Obviously right, that's how it

works. Easiest game in the world.

There you go race seven another ratings handicap 65 grand on the

line here Barry Boy, I'll tell you what these ratings handicaps

are going to catch on and keep putting up 65 grand at Santa

Anita, right? This is down the hill which I

freaking love 65 grand on the on the on the line here again,

Billy and bears 3 and up rating numbers here 80 to 95.

So if you are a higher rated horse, you are going to get more

money in the pools or this very a tough one as most of these

horses either don't have much experience going down the hill

or don't have a lot of success going down the hill.

Yeah, this is this is a really tough race.

They all kind of look the same on paper.

Late before absolute fire this weekend, and that's because of

these claiming races and because of this ratings handicap, yes.

Absolutely. You know, I ended up going with

number six Spicy bug and really I, I, this horse has not been

down the hill but is coming out of a mile race, a really good

one in fact. And I think that's just going to

accentuate this horse's kick. I say it all the time on this

show, how horses go down the hill after going a mile, cutting

back in distance. It really, really, really

accentuates their their leg kick.

And I think this is the perfect scenario for spicy bug.

This is what this horse wants to do.

I'm surprised they haven't tried this earlier, but here we are.

Hopefully we get that 3:00 to 1:00.

We're very similar here and how we're gonna talk about our top

selections here, but I'm gonna go 41 and two in here.

I'll take Miss Lizzie, who has won twice down the hill most

recently. Only time missing the board was

in the grades, three Las Amigas and it was down the hill, but

that was in January. A little bit of time off here

for Doug O'Neill, but look at the works, Barry.

This is one that's been flying on the Tepita at Santa Anita, I

think is really ready. I will admit this will buck a

trend if O'Neill does win this because he wins 4% of his races

with six months plus off. But this one feels a little

different to me, Barry, just because the horse did run this

year. It's not like we're talking

about didn't run since, you know, last August or something

and does have those works as well.

Drops back out of stakes company into what essentially they're

telling us, Barry, because of the rating system.

These are horses that are black types essentially, right?

Or or you know, something right below that, whatever that might

be. So I'll take Miss Lizzie here,

the four horse who I know is also in your handicapping 3rd.

I have the one in the second spot like you do as well.

So why don't you go ahead and talk about lunar impact in here?

Who does have success going down the hill previously?

Yeah, I, I think that's what I like about this horse.

You know, back February 2024, this horse was really running

good and, and won a race down the hill January 6th and then

kind of lost his way. They they went long, went back

to the 6th and 1/2 for a long ran a great race in this

direction and then, you know, they went a mile again.

And then last time I'm I'm sure this horse just didn't like the

the course at at Kentucky down. It's just the way this horse ran

and got eased up. It just not a good day for lunar

impact. I think they can bounce back Dan

Blacker on their home turf. I I think this horse will run a

much improved race and be right around it at the finish.

Yeah. And you got to try, by the way,

that's a grade 2 at Kentucky Downs, which I'm not kidding,

probably means that's a $2,000,000 race.

Yeah, exactly. Like you've got to go try.

So. And by the way, the the horse

had had success down the hill, right.

So you would assume at Kentucky Downs where you got to go down

the hill. Yeah, but.

You're going uphill too Uphill. That's the problem.

Shane like the uphill, She's like, give me the down.

Yeah. Oh, give me the escalator up and

then I'll take the stairs down. That's what she said.

All right, so. Leg workout, leg day, leg day.

That's all that was. That was a leg.

Day. That was a leg day race.

Well, Glute mentioned there. All right, we'll move on to race

8. This is a 6250 claimer.

No, we're not at Los Al, but I want to say this.

Where's the camera? There it is.

Good job, Santa Anita card. More of these, please.

Please. We will take all of them.

Fill, fill the gates for us to the next race, people.

It's very exciting. Late victory here, $3 minimum,

15% take out. Cannot suggest playing that

enough. 6 furlongs on the dirt. We're running for 15 grams

because damn right we are. Tons of options in here, Barry.

I laid it on the five. You and I are very different.

Late sequence. I like it.

