SoCal Saturday 6/7/25 | Santa Anita Park

All right, kids gather around. It's time for another edition of

Socal Saturdays with our friends at Amwager, the Sporting

Tribune, all the good spots. I'm Louie Revoke from the Horse

Racing Happy hour, ESPN Louisville, hanging out with my

buddy Barry Spears, as I do every time this week ahead of

the races on Saturday out there. Of course, the Grade 3

Summertime Oaks will be the highlight of the card on

Saturday there at Santa Anita. And Barry, I would like to go

ahead. Thank this show for the increase

in handle that we've seen in the spring at San Anita Park.

Oh yeah, it's all us. I mean, without us, there's

probably about $500,000 that isn't going in the pool.

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All right, Barry. Well, this is a card.

You know, we get that overnight kind of early in the week and we

get a sense of how many horses are going to be in here before

the, you know, before the morning lines come out and all

that sort of thing. And I remember sending you this

one and going, boy, we're, we're going to have some fun with this

one. And boy did not disappoint when

I was going through it. Yeah, the fields are big

competitive, you know, I, I think we're going to get a lot

of prices probably later in the card, but man, it's, it's a good

one. You can't, you can't get away

from my people. It's just it's one of these

things, you know what, these are your people now too, Barry, I

got to tell you folks too. You got to deal with the Steves

of the world. That's just how it goes on these

shows. But again, am Wager and am

wager.com get in with them right now.

We'll go to race one out there at Santa Anita.

If you're new to the program here, we always try to tell you

what's going on at the bottom of the screen.

So whenever you jump into the show or hey, I want to go back

on Saturday and watch this thing on YouTube, Spotify, wherever it

is, you're going to find it. You can always find the race,

the sequence that you're looking for by looking at the bottom of

the page. Rage one, rage one race one is

an optional claimer here over the turf course there at Santa

Anita Park, $50,000 is the claiming price, 34,000 in the

purse here. Barry, I thought an interesting

starter to the to the card here, a shorter field, which we

usually don't say of seven here on this Saturday at Santa Anita

Park, which is a nice thing to be able to say, but you like a

long shot in the spot. Not too long, I guess you know

time song seems to be a little bit better than these.

I know this horse had a a tough race in the wood chopper down at

fairgrounds, but he was keeping pretty good company.

He has some speed and in this kind of steady diet we get of

these optional claimer 50,000. This horse kind of fits.

I know he he was in a non wars of two last time, but I I think

his numbers and everything and competition he's been keeping

really stands out here. So we're going to put him on

top. See, we'll hear Pete Aiello's

name as he calls Louis the champ on the outside of this one.

The seventh horse. No, I am not name picking here.

I promise. This is Barry's second horse,

happens to be my first here. We'll break from the outside.

Armando Ayuso, as we've talked about many times on this

program, we hold in high regard. He's getting better and better

mounts as he spends more time in Southern California and I think

this is the exact kind of race that he wins.

His Taurus the last two times out has been within two lengths

of the winner, 2nd, 2 back and 4th last time out.

I think it's probably due for a breakthrough at some point in

this kind of company, Barry. So would not be surprised to see

any combination of the one or the seven.

You have the six in your handicapping as well in Bolt

Supremacy. We've seen a bunch of these Bolt

laurels doing good running as well.

Yeah, you know, he's kind of the best of the rest.

You know, I I thought him and Louis the Champ were, were kind

of almost interchangeable as far as running style goes and, and

actually speeds figures and all. But like you said, Armando Yuso

is is riding really, really well.

He's getting on really good horses.

So that's that's kind of why I put him in the second spot.

But you know, those two horses should be rounding out this

field. You know they have the numbers

to compete. I think the threes in here is

interesting as well. Nation 9:00 to 2:00 here for

Kyle Frey and Michael McCarthy broke his maiden last out and

once in a while in this kind of company, Barry, I just want a

horse that's won recently right as seen the front of the pack

rather than the mid part of the pack in these races.

And certainly that was at a maiden 50.

But hey, that's how you got to qualify for this kind of

condition. And so I think Kyle Frey can

spot pilot this one. I think it's similar on the last

time as a winning run in this race as well.

So this, the three in nation might be an interesting one to

include in your exactas or trifectas as well.

Barry Spears, Louie Robot hanging out with you.

This is Socal Saturdays with our friends at Amwager.

We go through the card in Southern California every single

weekend right here. Our friends at Sporting Tribune,

wherever you're hanging out with us, we really do appreciate it

as well, $32,000 claimer in Race 2.

It's on the dirt. 5 1/2 furlongs here.

Just a straight claimer here. Barry, $32,000 to get your horse

picked up by someone else, I guess of an approval rating is

the four horse in here will land on top for me.

Another one coming out of a maiden win.

