Steve Kornacki Returns! | Haskell Preview / Monmouth

All right, welcome in the world's most buttoned up horse

racing show. This is the horse racing happy

hour hanging out with Steve Kornacki.

My name is Louis Ribault. You can find the show on Twitter

at Horse Happy Hour. However, you're hanging out with

us this weekend. We really appreciate it mom.

With preview day, we'll get into some stakes for that night

racing at Churchill Downs. Got to get Steve's thoughts on

the theme for for Saturday night racing at Churchill Downs

because I, I think it's very polarizing.

So we'll have to bring him in though his name is Steve

Kornacki. NBC, all the things I, I, I feel

like you just come on here to shoot the bleep about horses and

I appreciate that. I, I love it.

I also come to occasionally get trophies.

But I I got bad news. It didn't make it out of the

hotel room. That's all right.

So Steve did win our Derby draft this year.

What does it feel like to to dominate a Derby draft that had

Caitlin free? Who nailed the trifecta, by the

way? I was going to say it feels

hollow after what she did but did to stop me from claiming

credit. No doubt about it, we at least

got the picture at the Preakness.

And so that was that was good to go as well.

We also got a taste of Steve's fame with very specific

Preakness goers who needed pictures as soon as Steve

emerged from the shadows of unrenovated Pimlico Racecourse.

But that's that's neither here nor there.

But yes, he is our Derby draft winner.

E Steve Kornacki's hanging out Belmont Stakes this last

weekend. Look, you, you're a New York guy

now. Obviously you grew up in the

Northeast. What was it like watching the

Belmont at Saratoga? Yeah, I was lucky enough I got

to go and, you know, Fox has the contract, so, you know, I got to

go as a spectator and it was great.

It was just, it was just great. I've been to the, you know, the

Belmont at Belmont and those, I mean, Triple Crowns on the line,

those are great. And in general they're fun.

But this felt different. This felt like a big horse race,

but it also just felt like, I think more than the Belmont the

whole week, it just felt like a huge event.

The town really came to life. Obviously the track was just

there was an energy. There was the only problem is

the bathrooms, but I guess they're going to fix that the

next time. So I I just, you know, it'll go

back to Belmont. They'll get the track, you know,

renovated Spiffy D up. It might be really nice, but I

it was awesome. It was a great weekend.

There you go. Yeah.

Did you have Dornak? No, I had seized the Gray.

Yeah, I get it. I get it, man.

You and me were the only ones who cashed in Baltimore.

I was hoping to cash up there at Saratoga as well, but not so

much. Zach, go ahead.

Pulled that a replay up for us here but Nordic Danny Gargan

look a local guy grew up, you know, a couple miles from where

I'm sitting here in Louisville. Dad won the Kentucky Oaks as a

jock came on our show on the on Roboco here on the our ESPN

affiliate in Louisville the other day and just said, man, I

just love being in Saratoga. So I felt really good for Danny

getting to win this one here with the younger brother of

Maids, the Derby winner from last year.

Here's Dornik and. It's still 7 lengths off the

lead, Sierra Leone launching his bid on the far outside as the

field turns for home. Mind frame on the outside.

It's coming after Dornik and it's mind frame and Dornik head

in head with a furlong left to go.

Sierra Leone, it's closing ground.

It's Dornik hugging the rail mind frame.

A little erotic, but he's still right there with Dornik and an

absolute thriller. Dornik and my frame.

It will be Dornik and Lu. It was fun to hear Frank

Miramonti call races with more than five horses in them.

I'm just kidding, San Anita folks.

But no, I that if my frame doesn't wander there, Steve, it

is so interesting to watch these young horses.

They're in their third races in this kind of stuff.

If he doesn't wander, he obviously wins this thing.

I was very wrong about him. I thought maybe he needed some

more seasoning over two turns, that kind of stuff.

But Dornik gets it done end of the day.

You know? Little brother of Mage caught me

off guard that he kept it up that long.

Yeah, Frank's call was great, although that I that's a an

understatement of the year contender there in a little

erratic from my dream in the stretch there.

But you know, the only thing I thought afterwards, I if I had

been ranking all of those horses for my preference, I think

Dornik would have been second to last.

But the way, and I know there's a lot of debate about the was

there a speed bias? Is this just the way Saratoga

plays? But whatever the answer is, it's

favorite speed. And you know, after seeing some

of those races, you know, Saturday, Friday, the idea that

Dornik goes to the front and the rest could just take care of

itself should have been, I was kicking myself for that one.

Well, I even said on this show a week ago tonight, we were

sitting with our guy Matthew DeSantis up at there at Naira

Bets. And I said I I just think if

there's two horses out front and sees the Gray and Dornik, I just

trust sees the Gray and here we are.

Yeah, I'm sitting on nobody. Do you do you remember they ran

the two of them in a race at Saratoga last summer and they

were 1-2 and sees the Gray, I mean, 6 1/2 furlongs, I think,

but sees the Gray the whole race.