I went 5-2 and six in here. Rousing Jewel.

Antonio Fraser gets them out here.

Here's why I'm interested. Why is Antonio Fraser riding a

6250 clamor? Because they think there's

something here. So they're going to try this one

out. He has been under.

She has been, excuse me, Aguilar, Silvera Garcia in

Americano before since Alvarado had the the mounts in Northern

California. I think rousing Jewel here drops

into the level that she needs to be at almost one at the $10,000

level. Last out at Santa Anita going 5

1/2 gets to go 6 here. Was making up ground at the end

of that race as well. So I think she's in a good spot

here. Barry, I know you in a different

spot with the two horse who I do have in my handicapping in a

rousing babe. Yes, looks loose lead looks

loose on the lead and that should go a long way in this

race. Not to mention the fact this

horse is kind of dropping in class quite a bit.

Those races up north in Emerald might be a little bit tougher

than this one. And and I think this horse, if

they are smart, Rick and Gonzalez just going to go and

just put the pedal to the metal and play catch me if you can.

I don't really think that the 10 can keep up.

I mean that horse has a lot of quit in running in condition

claimers while the 2 is running in open claimers.

I'll be it up north. It's I still think that's a

little bit better in in this spot.

You know, the Blaine Wright really knows how to spot good

horses, and I think he's done. Especially at the top here he's

really good at claiming level. Yeah, exactly.

This is what he's dealing with up there at Emerald.

So I I think this is to me, I like this horse the best on the

card. I'll say something else too

about racing in Southern California.

Now that they can condense the circuit, you need a guy like

Blaine Wright to succeed. You do because that's who fills

your gates. You really do.

You need him like four or five, four or five entries a card.

That's the guy you need to succeed at at Santa Anita.

Is, is a guy like Blaine Wright, frankly, up and down the West

Coast, filling the gates with these kinds of races, etcetera.

Maybe jumping up once in a while, winning a 2 year old

stake, whatever it might be. But you need dudes like that to

really care. I'm not kidding.

How to fill the gate? Yeah, no, you're absolutely

right. Because that's that's what gets

lost a lot of times where people like to see the headliners and

they like the Bob Bafferts and you know, the Michael McCarthy's

and the journalisms and the gaming's.

And but it's these horses in this race like rousing Babe that

hold the foundation together. And like you said, we need more

guys like that. We need these kind of horses to

to fill out races and to have their own races.

I mean, this one, the next race is 14 horses in the same sort of

class. So this is what we definitely

need. And as horse players, it's a

challenge because these. Races are challenged.

The horses are inconsistent, they do things in and out of

form and it makes for good payouts.

It's like everything that everybody wants, so let's keep

that rolling. Yeah, we don't have to pretend

that we don't love it. 5-2 and six for me here in Race 8.

Barry, is 246. Pretty easy to remember there.

The late double starts with Race 9.

It's a $5 minimum late double there at Santa Anita, as Barry

mentioned, 14 to the gate for this one.

Fingers crossed, $10,000 claimer for non 2 lifers 3 and up.

Six furlongs on the dirt. We're running for $18,000.

Odd race means an odd man goes first.

Barry, you're up. Yeah, I landed on #9 Kitten in

charge. First off, the claim for Chuck

Treese, who does really well with this, Yeah, I mean.

He my goodness, especially lately.

Yes, right. Yeah, He hasn't done it a lot.

But I mean, from years past and just knowing, you know, watching

Los Allen, all that kind of stuff, I know that he does very

well off the claim and and I don't think this is an

exception. There's enough speed in here.

This race should be fair. There's a lot of horses.

Hopefully this horse can get a little bit more forwardly

placed. I don't want this horse too far

back because it might get into traffic trouble.

But last time, first time at this level, second time at the

level is always the better race. I'm going with Kitten on charge

in first. I hope people heard my Ding Dong

joke earlier. Yeah, that was pretty because I

was setting it up for race time. You know who I got on top here,

Barry? Ding Dong and.

No more Ding dongs on top, you understand me?

In for the tag here. Last seen at Santa Anita in a

$25,000 claimer. Y'all be better than that.