And yes, a restricted 1 here as this is a Florida bread and and

sold for, you know, a $45,000 kind of price and so qualified

for that maiden special last out.

But I thought was really, really fast did a lot of good work

early from the gate. And I think in this group being

quick out of the gate might be good enough.

And so I'm on lean on the four approval rating.

I love the price of 6 to 1. I don't know that we'll get it

by the time we get there, but OJ Hiragi and Asyle Espinoza,

excuse me, as so many of these riders are either at Saratoga at

Churchill, what have you for the weekend.

A guy like Espinoza is going to have to step into these kinds of

mounts and I think he's very capable of winning this kind of

this kind of Sprint. This horse very good the last

two times out second by neck and then winning breaking through

last time in the maiden ranks. I think a little bit more

distance here actually won't be the end of the world.

And so I I really like this horse in this spot.

I I love that six to one prize, Barry.

Yeah, I struggled with putting this one on my selections.

I I really, you know, this horse has the potential to be any kind

and this is the kind of race where that that sort of thing

can poke through. Sure, but in the end, I I

thought Night with Louie was just a stand out, you know, And

it's not a not a hunch play, but yeah.

You'll have to like, I'm obligated to put 20 bucks on

Louie Louie here, right? I mean, that's just a thing.

Yeah, I was going to say that double is a no brainer, but

Night with Louie just seems to be head and shoulders above

these horses class wise and probably will run to it.

I I wasn't thinking there was going to be too many surprises

here. I use the sixth lady of Sky

second, another one that's showing speed and a little bit

of positional speed might go a long way in in a race like this.

I'm interested as well. I went after the four two night

with Louis. I agree with you on that.

But the three horse in here, petite treat that you have not

mentioned quite yet gets the Aransas pipe mix that we don't

get too terribly often. They're only one for their last

eleven there at Santa Anita Park.

And Mike, unfortunately, a slow, slow start to this meet for him

since the Santa Anita Derby. But this one second off the

layoff here is switching turf to Derf, which is pretty OK for

him, frankly. He's won two of his last 10

doing that going from dirt turf to dirt.

I I wonder if this horse is actually maybe even a level

below the 32 level. Maybe this is like a 25 or a 22

kind of horse moving forward. But I do think petite treat in

there for an exacto trifecta kind of play makes a lot of

sense as well in your handicapping in this race as

well. You have the five horse and

polythene Pam coming in here that is 1.

I definitely left off of mine. What did you say?

Well, it it's tough because these races that you'll see like

this one where some of them are scheduled on the turf, some of

them are scheduled on the dirt and, and the horses kind of go

back and forth and it's hard to get a good gauge as as to what's

their best surface because a lot of them kind of run the same on

either. I think the addition of Lasix

for the five will will give it a just a little bit of a bump up.

This horse was running in pretty good races all the way around

since the since the beginning, you know, came out.

Running was probably over her head in most of those races.

Gets back to a reasonable level, adds Lasik's.

A little bit appealing there. That was race 2 at Santa Anita

Park this weekend. Again, go check out our friends

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They are live in a California. Race 3 will be a $16,000 claimer

going a mile on the dirt course. There purse is $25,000 in this

one. I like, Barry, that we're seeing

more of this kind of race being carted at Santa Anita because

we're getting 789 horses in these races.

Just fill these. Just fill the gates for me.

People just give me some roses to bet on in this case, and we

certainly get that in Race 3 here.

You've got the four on top in Race 3 at 3:00 to 1:00 in Ready

to Pounce. What do you like about?

What do you like about him? I I like that last race the

horse got to a reasonable level. I know this horse was a little

bit wide but should get a better trip at this level.

I like the the second time at a particular level when they drop

in. Usually they run their best race

at that level. Should be tracking Nauvoo and

this horse will be as its namesake, ready to pounce.

I like how you did the dad joke for no reason other than being a

dad. Zimba Warrior on top for me.

The 2 horse here out of the Jesus Oranga barn here for

Armando IU. So this one has been running an

optional claiming company, but before that was at this level 1

by open lengths. Before that ran at the 10 level,

1 by open lengths. I think we're just getting back

to what this horse is supposed to do. 6 for 28 lifetime at the

distance. This is so clearly what this

horse has done just over and over and over again, but I'll go

ahead and take him on top. Two wins and four runs this year

already in this kind of company. If I can just get a winner

amongst this kind of group, I feel really strongly about this.

This might be 1 Barry that I get really aggressive with early in

the sequence. I like him that much.

Yeah, I can definitely see it. I mean, he, he definitely runs

his race pretty much every time and, and he's been doing it for

a long time, you know, and that's, that's really my

reservation. That's why I have him third,

because I think he's still going to run his race.

He's definitely going to be in the number, just not on top.

OK. Race 3 as well, after the four

horse, you have the six horse in your handicapping in Nauvoo that

you mentioned, but after that you did have him in 3rd.