I'm thinking back to that race and like, Yep, sees the Gray's

got this one. He's done it before.

And Yep. Here we are sitting here with no

money in our pockets. But yeah, it is what it is.

You're right. That was a fantastic Saturday of

racing. They moved the Acorn to Friday,

Steve, and we talked with with Dan Elman last week, last Friday

on on Robo and Co and it it I asked him, do you like this

move? And he said, hey, you know, it

kind of just follows what we've been doing with the Triple Crown

series with the Derby. We got the Oaks on Friday.

You know it, Pimlico. We've got the Black Eyed tunes

on Friday Acorn getting its own day on Friday.

This Acorn Accolate. Yeah, for exactly that reason.

You know, Saturday was. Yeah.

I always thought, you know, they moved the Met Mile to Saturday,

you know, a few years ago. And I was thought that was kind

of a shame because, you know, that can stand alone.

But I get it too, because I mean, just you look at the the

crowds, they can draw, you know, uniquely for these cards.

So you might as well put it on one of these days.

And you got a lot of but you can put in the acorn a day earlier,

I think spreads it out a little bit more.

They were, I think they said, 25,000 people there.

Friday felt like more and it was it was fitting to have a race

that big that day. Did you get to go to Breeders'

Cup when it was at Keeneland by chance?

Either time. Yeah, 22, I did, yeah.

OK, just how shoulder to shoulder it was did, did did it

feel like that at Saratoga this weekend?

Yeah, I can't compare it because Breeders' Cup we I was at that

the board are set, you know that we bring the board in near the

bedding windows. I just stayed there the whole

day. I, I didn't even get outside.

Friday was fine. There were no lines for anything

on Friday, but it still felt huge.

Saturday was yeah, try to go to the bathroom, 15 minute line.

Don't even bother with the concession stand.

I found a, there was a vendor near us.

We got a grandstand. There's a vendor, you know, down

in the at the bottom ran out of beer.

I got down there. I thought I found the secret out

of beer at 4:00 PM so. Yeah, that's not not ideal for a

horse race that goes off around 6:00, but that is it is what it

is. But Speaking of Friday, Thorpedo

Anna continued her unbelievable run here in 2024 out of that

mile shoot at Saratoga. She wins the acorn under Brian

Hernandez Junior. Torpedo Anna is up to take the

lead at the top of the stretch. Just FYI tries to shift to the

outside in the center of the racetrack.

Leslie's Rose is closing and my main squeeze is widest of all.

A late bid from Power Squeeze, but it's Torpedo Anna.

She is simply brilliant putting them away in the DK Horse Acorn.

Another stellar performance from Thorpedo.

Anna who? And by the way, thanks to the

the folks at Nairo, we use their YouTube page to get those

replays and so we appreciate them posting those over at

YouTube for us to use here on the Horse Racing Happy Hour.

Steve, not a lot to say other than I think, you know, there,

there were rumblings about her running in the Belmont and

everyone kind of rolled their eyes, glad she picked off

another grade one, a $5000 breeding job here for the home

breds there. But you know, could she have won

the Belmont in your mind? Yeah, I was, that was my first

reaction. The buyer came back on a little

on the low side, didn't it? I, I feel like it was, it was

low 90s or something. So that yeah, I was thinking it

was going to come back higher than that.

So that gave me a little bit of pause.

But look, she she had the right style for you.

Think about how that Belmont unfolded.

You know, she could have been, she could have done.

I think in my mind she could have done what Dornik did, you

know? Yeah, I was a little surprised

at the buyer as well. The thing that stood out though

was, I mean, she ran it. She ran the mile at $1.35 and a

half over like essentially 1 1/2 turns at Saratoga.

That's really fast. And so I, you know, and it's not

as though she was all out or anything like that either.

So I, I'm with you, Steve. I think she has a lot more on

the tank, do you think? I mean, we saw idiomatic lose,

you know, she she loses her race on Saturday in the Ogden Phipps.

I still think she's the horse to beat in that Distaff division,

but boy did it get more interesting with the inclusion

of Lor Pedo Anna. Oh, I, I can't wait to see, you

know, the two of them, you know, idiomatic.

I mean, it was, I wonder on that one too, just was it the nature

of how the track was playing? It was so favorable to

randomized style and idiomatic. Still almost got there.

But yeah, that's going to be that.

That's going to be fun. That match up between those two.

Can't get here soon enough. And Danny Gargan, that was his

by the way, the Belmont was his first ever grade one as a

trainer and not a not a bad way to break your break, your maiden

of grade ones with that. Obviously he's had really nice

horses in the past, but he did have society man win the Grade 3

mat win as well on Sunday. So both of his Derby runners who

ran from the one hole and the 20 hole of the Derby come back and

win their races first time out after the Derby.

And Steve, all that really told me it was a nice reminder this,

this Derby path, this road to the Derby that we have now is

still the best way to determine who the best 3 year olds are and

who the very likely best runners are going to be when we're

especially this time of year. Yeah, I think so.

I mean it, it's or the other way of looking at it is you know who

to keep an eye on for the second-half of the year.