This is a $10,000 horse. Calfre gets the mount back after

this one has been trying optional claimers and 25

claimers. Let's call this horse what it

is. It is a dime claimer back into

this. The sire is idiot proof by the

way, which I love that they named a horse No more Ding Dongs

when the dad is idiot proof. It's just a good job.

Yeah, but no more Twinkies. No more Twinkies is the damn.

It's a it's just a spectacular great, I'm sorry, Victory Rose

thoroughbreds. Shout out for chefs carrying

idiot proof with no more Twinkies.

It's a great job. It is a legitimately great job.

It was worth every bit of the $3000 stud fee.

I would do it just for the jokes.

I mean Joe for the show, good job.

Plus this horse is going to win in this 14 horse, this Kentucky

Oaks size field. Give me give me no more Ding

dongs on top. I agree with you about the nine.

I'll talk about the 11 now. That is self-sufficient.

That horse is 2 to one in here. I want to be clear, I wouldn't

have a stingle horse at 2:00 to 1:00 in this field.

No chance Herrera gets them out for Mathis here.

Has not been aboard this horse before, but this is Andy

Mathis's level as well. Two for 9 so far by the way it

wins and two more 2nd place finishes in nine starts in the

exact of four out of nine starts right now in this meet at Santa

Anita. This horse has been working

about as well as anyone in this group.

And so if you wanted to lean on that, that's fine.

And 2nd off the layoff here, a terrific, terrific angle for

Andy Mathis as well. So I landed, what was that

49114911 Barry giving away what kind of car he drives?

We know you got a Porsche. It's OK. 911 And Seth, what,

what do you like about Ariel? I look kind of the best of the

rest I know. Especially if the Avril Downs

earlier form translates. I'm with you.

Right. And that, and that's what I'm

kind of counting on. And I think, I think it does

translate well here. I'm not really enthused with the

11 too much. It seems like a, a bit of a

suspicious drop into this company.

I, I don't really think that they need to do that or to drop

this far, but they're in this race.

So that's why I kind of bet against the 11.

The seven should be coming late. I, I really, you know, it's the

running style that that's really prevented me from putting that

horse on top because I do think they fit very, very well here,

especially on the drop from 25 to 10.

It's a tough one, folks. Get as many as you can in there

for sure. That was 911 and seven for

Barry. I was 49 and 11 in Race 9.

We move on to Race 10 closer on the card here.

Barry calls these get out races, but I make money so I don't have

to call them out. It is what are you?

Trying to say. You know what I'm saying?

Down the hill, 6 1/2 furlongs. I'll see you on Tuesday.

I'll see. You next week?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's see, you're already new.

Where did Barry go? He said no.

Beat him in the alley. It's $64,000 on the line state

bread. Phillies and Bears 3 and up have

never won. Essentially a $21,000 starter

allowance here. Running for $61,000 in this one.

Barry, I'm going to let you go first because I'm going to admit

to the crowd I have no idea what to do in this race.

I have no idea what to. Do in this race.

I'm really perplexed too, but I ended up on the one.

Princesa del Tigre, look at you. I kind of agree with you

actually. You know it's the cutback again,

you know the cutback is is very, very strong there and this horse

seems to want to close on a Sprint.

If you look back at 2024 those races at Golden Gate,

Pleasanton, this horse was closing fast a lot and I think

this might be right up her alley on the cutback.

Kazushi Kimura to the hoop. Let's go there's.

A horse named Tina Turner in this race and you have that

horse third in your handicapping.

And I've I've been trying to come up with a good Tina Turner

joke. Roland, Roland.

So simple, so good. Too easy.

I got to say I love this from Steve Knapp.

I love this take a shot. Big purse.

You qualify for this your horse comes in with a ton of autopsy

out of that race yes and upside frankly right wins on debut

rallies to do it I'm with you I'm actually one and eight in

this race. I'm interested to see if either

of them gets it done. I'm also looking at Barry.

Where am I at a garden party here.