Are you leaning more toward the four ready to pounce being the

class of this group or are you going to have to use a couple if

we're doing say a multi race here?

I would lean towards ready to pounce being a head and

shoulders above these. Nauvoo is is is a good horse and

has speed and I think this horse will hang around, but there's

other speeds that kind of get in this horse's way like the five

man child. Even the inside horse lay as

candy might get involved early. So it could be a little bit of

an impairment for a horse like Nauvoo.

Yeah, a fascinating little field here, just a field of seven, but

does seem to figure out you and I did not talk about the seven

on the outside in our handicapping here.

I have him second in contrarian Chieftain ran really well last

time in optional claiming company drops back into the

claiming like ranks. This is a horse that they set up

so many of these races for Barry because they were based in

Northern California, but we've discovered that he fits in

Southern California, right. So he's a horse that fits just

fine in these other kind of claiming races.

Will run for 16 here dominated A5000 claimer earlier picks up

Kyle Frey in the mount here as well.

So clearly moving up in the general ranks as far as his

career as well. I thought looked really good

last time in an optional claimer.

They should be a lot of class relief for him as well.

So contrarian Chieftain for me in the second spot in a race

three, we go to race 4, we head back to the grass.

We're on the flat part of the turf course going 6 furlongs

sprinting here in a maiden special weight.

This is for Cal Breads and $60,000 is on the line. 3-4 and

five year olds all qualify for this one.

Barry, you've been leaning on this show toward the first

timers. Where did you land in this one?

I. Didn't in this spot I've I've

been actually waiting for Miles Finch to get back on the on the

track. I I liked him quite a bit.

February 22nd he ran a pretty good race.

I didn't think he was going to go to the lead that day, but got

beat by King of Clubs who turned out to be a pretty good turf

horse. Yeah, and this race is doesn't

seem to be a lot of speed and I think this horse can wire him.

The only issue may be the price, but I think if we get 3 to 1

that'll be perfect. Yeah, I think anything, anything

2 to one and longer, I think you're going to be lucky, but I

think you can get it. He is interesting here.

The only thing I would say is the layoff, but Sadler's totally

fine off of the layoff. This seems to be a very logical

spot for this one who did go a mile last time, but before that

was sprinting. Flavi Pratt and Juan Hernandez

have had all of the mounts. That's what they think of this

horse, frankly, in his young career as well, a son of Ronski.

We've seen the chosen run out of that, out of that group as well.

And so just an interesting, you know, fits this spot very well.

You and I landed on the same horse here.

We also landed on the same second horse, which is the 10 in

High Plains Drifter. I'll go first here.

And I'm not going to lie, I'm just I'm basically largely off

that last effort. I thought it was that good lands

in the Mike Pipey barn here, but this is second off the layoff

here. He's pretty good in turf,

sprints, etcetera. I think you might be 910 and

just move on with your day here, Barry.

But when you and I agree on a horse, generally speaking, it

finishes pretty well. Yeah, we do.

Well, I mean, we had Touchdown Brown and you know, a couple

weeks ago. But yeah, I'm with you.

High Plains drifted. That last race was real solid,

you know, and and it seems like they kind of figured this horse

out going into the Pipey barn. He got him the run better than

he has previously. Maybe it's the distance, I don't

know, but I like that last race and he looks like a logical

horse to run up behind Miles Finch.

I know right behind them you have the Jeff Mullins trained

Subic boy, the 6th horse here. I'll say the aforementioned.

I'll say El Espinosa gets them out here a second time starter.

I love the last two works on the Tepita course.

They were going from dirt over to the turf this time.

I think the son of stay thirsty. Obviously that Bernardini line

there. This could make a lot of sense

for this horse if he does like the turf especially Boy, this is

1. I, I, I think you, you might

have, you might have found the diamond in the rough here.

I think this horse stands a good chance.

I, I, I would definitely keep an eye on the board because if this

horse just drifts up too far, it might be a little cold.

But if he's right around that 12:50, you might want to take a

second look. He's a four year old going

against a bunch of three-year olds and some others mixed in

there. But he's lightly raced, has one

start and some good workouts coming into this.

It wouldn't surprise me if he if he runs really well here.

Yeah, it's an interesting race. I ended up on the seven in the

third spot. Curling command.

Very boring for me here, but I'm on the way.

So it does get them out here. Kazushi Cabrera had them out

last time in a maiden special weight at this kind of level

against the 345 types. I just think eventually this

horse is going to breakthrough. Race 4 is usually a good

candidate for that as well. Is only carrying 120 lbs in here

because the horse is 3 years old.

Little bit of weight relief here compared to other runners in

this group, so maybe he's able to sneak it, sneak it in that

way. But I think the 9:00 and 10:00

do stand above this field in a pretty significant way.