Yeah, exactly. To me, that's the thing maybe

that I emerged most from this Triple Crown season with is like

which horse do I think that we saw has the biggest potential

for the second-half of the year? I think it's mind frame, you

know who got I mean, you just you just showed why, but didn't

win any of them only ran in one of them.

But you know, I I think the upside there that emerges is

pretty clear. There's three they're great

stories each Triple Crown race produced.

I think the winner produced a great story.

You had that, you know, great once in a lifetime finish in the

I think it was a great Triple Crown series this year.

I also think it was, it was probably for the best that there

was no Triple Crown on the line just 'cause you don't have to go

through that whole debate about the mile and 1/4 and you know,

yeah, so you get that again, you know, next year.

I think, you know, short of having a Triple Crown, an

authentic Triple Crown situation, this was this was a

great season. Yeah, I think for so for sure if

if you had to sort of rank how well they did during the Triple

Crown season. And we take the three winners,

we take Mystic Dan, we take Seize the Gray, we take Dornik,

we put their resume side by side.

So obviously Mystic Dan wins the Derby run second in the

Preakness. We take Seize the Great, wins

the Pat Day mile on Derby day at a shorter distance in a grade

two, comes back, does win that Preakness front running style,

sets the pace in the Belmont but doesn't have it that day.

And then we get Dornik, who did run up the track in the Derby,

but does come back really impressively and wins the

Belmont. Who do you think had the best

Triple Crown season of those three horses?

I give it to Mystic Dan just based on the, the follow up and

the Preakness, you know, strong second place that I think

validated the, the dirt, you know, sees the grey.

Had he even finished in the top three in the Belmont, I might

have said between the packed a mile and the previous and the

Belmont, But I, I think that, you know, that was a that

performance in the Belmont left me thinking a little bit of

more. I've been dismissive of it.

But the whole wet track thing, you know, because that wins the

packed a mile. But again, the buyer was like 88

the the big fire for sees the Gray came in the mud and I said

that other race last summer, you know, over Dornik was was in the

mud too. So it leaves me kind of

wondering about that. And yeah, and Dornik again, the

reason he was ninth out of 10 for me was the horse look

absolutely lost at the start of this year.

And I was I was done making excuses.

But hey, you know, maybe he maybe he follows this up and and

and keeps going. Yeah, it's one of the best

things and the toughest things about handicapping 3 year olds.

And we'll we'll do some of that coming up here when we head to

Monmouth Park. But the, you know, the other

part of this is what AI think the lasting image for me at

least here is, is going to be Kenny Mcpeake winning those

back-to-back days. Brian Hernandez Junior, I think

really cementing him himself. You know, if you follow the

circuits that he's on and you follow them closely, you know

how good of a jockey he is. Or for him to carve out two very

different trips over different tracks with horses with very

different running styles. You know, I think that'll be the

thing that really stands out to me, Steve, from a year where we

didn't have three different, you know, we had three different

winners. We didn't have anyone in

contention for that Triple Crown.

But it still felt like, man, that that back-to-back day for,

you know, for a guy like like Kenny Mcpeak, a guy like Brian

Hernandez Junior, that's pretty remarkable stuff.

Yeah, I remember going over on the morning of the Derby with a

few folks and talking about the Oaks the day before, and we're

almost jokingly saying, hey, you know, can they pull up the

double here? And and lo and behold, not just

to win it, you know, I mean, everything you're saying to get

the Oaks Derby double, to do it with a long shot and to do it

with the ride, you know, that he did it with.

It's just that's just a memorable, you know, the

three-way finish, but the right up the rail through an

impossible. It didn't even look like an

opening. And somehow, you know, gets

through there and then just yeah, I I swear that whole last

16th of a mile, he's going to get caught And to, you know,

somehow hang on. That was yeah, it's it's

memorable. I mean, my own personal favorite

moment of the three was was Lucas one of the Preakness?

But because I always, I, I, I just, you know, I wanted to see

him win one in person. And when they turn for home, you

know, I'm saying to myself, it, it's now or never.

If I'm ever going to see it, it's now.

And I just scream my heart out, you know, precedes the Gray and

you can see him cross the finish line and I turn around for where

I was. And you know, up in the balcony

is Lucas and you see him come down and that's, that's great

stuff. Yeah, that's as good as it gets,

for sure. Where were you for the Derby Run

itself? Did you get to the track?

No, it was, it was funny. We were near one of the bedding

windows. We got it, you know, our NBC set

and you know, we got ATV set up there and we just, you know, we

decided, you know, about 10 minutes before the race.

It's like, let's just stay here. We're gonna, you know, we'll

hear Travis Stone's call. We'll have it on the monitor

right here. And it was the hall, the

absolutely empty. There were five of us.

We had the entire place to ourselves.

Everybody's outside bedding windows are still open.

So we're sitting there like 45 seconds before the race, still

running up and making bets, 'cause just 'cause we can, but

watching on a little, watching on a little monitor.