Tough race last out in state bred company should get back to

the form we saw at Del Mar. But this is one that that they

tried on the dirt at the end of at the end of May and it just

didn't work. So they're getting back to the

turf here and the two races off the layoff there at Del Mar were

both good. The last race was fine.

The horse was just it took forever to get going.

And so if if Herrera can get this horse out of the gate at

all, which is a massive question.

I think it's got a chance. But we've also seen Barry down

the hill. Sometimes these horses that can

rally are the ones that end up winning, right, Especially if

they can kick a little bit of kick on the dirt for whatever

reason, like whatever they can do there at that turning point

at the very top of the stretch, it can really matter.

But I'll go one and eight in here.

Interested in that one. The one right next to it as

well. Nancy Griffith is really

interesting for Edward Maldonado, Steve Miotti.

This one has been on the turf 9 times, finished second four of

them and they tried the horse down the hill in a high level

allowance for non 2 lifers and I and I just I don't I don't know

if that's one that can keep up. One that you and I have not

mentioned is my atom of a horse here. 3 to 2 for Jeff Mullins.

Why do we not like that horse? Is it the price only?

Don't know what we're going to get.

I mean, the horse is very, very inconsistent.

We don't really know what this horse does well.

I mean, is he a dirt horse? Is he a turf horse?

He's one on both. He's hasn't looked bad, but he

seems like a just kind of a middle of the road type.

I, I, I mean, he could easily win this race.

He has races to go to, but I, I tend to think that that last

race was sort of a perfect trip and and not really

representative of his talent. I don't think he's that good.

Honestly, as far as garden party goes.

I think that horse probably will need to just keep be kept clear,

OK, You know, kind of like a locomotive, you know, the horses

just. Put her in the middle, put her

in the middle of the track, just.

Stay clear and not get stopped. That'll that'll be the best trip

for that horse and I expect that one to be really running late.

So I don't know this is this is a really, really tough race.

I thought Tina Turner was a good get.

I just wish the price was a little bit higher at least the

morning line. I know Steve Knapp is first time

turf is over 20, but you got to try it in this race because it

nobody looks really good here. There's no standouts.

It could go a bunch of different ways and I can definitely see a

horse like Tina Turner running big OK.

All right. Well, Barry, you're going to be

up here on Tuesday. Yes, Sir.

And I kind of wanted to pause the show and talk about that

and, and what we're going to get to do together next week.

Just so everybody knows what Barry and I are working on

together coming up here. I'll take these things off the

screen so that you can see us. Luther Belberry Spears again,

we're presented by Amwager and amwager.com.

We appreciate them a lot. And one of the things Barry, I

met with them kind of our annual get together ahead of 2026 and

those kinds of things this week. And, and I sat down with a woman

named Marissa who works there. And I and I said to her, Barry

and I wanted to just say this publicly on the show.

The first thing I said to her, and I'm not kidding, was thank

you for your partnership on the show.

The best thing that's happened is I've gotten to know Barry

Spears this year. And thank you for allowing me to

do that. Because otherwise, I don't know

that we would have had much motivation to hang out more

than, you know, like once a month on a show or something,

Barry or not serious, like like, well.

Now, yeah, I mean, that's how it was before.

Like on my podcast or like, you know, I would jump on with you

guys on, you know, the SGPN and all that and, and whatever.

But the, you know, you and I had a we were cordial for sure.

But once we started doing this, it was like, yo get here for the

Wood memorial. Like it happened right away.

Yeah, it did. And, and, and so I've just been

really grateful for that. I pitched to Barry the idea of

going to the Breeders Cup, but of course he was in.

But I also pitched the idea of coming up here on Tuesday to do

a seminar with me in person rather than having to do it over

the air. And I'm also hopeful, by the

way, the government works on Tuesday for you, so you can fly

out here. But anyways, the yeah, those

poor people, the and Barry said yes, and then he said something

else after that. It's my 50th birthday and if you

want to know how much fun Barry and I are having, Barry is

choosing to fly on his birthday to a rainy Louisville, KY to do

a seminar at a restaurant he's never been to with a bunch of

people he's never met and hang out with me and and sleep in my

house the night before. We get up early to go catch a

flight to San Diego. And again, Marissa Amwager, if

you folks are listening or watching, we appreciate you very

much. We love getting to do this.