We'll close the early pick five with Race 5.

This is a maiden. 50 of the dirt is 6 furlongs in a $33,000 purse

in here again, nice field of eight for this one.

Barry. I'll let you go first here.

I make the declaration again. Are you looking for a first

timer? Yes, I am, yeah.

I mean the horses that ran in this race that have run already

don't really look all that intimidating.

So and there's only really one first time starter who has a

decent workout on May 18th might be the best gate work on the

page 47 and one handed from the gate at Santa Anita.

I I think this horse they they want to turn them out and just

let them go and and I think that'll be the right move,

especially with a horse with a little bit of speed and flash

the smile. If Rockford Peach can clear and

get the lead, watch out. George Papa Pedromu, of course,

the trainer here, Abel Lescano will get the mount.

I'm I'm really fascinated by him because when you draw the rail

like that, you got to go no options here, right?

And you mentioned the work from the gate and how quick it was if

he breaks, well, who knows, right?

Especially in this company with a bunch of horses that haven't

won in the past pre, you know, haven't won previously.

That's actually where the gamble is, you know, and, and, and you

that's where you want to try to figure out your price.

So however you think the chances of this horse breaking well

versus the price this horse is going to be because you don't

really want to take a four to one on a horse that's never done

anything before. That might break slow, but at

12:50 makes a lot more sense. Yeah, I landed on Elsa Dutton,

the the Philly that will break from the three here.

Ricardo Gonzalez 4 Phil d'amato Surprising to no one.

Almost one at this condition last time out.

Going 6 1/2. Hopefully the the the slight.

Excuse me? Yeah, going 6 1/2.

Hopefully the slight reduction in distance here will be good

for that one Flash that smile right next with the two horse

makes a fair amount of sense. But as you point out, these

horses have been in maiden claimers before and it didn't

work out. So why not take a flyer on the

one in Rockford Peach in that spot?

I assume you get the Rockford Peach reference here.

From leave their own. How about that?

Look at you. All right, good job out of you.

I was going to say that that be some guy in the comments just

coming over the top, just just, you know, just going to.

Kill me. Steve wants to know when the 4th

is 9/10 of cold exacta I I I'm not mad at that.

I no, I'm I'm down with. That I'm not mad at that.

If we're going cold exactas with with Barry Spears, that might be

what we're doing here. But after he the three horse for

me, I landed on the 6th big city miss in this spot and this is

purely class relief and trusting Juan Hernandez.

I want to be very clear. There's nothing on paper that

makes me think that this horse is going to be spectacular other

than the obvious move to to the claiming levels, which Mike

Michael McCarthy does add 1/4 of the of the time he wins those

races. All of the numbers make sense

here. Turf the dirt 24%, this amount

of time off 21%, he wins Maiden claimers at 23%, etcetera,

etcetera. It's purely just a numbers play

at that point, Barry, not one that we've seen do it on the

track to this point. But maybe the class relief will

be just enough for this one to move on and be a little bit

better. I know you had the three in the

second spot, but Lil Boom boom's going to break from the outside.

I feel like that's the worst rapper name of all time.

Horrible. There's got to be a guy named

Lil Boom Boom out there, right? I mean, they're just not.

I mean, there's a horse named Lil Boom Boom, so at least they

got that going for him. They.

Got a twin? But little boom boom, I I think

needed the layoff and then the class relief.

Getting Lasix makes a lot of sense in this spot, you know, as

the as the losses keep piling up.

I mean, this horse finished second four straight times.

You're going to have to wonder if if they may even have to drop

even lower. But I'd give him a shot to hit

the board here in this race. Again, we're presented by AM

Wager and AM wager.com. This is Socal Saturdays.

We're on the Sporting Tribune in different places.

He's Barry Spears. My name's Louis Robot.

We do this every Friday. We would love to have you back

next Friday as well. Race 6 is up next, and it starts

the late pick 5. If you are so interested in

those kinds of things. It will be down the hill on the

turf course. They're going 6 1/2 furlongs.

It is an allowance of $61,000 on the line.

This is for Cal Breads as well. Barry, as many of the best

horses are traveling for the Belmont Stakes Festival.

We find tons of these states that's level races around the

country, a nice field of 12 for this one.

And I know you and I have a lot of sleuthing to do because there

aren't a lot of horses in here that have one going down the

hill. Frankly, I think there are none.

And so we're going to have to try to figure out what to do

here with this group of 12. This is where I think you're

going to start throwing bombs. Which one did you land on?

I landed on the 9 Piper's Causeway.

This horse's grass races are pretty decent, you know.

I just think he's just run into bad luck and his two down their

hill races. The last one wasn't that great.

The comment in the in the form is fractious between gave way,

which tells me this horse was out of sorts from the beginning

and probably didn't want any part of this.