It heard the crowd outside going wild, though.

It's it is the the most authentic and beautiful crowd

reaction I've ever heard in my life.

I don't think it's close, just how the race ends.

Everyone is just understandably stunned by how great the finish

was. And then they show the replay

and then there's a second reaction.

It was it was near perfect. Steve.

I I I'm very sure it's the best race I've ever attended.

And the crowd reaction is a huge part of it for sure.

So yeah, no, just a a terrific Triple Crown season and you

know, Kenny Mcpeak and I mean, is is it it this was the

Thorpino Anna coming out party, Yes.

Yeah, I mean, it was the Torpedo coming out party.

It was the Brian Hernandez coming out party.

And I mean, big Peak to me. Obviously the the you know,

early leader for Trainer of the Year.

Yeah, 3 great ones there over those five weeks for sure.

All right, Steve Kornacki hanging out with us here on the

Horse Racing Happy Hour. Do want to remind you about our

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can start cleaning up a bit. I was actually thinking about

you, Steve, as I was putting the show sheet together.

You're our only guest that actually bothers to check the

show sheet and the what is your like?

How much time do you have to spend on this on the face 'cause

you, you have a job with a face. I'm in radio, no one cares.

You know, I have a cigar before the show.

No one cares. You know that kind of stuff,

Like how much is there? Like a you have a routine.

You have a routine, don't you? Yeah, but a big part of his day,

NBC is good enough to pay people to care about our faces.

Well, there you go. Steve Kordacki with us.

We will be previewing Monmouth, obviously on Saturday for the

Monmouth Preview Day or Haskell Preview Day itself.

Excuse me, the Eatontown, the Monmouth Stakes, the Pegasus and

the Salvatore Mile. And we'll head over to Churchill

Downs for a couple of those night races.

And I wanted to pick your brain before we get to the

handicapping. Steve, do you know the theme for

the night races at Churchill this weekend?

I don't know. OK, so it's Yacht Rock.

How does Steve Kornacki feel about Yacht Rock?

I think it's a fantastic idea for an evening.

I I think they nailed it. Yeah, I like Yacht Rock, so it

works for me. You are you are you going over

you? You getting you getting dressed

up for it. Yeah.

That's the question. It's like, what do you wear to a

Yacht Rock night? Because I'm.

Look, I'm a Midwestern dad. I wear the same thing all the

time. It is what it is.

But you know, I just. Yeah, what do I have to wear to

a Yacht Rock night? I mean, producer Zach, if you

have ideas, obviously jump in, but you know, it just I'm trying

to figure out what do I wear to Yacht Rock night little

credential. And then like what am I wearing

underneath the credential for freaking Yacht Rock Night at

Churchill Downs? I don't know.

I don't know what that looks like, but.

Man, I just want to say, if you don't have a captain's hat, it's

not really yacht rock. OK, all right.

I got to get the captain's hat. All right, I've got party stores

around here. I'll figure it out.

All right, Little Yacht Rock night, but let's go to Monmouth

first. By the way, I'm Rabo and Co

Tomorrow at 11, I'll talk to Matt Dinnerman, our buddy.

Been on the show many times. He is now the track announcer at

Monmouth Park. We'll talk to him tomorrow and

get into the races with him also going to you know, I'm going to

ask him because I think it's been a couple days.

I'm sure he's ready to talk about it.

Five days since the closure of Golden Gate Fields where he was

the track announcer for many years.

Want to give him get his thoughts on racing in the Bay

Area and and what you know, Steve losing tracks like that.

It's it's more than just another betting card.

It's more than just, you know, the people in the bars once in a

while. You need those places for a Matt

Dennerman to get his start right and really get his voice and

get, you know, his, his announcing legs underneath him.

And now he's, he's doing Oak Lawn, he's doing Monmouth.

He's fantastic for the sport. Just his attitude in general.

So did you, did you ever get out to Golden Gate?

That's one that I never actually got to.

Yeah, no, no, I never did, you know.

And it, it was obviously it's sad and I I think raises

questions too, bigger picture about California racing itself,

which is the whole thing. But it was, I was watching

something on TVG or a fan to whatever they call them.

And it was like, I don't know if you had this feeling, but huge,

huge crowd turns out. And it's sort of like, Jesus,

you know, this could have kept it going, you know?

Yeah. It feels like that every time,

doesn't it? But yeah, So Golden Gate Fields,

RIP and Matt Dennerman will join us 11:00 tomorrow on ESPN 680

here in Louisville if you're so interested.

But we do head out for Haskell. Preview Day starts on the turf

and it's for the Phillies and Mares 3 and up in the Grade 3

Eaton Town Stakes, Golden Mile and a 16th using that little bit

of a turf shoot in the middle of the track there $150,000 on the

line in this one. Steven, this is a winning in for

the matchmaker. I'm a big fan of this trend in

horse racing, Steve, where you know, we've, I don't know how

much you at all follow quarter horse racing, but a ton of it is

built on trials and how fast you run in the trials to qualify for

stakes races. I like this about thoroughbred

racing. I like the trail to the Derby.