Barry and I have not Just fun getting ready for the show and

doing it all day Saturday. Your bum picks, your great

picks. Oh man, you're on fire.

You should never do the show again.

Whatever it might be on Saturdays is just spectacular.

It's a Barry ahead of next week. I just wanted to share that that

that moment I had with, with Marissa and how much this show

has turned out to mean to me. I, I was, it's caught me off

guard how much I've enjoyed it. But I hope you're having fun as

well. If you, if you are able to get

up here, visit martinilouisville.com.

OK, Martini, louisville.com. 30 bucks a head.

You get dinner. We'll have some bourbon tastings

and different things as well. We'll be doing our seminar.

And if you can't make it, it is 7:00 Eastern Time on Tuesday.

Barry and I will be going through as many of those races

as we can cover in about an hour.

All of it will not be available here.

It will be available at Bloodhorses, social media stuff.

So you have to find them at Bloodhorse all over the place.

It'll be on IG, it'll be on Facebook, it'll be on Twitter.

You'll be able to find it there. So look for us on Tuesday the

weekend. Barry and I are flying

Wednesday. You won't hear from us.

Maybe we'll do like a we landed Wednesday thing like what we're

seeing at Del Mar or something like that. 5 minutes.

We'll throw it up Thursday morning at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00

Pacific. Barry will be Co hosting Rebo

and Co with me on ESPN Radio Louisville.

OK, so at ESPN 680 for all of that, you can come find us.

We're efforting guests. But right now we'll have Matt

Bernier from NBC on Thursday. We'll talk to him a little bit

ahead of. He'll be on in the 11:00 or the

8:00 hour depending on your personal time zone, but we'll

have him on as part of the show. Then we'll talk to other

luminaries like Matt Dennerman, Steve Kornacki, hopefully Kenny

Rice will be able to pop by that sort of stuff.

So you'll get a lot of the the faces that you know and that you

affiliate with the Breeders Cup. But Barry and I will be on radio

for two hours Thursday and Friday.

Barry's going to have to pick football games next week.

That'll be fun. And then M, you're damn right

you are. And then on Saturday.

Probably better than I think. If you're better at that than

horses, it'll be a sad day, but a funny day, which I'm hoping

that's what'll happen. It'll be hilarious.

Anyway, that's Saturday right here, wherever you're watching.

This show will be on for an hour next week, Saturday.

I will announce a time once I have cleared everything up with

Blood Horse and I know what we're doing for Saturday, Barry

and I will be on, that'll be Carlos Morales, that'll be JD

Fox, that'll be Danny Brewer, that'll be Matt Dinerman.

Those will be That's the fun bleep around show on Saturday

ahead of all they keep smiling about Danny, Danny.

And so we'll be doing all of that next week.

So if you're looking for the the vest in the buttoned up shirt

that I'm wearing right now, Blood Horse, we got three shows.

If you're looking for this show, we'll be back at it on Saturday

and on the radio for two hours. So five hours of coverage

between Barry and me just on those outlets.

Well Barry, I am be on pump for next week.

It's so fun to work with someone who cares about this bleep as

much as I do, so I appreciate you very, very much.

By the way, if you ever have an idea you want to work with us,

whatever it is, horseracinghappyhour@gmail.com,

you are welcome to get a hold of us that way at Horse Happy Hour

on Twitter, climbing the DMS at Radio Louis at Urban Handicap or

whatever you want to do. We'd love to work with you and

we'd love to work with your track potentially as well.

For Barry Spears. My name's Louis Ribow, check me

out on Sunday. I'm talking to James Welch on

Sunday is a Scottish handicapper.

We will go through all of the British Isle shippers on the

turf for the Breeders Cup, one of our most popular episodes of

the year, every single year. That'll drop in the afternoon,

evening on Sunday and then of course, the seminar on Tuesday

with barry@martinilouisville.com.

But on all the blood horse socials.

We will see you then for Barry. I'm Louis.

Have a great weekend everybody.