But the time before that this horse just missed going 6 1/2

down the hill. If they get that kind of trip

and and again, a USO is a is a big factor in this, in this

selection because I think he's a great positional rider, almost

akin to Flavin Pratt. He gets his horse in the right

position. This was going to be tough to

beat. Yeah, I, I, I don't think that's

an inaccurate measure of him. He he is the best of whatever

that Golden Gate style was where the guys had to be in the proper

position and patient because otherwise it just didn't matter

If they went too early, they were done.

If they were out of position, they were done.

And so I think Armando grew up that way in in in the Bay Area

and I think he's brought that quality of his riding to

Southern California as well. I'm I landed on the 2 horse here

in Sur rocket at six to one for Neil Drysdale.

This one last outgoing flat 6 furlongs under Mike Smith was

very, very good. Just missed behind Miss Joe's

Curlin. I'm I'm wondering with him Barry

and I've seen him down the hill once lost by about 2 1/2 flanks.

Maybe a second time down the hill will be kind of the charm

here. But I just I think I like the

price more than anything else. Horse that's run four times, hit

the board a couple of times did break his maiden sprinting on

the turf at Santa Anita Park. And so maybe get back to some of

that form as well. But again, in this kind of race,

I think if you take less than say 5 to 1 on your horse, I I

think you're kind of missing what this what this offers.

Yeah, there's, there's quite a few horses that you know will be

trying to get the same trip and and a lot of them are going to

be pretty decent prices. So I I wouldn't fault anybody

for throwing one downfield here. You also like the one in this

spot breaking from the quote UN quote inside going down the hill

in the Shilali. I'll tell you what, you, you

walk into that the Jockey Club, I'm going to name my horse the

Shilali. Not a Shilali, not some Shilali.

The Shilali. You understand me?

This is a, some force of the factor in this spot, in this

spot. Thiago Pereiro gets them out.

What do you like about this 12 to one or because I I, I can't

believe this one's 12 to one. I'll be honest, the Shilali

always reminds me of the the cartoon cops back in the day.

I I, I think I'm aging myself here.

But you are raging. That's what that reminds me of.

But anyway, this horse was running a mile and showing

decent kind of speed and I think down the hill we'll probably do

this horse a lot of good. I I, I think you know, the way

this horse is training and, and kind of it looks like this horse

is feeling good, just needs the right distance down the hill.

Why not 12 to one? You know, bro bro finished

behind bro bro last time it was a pretty decent horse.

So I I wouldn't discount this one at all. 4 year old cat man

Sue will break from the four in this spot.

Hector Berrios gets the mount and this one has been on the

turf 4 times. Hit the board three of them.

His one win did come on the dirt and that was over at Del Mar

Sprinting. First time ever and then they

immediately move this horse to the turf course.

Interested to see Barry if the hill helps this one.

Tried it 2 back and frankly didn't do his running till much

later. I wonder if a little bit of

familiarity walking up that turf course, the horse will be a

little less worried about it heading down 9 to 2.

About as short a price as I'm going to be comfortable with in

this race. This nice field of 12.

And so I'm 24 in this spot. I know you and I are on very,

very different horses, so we're going to keep going here.

Oh, no, you have the four there as well.

OK. We finally probably met in the

middle. So heaven in my handicapping.

Just to the outside of Uncle Chili will be Annan for Juan

Hernandez and Alexis Barba. This one running a mile and has

been running a mile for a while. Barry kind of a similar angle.

Broke his maiden 2 back, came back almost 1 again.

Part of the angle there for me is that this horse has just

gotten used to being near the front at the ends of races, and

I'll take that in a big field like this as well.

But I think outside of the summertime Oaks, this is the

race, no question, Barry, that I'm most looking forward to on

Saturday. Yeah, you know, the the down the

hill races are always exciting is that they're always fun to

look at and horses go fast and then you see horses coming from

behind. So there's always a lot going

on. Yeah, it's a spectacular spot.

Late pick 4 will start with the with the feature on the card.

It's the Grade 3 Summertime Oaks here.

We're going a mile and a 16th on the dirt course at Santa Anita

Park. It is a Grade 3, which means

there's $100,000 on the line in this one, a trio of Baffert

trainees, including the favorite here, Barry.

But I thought an interesting field in that we get, for

example, in the one we get a thought process who spent her

whole life on the grass last year in fact ran really well won

the surfer girl here at Santa Anita Park as a 2 year old goes

ahead. They try her in the Breeders Cup

Juvenile Philly turf. If people don't remember when

they turn for home, she LED. A long way.

She was there, man, and so this is, this is her.

She just gets to the end of that fifth race.

She's tired by the time she gets to the finish line to Del Mar.

They give her the time off and here she is in the dirt.

On the dirt. Excuse me, in the summertime

Oaks. Interesting to see her in the

spot, Barry. But where did you end up

landing? Yeah, thought process.