I like, hey, if you win the eat in town, you get to run in the

matchmaker next month. Do you like this kind of set up?

Yeah, no, I I like these what they do.

I think for a trek like Monmouth two, is it it it creates another

date that, you know, feels kind of big.

I think, you know, helps get a crowd out there.

Obviously gets eyeballs on it nationally.

And, you know, I I just I I think that's the thing.

The more these tracks can find ways to create it.

I think the events are what drive TV ratings.

Events are what Dr. crowds to actually still turn out to

things, you know, So the more they can they can come up with

that, the better. Yeah, there you go.

So who did you land on in the Eaton town here?

This is part of an all stakes pick four.

By the way, if people are wondering, the takeout rate for

the pick four is the same as the takeout rate for the pick five

at Monmouth, very playable, 15%. So if you wanted to just play

the all stakes pick 4, you can definitely do that and not get

too, too much money taken out of your pocket there, Steve.

My I, I'm sure I'll find a way to have a lot of money taken out

of my pocket on Saturday. Hey, last time we did a

Mid-Atlantic show you crushed you had ceiling crusher for us.

Ceiling. Crusher.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to be I'm going

to be living off that one for a while longer probably.

This is a this is AI have so many ways to go in this one,

right? Like I the where I landed was.

This is a brutal pick four. I I think there are something in

the neighborhood of 20 horses that I thought could really win

races. And I think this is the one that

I I was looking at. I said this is this is I think

there's like five or six I'd use here.

But if I got to give you one, I'm going grand motion, no show

Sammy Joe, you know, 4th career start, you know, second time

this year at 4:00 really close kind of with a, a, a real kick.

You know, the last time I thought kind of impressive.

And it just has that upward trend each race, three races so

far, each one a notch better than the one before.

So I think, you know, kind of maturing, You know, I, I think I

like motion kind of in general in these in these situations.

And I think you get a pretty good price too.

I think I'm going to play a ticket, and I'm not kidding.

Like a $2.00 ticket. Just prat prat prat prat.

Just in case, just in case, just to have it as like a a $2.00

ticket on the side. If it doesn't hit, it doesn't

hit. But I do have him on top here

with tax implications for Chad Brown.

Random is Liberty last time at Monmouth with Joe Bravo aboard.

I think the move to a Flavian Pratt gives this horse a touch

more. Just a little bit of did run

well at Aqueduct before that under Manny Franco and a mile

and a 16th. So if this horse is going to

jump up, it's going to be here. Totally agree with you, by the

way, about no show Sammy Joe, which is the four here, 4 Grand

Motion who had a really good weekend when we were up there

together in Baltimore at Pimlico.

I also think if you're looking for other kinds of horses, I

think the other Brown is live here for Vinny Chemeno.

No one calls him Vinny Chemeno. By the way, Mama Jun, the Irish

bred here for Chemeno, who is riding a lot more at Monmouth

Park and I find to be a very excellent turf rider as well.

And so one is last two has has mime in June or she excuse me.

And so interested to see how that horse runs as well.

But I'm with you, Steve. I, I think this is one where if

you made a case for about 80% of the horses in this field, I

would be totally OK with it. I think spirit of glory could

win here. What if, what if the good sacred

wish shows up? I think that horse can win here.

Obviously that kind of stuff. So tons of options in that one.

We see we've got a a Derby alum in the next race and that is of

course going to be race 10. It's the Pegasus, the only non

graded stakes here, but it is listed $150,000 for three-year

olds win and in for that Haskell Stakes next month.

We do get to see the return of Domestic Product who ran in the

Kentucky Derby and some horses that tried to qualify for the

Kentucky Derby in the number 5 Hades and also the emerging

local star in C Streak on the outside for the Owens Bar.

Where did Steve Kornacki land on this one?

I, I landed with the, with the Derby alum domestic product, had

a hard time kind of thinking about this one only because when

you look at the race, I think you see a couple of horses.

I think three of them who like to be very forwardly placed, but

who've done so with extremely glacial paces.

So you kind of look at it, you know, and that's why I wanted to

toss Hades right away. But then I'm thinking like Paco,

you know, Paco Monmus. And I think there's something

there. He'll be aggressive.

And then I'm looking around and I'm like, I'm not sure any of

these other horses really want the lead.

They seem to, you know, the four the placements seem to want to

stalk, you know, sit a little bit off.

So what draws me a domestic product is if you look back at

that Tampa Bay der I tossed the you know, you talked about

society man in the mat win. You know, a good advertising for

these horses to finish up the track in the Derby.

Sometimes you can just toss it completely.

I'm doing that with domestic product and I'm looking back to

the Tampa Bay Derby before that. And again, glacial fractions,

you know, but closed into them, you know, was was running pretty

far off. And I said, OK, I think if this

is going to be that kind of set up, that's the horse I want

here. Yeah, I agree.

I've got domestic product on top as well.

I looked at a couple of others as well.