You know, if this horse comes back like nitrogen did, right,

you might be in trouble. But I'm not so sure that's going

to happen. But I I did land on the favorite

here, Cash call. Bob Baffert unleashes these kind

of horses going along a lot and you know, you can definitely see

the improvement from 2:00 to 3:00 and now stretching out

makes a lot of sense here. I I'm not sure anybody in this

race can hang with their stuff. I have the other Baffert next to

her as my second, and this is a horse coming out of the Santa

Anita Oaks. And before everybody jumps on me

about how bad the Santa Anita Oaks, a reminder that 10 must

still finish fourth in the Kentucky Oaks.

Let me say that again. Tema finished fourth in the

Kentucky Oaks. We just watched Lacaro win up in

Saratoga today. So that I don't know that that's

a bad spot. If you can finish in the top 4/5

of that kind of group in the Kentucky Oaks.

I'm going to think a lot of you and Silent Law went second

against Tema. And look, nobody was catching

Tema that day, but she had the lead for a while.

She's going to do a bit of front running speed, I think.

I think Cash Call's probably going to end up sitting right

off of her. And I think these two are going

to try to be the lead here, Barry, but I've seen way crazier

things than a horse like Silent law get the lead and just keep

it. Now I'm not calling that at all.

I think, you know, we talk cold exactness on this show, but 76

feels like 1 to me in this spot. I just really like how she

looked in the Santa Anita Derby. She was clearly the best of the

rest. And that's what we're talking

about here. We're going from a Grade 1 to a

grade 3 in this spot and or grade 2 in the fact in the Santa

Anita Oaks. But we're dropping in class

here. We're we're taking on horses

like Cash Call who have never routed before.

I I'm just, I, I don't know man. I've seen a lot crazier things

than that. And I and I do think she's worth

keeping an eye on. But I agree with you.

I've got that seven on top. We've seen this formula with Bob

Baffert before. Agree with you on that.

You have the two in the second spot here in how when Drayton

Van Dyke gets them out here from Bob.

Yeah. The other other other Baffert

yeah, I think this horse has has more upside than a horse like

silent Law. It, it seems like silent law is

in there to, to kind of be the, the, the tracking horse for the

cash call, which leaves Howen kind of as, as a closer type in

a race that might be fast up front.

I, I mean, there's a potential Bob sweeps top three easily

here, but I, I, I kind of think that silent law isn't as good as

the other two. So we went with Howen.

Our Moonlight is the four horse in here.

You and I both have this horse in our top three.

Only run twice. She just ran in a six for a long

race, finished second in an optional claimer.

What do you and I both see in her other than I think the the

breeding is really obvious. She's a tap head, right?

You got an unbridled song on the damn side.

I think she set up where they watch her break her maiden back

in December. They brought her back and this

kind of race was always going to be what they were shooting for.

And so trader Dean Peterson gets her in this spot.

I will be interested to see him have her stretch out like this.

He's two for his last 10 doing exactly that, so it's not as

though he's got a 0 on that at all.

He's doing it at 20% in recent time.

At least you've seen the similar things that I'm seeing.

Yeah, I mean, the stretch out makes a lot of sense.

You know, Dean Peterson does very well stretching horses out

like this off 2, two sprints. I mean it, it's, it just seems

like everything's lined up for this horse to run a good race

while stretching out for the first time.

If it wasn't the first time, I'd probably like this horse a lot

more, but definitely interested to see where this horse ends up

in this race. The late pick three starts here.

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optional claimer in Race 8. We're going a mile on the turf

here. Open company here.

This is for three and up and I think boy down the hill in this

one. Good luck getting a winner out

of this one because this is just a spectacular race here.

You and I both have the one in our handicapping.

You have that horse on top. I have it third.

I will let you talk about Ottoman prints.

Yeah, that this horse is, is just much improved from last

year and it and it shows. I mean, the buyer speed figures

have been ascending since this horse got unveiled on February

9th, 2025. And then 1-2 back-to-back going

a mile. I I mean, those are really good

efforts against a bunch of good horses, you know, at this level.

Beat Khehsan, who's in here? I think just having this horse

draw the rail is important as well because there isn't a whole

hell of a lot of speed here and I think that forces this horse

to get good position and that might be the best thing that

could ever happen for Ottoman Prince.

I have a horse that's finished 60% of his races on top in first

place, but they finished second and 60% of those races and

that's probably a bad job by me and Spycatcher, the 12 on the

outside. Ava Lescado here, Mark Glad as

well. If people have followed me at

all, they know that on on turf routes I just want horses that I

know are going to be part of the finish and if that happens to be

the 12 in this spot, I'll feel very good about it.

Abel Lescano piloted this one to a mile in an eighth race last

time. If that race were at a mile, I

think the horse wins. We get to cut back in distance

here, get back to what this horse does way, way better.