I do think C Streak on the outside has shown it at the

track once in a while. Steve, you just want a horse for

course and if he's going to go ahead and run that kind of race

again, then I think he can absolutely win over those

fractions especially. You talked about those glacial

paces. He did run a sub 24 was near the

pace the whole time and frankly ended up setting it toward the

end of that race. Not the fastest race ever, but I

do think did a nice job out of that Owens bar.

And as I mentioned, I I totally agree about domestic product.

I think I learned my lesson over the weekend with society man

that just a reminder. Hey, you know, this is what This

is why the Derby, you know, path exists and This is why it's so

effective is it does give us these very best horses.

Man, I wonder how good an uncle, an uncle heavy actually is.

It's a horse that won the Withers, but it was in the mud.

We've seen a lot of horses come out of Aqueduct this year that

Remsen obviously stands out with Dornik and Sierra Leone and

different things. By the way, domestic product

also ran in that, in that, that Remsen as well.

So we're seeing horses come out of that Aqueduct thing this year

and run really well. You know, Tuscan's sky on the

inside. Steve, I wanted to ask you about

that horse, the one, do you trust that horse off the layoff?

Pletcher a little cold right now.

I, I don't know if he sees this as kind of like a second or

third tier type of three-year old here.

Do you trust Tuscan's son off the layoff here?

I don't, and especially at what I, you know, should be a pretty

short price. I I really didn't know.

He's another one I put in that category of I because I think I

was looking at the, you know, the time form pace ratings and

you know, their their little map of how that, you know, I think

they had him, you know, going out first.

I'm not sure. I mean, he's never going to he

was in a three horse race and he didn't go to the lead.

So, you know, I think I put him in that category of one who

wants to kind of, you know, stalk, you know, shit right

behind the leader. And if that's the game, domestic

product, I think would be a better price.

And you know, I'll, I'll play against definitely.

Yeah, the only stand I'm taking at Monmouth this weekend is

against Tuscans Sky. So there you go, Steve and I

agree on that one. So put all of your money on

Tuscans Sky this week. It is dangerous.

That's right. Coming out of the full use of

that mile in an eighth shoot is the Grade 3 Monmouth, $150,000

three-year olds and up here on the turf win and in to the

United Nations. And Steve, well documented on

this show the last five years we've been doing it, I love the

United Nations. So this is the United Nations

Junior. Who'd you land on on this one?

I thought this was another brutal 1.

It is I, I have a horse here who was I?

I built a lot on a previous day around and lost a lot because

of, but that's Beatbox and I've been a fan of Beatbox for a

while and I still I like Beatbox here.

This is sort of like what I was just saying about the, the

Derby. You know, the dinner party at

Pimlico. I'm kind of just drawing a line

through it. If you look in the, in the form,

you know, it's listed as soft. And I was actually excited

before that race about Beatbox because Beatbox had won on a

soft turf course at fairgrounds. But you know, the time for the

dinner party was like 10 seconds slower.

So there's soft and then there's dinner party soft.

And I think that's just in the level that that, you know, just

just take it out of consideration and you know, I

look at the forecast there. I think there is going to be not

going to be too wet, but there's going to be a little bit of rain

potentially tomorrow. A little bit.

Yeah. It looks, you know, the

AccuWeather had a couple 50% plus hours and a thunderstorm in

the afternoon. So might be a little given that

in that turf, but I I've liked Beatbox.

And if you look back, you know, put together six straight, you

know, I think really salad races before that, before that dinner

party, I think that result might scare some people away, you

know, switches to Camacho. I'm not quite sure, you know,

what to make of that. Maybe that's maybe that's good.

And, you know, yeah, good price. Yeah.

Yeah, I, I think the price play here if you wanted the horse

that I think he thinks he's got a shot here, but really he's

setting him up for next month as public sector.

The 312 to one for Saffy Joseph Junior.

But you get Paco. We talked about Paco already

really knowing the Monmouth course and being really, really

good there. Ran really well at a mile and a

half in that Pan American, only lost by one length, got run down

at the very end of that mile and a half.

Good news here is he doesn't have to go a mile and 1/2.

He only has to go a mile and an eighth.

So I wonder at 12 to one if we're if we're kind of

overlooking public sector. It's a really good angle for

trainer Saffy Joseph Junior as well. 23% in this kind of

layoff. Running back for the first time

since mid March. I think you'll see this horse no

matter what in the United Nations.

But I think he's got a real shot here.

He's one for four lifetime at the distance.

Does have a decent speed figure. Has run at Monmouth before, but

not to great success. That wasn't the cliffhanger in

May of 23 under Sami Camacho. I love the move to Paco Lopez.

This horse I think will try to get out front and just rock

everybody to sleep. I think Paco does that about as

well as anybody. And so at 12 to one, I think

that'll be the shot that I take. As far as a longer one, I do

think running B is here is interesting as well.

The 9 horse Steve on the outside again, Vince Shameno for Chad

Brown ran in that dinner party like you mentioned, ran a lot

better than the other contenders in here.