Never miss the board going the one mile on the turf, a win 2

seconds and a third and the four starts doing that.

Has one at Santa Anita over the turf as well.

I think Spycatcher, if he can overcome that outside position

will be just fine in here and do a great good job.

I also think Jules Shalali right next to him is an interesting

entrant as well. Has been running an optional

claimers and frankly winning them.

Has 1/2 of his last three. His only loss was by a nose and

an optional claimer at this distance. 3 for 9 lifetime.

Has hit the board 6 times and nine tries going a mile on the

turf. I just think this one sets up

really well for the 2 outside horses.

Barry and 12:00 and 11:00. But I know you are looking to

another spot and case it has caught your eye.

The four horse here the aforementioned Armando Yusu.

Yeah, it's another one of those kind of plays.

This horse is getting actually reunited with him.

He he won at Santa Anita October 14th, 2023, going a mile in a

conditioned start allowance race.

And for some reason they they went to the dirt.

I don't know why, but it muddies this horse's form up enough to

where people aren't aren't really believers in this source.

I know he's kind of stepping up a little bit, but he's been

steadily running good races on the turf for a while.

I don't see that changing. I like the last workout on May

22nd at 15 to one. I have to throw this horse in

there. You also think that the Sevens

got a shot in here? Yeah, King of Clubs.

I mean, we talked about this horse just a little bit ago.

This horse has been favored every time he's been on the

track. This is definitely a class test,

but I think this horse is up to the task.

I I think he's going to outrun his odds.

Late double will start in race nine.

Another cool wager out there at Santa Anita Park, $5 minimum and

a 15% take out. So another bet that we love on

this program. Presented by Amwager and

amwager.com or on the Sporting Tribune, This is Lou Urbo, Barry

Spears of Socal Saturdays. Got you from Santa Anita Park

tomorrow. Maiden 50 is the penultimate

race there at Santa Anita Park tomorrow.

Six furlongs, dirt 33,000 in the purse for this one, Barry.

I'll go first in this one. Give you a 10 seconds off or so.

We both have the six in our handicapping.

I have the six on top in this one in Seela Hall.

I love a second time starter. I get exactly that in the

Carmona Miyati combination here. Steve Sneaky.

Good start again to another meet there at Santa Anita Park 6.

First First 30 has 120% of his races.

Not great with second time timers, unfortunately does not

hit at a huge number with them, but I think this horse has been

training well enough for me to take a stab at 9:00 to 2:00 on

the line there for this one. Barry, I know you landed on the

one. Did you?

Did you, did you do the first? Oh, it's not a first time

starter. Go.

Ahead almost almost second time started.

Yeah, I I can definitely forgive that race.

You know Almond Joy is in that was in there.

This horse did absolutely no running at all.

So it it's almost like that didn't happen.

If you look at the the workouts, they've been very steady and

getting better, culminating with that 47 and one from the gate

May 31st. This race kind of shapes up like

the other one earlier where the horses that have a lot of

starts, you kind of want to fade.

They they, they're piling up these losses and there's really

not much after that. A horse on the rail that showed

speed. This is another one that needs

to get to the front, but I think this horse can do it.

I went 685 here. The five is ponytail.

Pete you and I both have that horse later in our handicapping.

A difficult one to figure out, but Billy Ante Georgia gets the

mount here for George Papa Pedromo and he's good with first

timers, man. That's the only thing I can say

is that George does a good job with these horses.

He has them ready. I got to imagine that May 18th

works. Got you feeling the type of way?

Absolutely, and even the one before that, the May 5th, I

think he knows how quick this horse is and you get those

longer stamina type building 5 furlong works.

So this horse is going to be prepared.

I I think he's going to run well.

Whether he can get to the lead in front of a horse like Prize

Conquest, we'll see. You know, the only difference

between the two, honestly, was that one start that Prize

Conquest had. I think type of way is now a 20

year old hip hop reference. At least 20 years.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah.

I'm not at all sure why I used it, but here we are.

He hates for mentioning this spot too.

And Sav's thirsty star. Another second time starter,

Frank Alvarado had the mount last time.

Armando picks up this time for Brian Corner.

Those two man used to be absolute royalty at Golden Gate

Field. It's cool to see the matching up

here. The horse actually broke well.

It was running well at the beginning of the race and I

think started to look around and do kind of things that first

time starters do once in a while.

And so it'll be interesting to see if Sav's thirsty, the son of

Stay Thirsty runs a daughter of Stay Thirsty.

I should say, excuse me, runs any better in race. 9:00

tomorrow at Santa Anita Park will close it with race 10.

This is a mile on the turf Once again, an open, an open maiden

special waiting on you don't have to be a Cal bred.

In other words, for Phillies and mares. 3-4 and five in this spot

here. Barry will let you go first in

this one. And boy, you are a long shot

hunting today. 12:50 An anti out of the two hole here.

Yeah, Auntie, Auntie, I think this horse is gonna gonna

appreciate the stretch out being I'm not.

Going to see this 20 year old hip hop references.

I don't say auntie, I'm never going.

The cookout's out of range for me.

It's done. We're done here.

So we're we're gonna have to put your application under review.

But you know, this horse is is got some pedigree there out of a

Frankel Mayer and stretching out seems like the right thing to do

at this point in this career. The horse ran OK.

The only problem is this horse seems to to get out of the gate

a little slow, but going longer that's not as big of an issue.

And getting Kyle Frey, the Frey train, he's been riding well.

So we'll give this one a shot at 12:50.

If the 13 draws in is a must use.

Just putting it out there if rehearsal gets in.

I wanted to to mention that before I get too deep into my

handicapping because I that's one we don't see them draw in.

The AES don't draw in at Santa Anita very often for whatever

reason. But that one, if the A13 draws

in here, definite must use. I think Church Lady the 12 is

really interesting for Juan Hernandez and Phil d'amato.

Ran well at a mile and an eighth last time.

I think the shortening and distance will help this one at

least a little bit. Was good to back going a mile as

well. Only been in the US, I think

moved here in February, if I'm my notes are correct.

And so this one just put in a very quick little short bullet

work the other day on the Tepita course there.

So I wonder if they're trying to get her out of the gate a little

bit more quickly so that she's ready to pounce when she gets

toward the end of that race. My sense is that's exactly what

they're trying to do. You have edge of Molly.

I've never been to Molly, but you have Edge of Molly in your

second spot here, the 11 horse six to one on the line here.

Antonio Fraser in mount. You are muted my friend.

How do you get muted? Don't be muted.

Muted is bad. My bad, my bad would be.

Very disappointed. Yes, keep going.

Edge of Molly that race, that one race at Dundalk was pretty

decent. There's fourteen horses in that

race. This horse kind of closed it,

kind of loomed up and and just couldn't get by.

The winner coming over here, trying the turf for the first

time against the field. That's sort of mediocre.

Sure, I I I I could certainly see this horse winning first

time over here getting Lasix. You know, Mullins really doesn't

do a whole lot of this, but he does get his go to rider and

Frasu. So it's kind of you know, I I'd

let the board be my guy. If this horse like drifts up to

like 15 to 1, you might want to give second thoughts on that.

OK, Nema's in here. A first timer for Baffert on the

turf. Almost never see this out.

I don't know what to do with this one here, Barry, other than

I'm not letting it beat me. I will tell you that for damn

sure. And so I I don't know quite what

to make of this. He's got Drayton Van Dyke riding

on this one. But you know, this is before

this year was not an uncommon combination was old Baffert and

Drayton Van Dyke. Obviously Juan's gonna stick

with a horse that he thinks got a really serious shot more to

the outside there. But this Nema, son of Curlin

Freud on the damn side. I just, they paid $460,000 for

this horse. I just I wonder if if they just

don't know what to do or if he just watched this horse work and

then it got on the Tepeda and he was like, oh, you know, oh,

wait, never mind. This horse really loves this.

I guess we'll try the turf, something like that.

I've seen Stranger things that Bob Baffert win at first.

That's. All Oh yeah, I mean, who who

knows? This horse is definitely bred

for the turf. It seems like this is one of

those horses that somebody bought and was like, you know

what, let's give it to Bob Bafford and and, and he's like,

all right, go. I think this is a turf horse.

I mean, the works look decent enough.

You know he survived, at least partially, Bob Bafford's

program, so why not? There you go.

All right, well, that has been another rendition of Socal

Saturday, a quick pick in the Belmont Berry.

Rodriguez to the hoop. Get the lead, Keep the lead.

That's it. OK.

All right. I'm going with Sovereignty this

weekend. As I have said on many other

shows, which you can find, by the way, on the Horse Racing

Happy Hour platform, whether it was Barry this morning on ESPN

680 with me last night on the Horse Racing Happy Hour itself,

we had a round table that I thought you're not really great.

It was really, really a lot of fun there as well.

And hey, I also interviewed Bailey, Bailey Armor.

Bailey Armor, good luck. Bailey Hare, who is now the new

racing secretary at Ellis Park on the Kentucky Racing

Spotlight. And Junior Elvarado.

He'll ride Sovereignty on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

He was our guest on Blood Horse Monday as well.

You can find all of those at the platform for the Horse Racing

Happy Hour and we would love for you to join us every week on

this show as well. Again, thanks to our friends at

AM Wager and AM wager.com. Get in on their deposit bonus

right now, 100% deposit Magic $150.00 to get you ready for

your wagering weekend live in California.

He's very I'm Louis. Thanks so much for joining us

here.