Ran behind Balnikoff and Crabs and Beer under Tyler Gaffelion.

I like the mood of any Shameno here.

Ran really well at Keeneland, saw that horse in early April

opening weekend, frankly at Keeneland as well before that,

almost picked off the Grade 3 Tampa Bay with A, with a

pressing style. So I think what you're going to

see in this race is that public sector gets off, gets off 1st

and Running B is going to be right behind him and whoever's

better at the end is going to end up winning this race.

So I'll use those two as my top two contenders in this one.

Did you have a second horse in that race you really liked that

I didn't mention? Well, I I did a question

actually because I've been trying to get an answer to this.

Do you know if 24 is running in this race or is doing the

Churchill one? Yeah, I don't actually have

confirmation of that either because he's listed what for

that, for the 175 here, right, for the Trolleywood, right.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, this is

more the distance. I think, you know that he's that

he's been running at. But I that one threw me for a

loop and I haven't seen anything on it.

So, yeah, I didn't, but I wouldn't, Yeah, no, I, I mean,

I've been interested in him, but I I probably wouldn't use him

here. I guess the other one I kind of

like here is Grand Sonata, you know, second off the layoffs.

And yeah, the last time, you know, there was a layoff like

this, It it, it showed in the next race back.

There was a big, big improvement.

So it kind of like that angle, you know, Pletcher really good.

You know, I think in, in kind of in this, there was a stat there

I wrote down and I misplaced it here, but it was a good Pletcher

stat there. But again, just a horse, I think

who came, you know, coming back off a layoff and already ran

well off the layoff. You know, maybe room for even

more improvement there. Yeah, this is one of those races

too, where we go. Oh, right, Javier Castellano,

right. It feels like it's one of those

kinds of races where we just go, oh, right, he's really good at

great at stakes. And so that would be that.

And then of course, the Haskell preview itself is is done, but

the Salvatore Mile, which is a win and in for the Monmouth Cup.

So we will run the Grade 3 Monmouth on Saturday at the

Monmouth Cup on July 20th, $150,000 three and up here going

a mile, we see the return of Bright Future.

Did run in the Breeders Cup Classic.

Actually ran a pretty good race in that Breeders' Cup Classic.

Everybody was behind White Barrio, but right behind a proxy

was a horse named Bright Future. He's even money in here, Steve.

And I think this is going to be the spot where you have to

single or you have to try to beat him.

What's Steve Kornacki going to do here?

Yeah, and I don't I got a feeling he's not going to be

even money. You're probably less, but it is

yeah. It's one of those I I'm going

back and forth but I I want to I want to play against him and

where I'm I am going to and you you gave away big reason why

Paco Paco at Monmouth Trill Spike.

I know Turf horse, older horse did run in the Salvatore mile a

couple years ago was it was OK, you know, I don't think it was,

you know, but I, I, it wasn't the kind of performance, you

know, the dirt races don't tell you can't do it.

The buyer numbers, you know, and again on turf here, but the

buyer numbers I think are, are the closest you're going to see,

you know, of any of the rest of the field.

And I think you're going to get, I think the age, I think the,

the turf, you know, background, I think is going to lead people

to other directions. And so I, I think if you're

going to, to, to me, it's sort of play against the heavy, heavy

favorite here, might even be able to get like 12:50 or

something. And I don't know, 12:50 that,

that Paco on a horse who can run high 90s, you know, triple digit

buyers on the turf could, yeah, you know, maybe, maybe a mile is

too short, you know, for, for a bright future.

I mean, I won on it, you know, early in his career, but you

know, he's been doing longer stuff lately.

You know, maybe there's rust. I, I don't know, like try to

come up with enough reasons there to throw a horse out

that's going to be three or four to five South.

Yeah, no, again Javier Castellano and a Pletcher run

back with Bright future who did look at ran the first time in a

grade one last year at in the Jockey Club Gold Cup there at

Saratoga in September wins that one.

They decided to run them in the Breeders Cup Classic again.

No one was catching Juadabario that day at Santa Anita and so

nothing to hold against him there.

I'm interested in notorious here, the three horse Juddmont

farm home bred here. That's Chad Brown.

It's Lithavi and Pratt here is coming out of out of optional

claimers going the one turn mile at Aqueduct.

Can he get back to two turns and win?

I don't I think he's won. Yeah.

He won the curl in at Saratoga going two turns.

Otherwise he's never won over two turns.

So I just I'm interested if that's a a thing that he's able

to turn around and do. I thought the one horse here in

Sherlock's Jewel was interesting.

This is a shug horse ran really well in that challenger at Tampa

on Tampa Bay Derby day in March. And I I'm interested.

Can this horse off of a little bit of a layoff here has been

training at Monmouth, has been there for over a month.

Can he be comfortable there? Can he run really well?

Because his only two runs this year have been really good.

He wins an optional claimer with an 89 buyer, comes back, runs

that 87 behind Skippy Longstocking, who frankly is a

grade one type of horse. And he's not going to be facing

that kind of overall sort of class here outside of bright

future. And so can Sherlock's jewel come

off the off the bench here and run a big race 2 for two at the

distance as well going a mile. So I'm interested, as Steve

knows, mile and 40 yards at Tampa is A2 turn race and so

hopefully we can get a price with him as well.

But I'll be I'm, I'm tempted, I'm tempted, Steve, to just use

Bright Future because these other races are so hard for me

to figure out that at some point I got to get a little bit

cheaper. Right.

Yeah. I mean, there's that, you know,

get a price in two of the others and just, you know, essentially

get a glorified pick 3. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Yeah. All right, well, let's go with

that yacht rocking. To swing for defenses and be

about a be about a 172 hitter. There you go.

He's living below the Mendoza Line.

His name is Steve Kornacki. I'm Louie Robo.

This horse racing happy hour. Let's head over to Yacht Rock in

Churchill Downs. We will look now at what did I

tell you we were going to look at.

How about that? We're going to look at race five

of the Monomoy Girl overnight, the maiden special in between

and then that Troily word, Troy reward.

Easy for me to say overnight as well.

Churchill has really taken to the overnight stakes in recent

years and I'm not mad about it because we get these very, very

fun fields. Race 5 is the Monomoy Girl,

$175,000 in the purse here, mile and a 16th.

This is for three-year old Philly.

So we do see some horses that we've seen before.

Our Pretty Woman is back after running in the Kentucky Oaks,

the Fairground Oaks before that and of gold who ran in the

Edgewood and of course on the outside intricate who ran in

both the Rachel Alexandra and the Fairgrounds Oaks this year?

Not a fairgrounds trying to qualify for the Kentucky Oaks.

What did you land on here in the overnight in the Monomer Girl?

Yeah, I, I wanted to be creative, but I, I just look at

our Pretty Woman and you know, I, I, I, I think you just look

at that Fairgrounds Oaks, you know, you know, and I thought

that was just, you know, to be able to do that is very strong

and show some real talent. And I look at this field and I

say, I don't know, I I kind of feel our Pretty Woman goes to

the front and maybe doesn't even have that tough of a time of it.

Perfect. Let's head to Churchill Downs.

We're still yacht rocking. Steve.

I agree about our Pretty Woman. I think band of gold could be

interesting here. Kenny Mcpeak and and Brian

Hernandez Junior tried her in the Edgewood didn't like the the

grass surface gets back to dirt for the frankly for the first

time since February ran in that honey bee behind that weird day

where lemon muffin just shot out of a cannon before that did win

in the Marshall Martha Washington.

That kind of stuff just feels like Kenny Mcpeak's winning a

bunch of these races man. So sometimes you got to throw

horses in like that. Do you like other horse on the

outside here in the six horse intricate?

I'm a little surprised. I think that's more of a

connections 8:00 to 5:00 than anything else.

Yeah, I had the I had the exact same thing, you know, look went

head to head, you know, with our Pretty Woman, you know, finished

up the track. I I was especially looking at

what the odds are going to be. I was, I was happy to leave out

and I I was tempted like you were with Band of Gold, that

what kept me away from band. Band of Gold is just, you know,

that Martha Washington was in a, you know, was mud or slop,

whatever it was that day. So I just, you know, I was like,

it's the only one that really, you know, kind of pops.

So but yeah, I I I think if I had a second choice is Band of

gold and I'm happy to to leave intricate out.

I think you know way too short of price.

Yeah, that was when we were introduced to Mystic Dan for the

first time, actually in Oakland Park was that day.

And so, yeah, it was very sloppy that day for sure.

The next race is a maiden special, a mile and an eighth.

I love Steve, by the way, they've been running these mile

and an eighth mile and a quarter sort of maiden races at

Churchill. It is so fun to try them to, to

see them figure it out, $120,000 in the purse here.

Philly smears 3 and up going that mile in an eighth.

Man, there is a serious favorite in here.

And let's talk about me, Steve Boy, if if you're right and you

know, and and you get, you know, you get someone like our Pretty

Woman in race five, and then you get let's talk about me in this

next race. And it might be one of those

nights where you actually play the pick six, because if you got

two singles here and you can play a 20 set, pick four might

not be the end of the world. Yeah.

And again, this is one where I'd like to, I'd like to go

somewhere else. And you know, I, I just get

turned off in maiden races when they start to lose, you know,

four or five or more races. And I mean, you've got an O for

seven, an O for 10, an O for 13. You know, I, I looked a little

bit just that, you know, Dallas Stewart has the six, you know,

with Brian Hernandez did absolutely nothing, you know,

first time out, you know, now it was a slot.

It was the first time maybe, but you're just playing on, you

know, an absolute just kind of shot in the dark there.

So, yeah, I mean, look, it's, it's three losses.

Once is the favorite, but you know, by a head with, with the

best buyers. And yeah, I, I, I kind of feel

like if I'm structuring something here, these are the

places to go Real, you know, slim in.

Yeah, I think the only knocks would be the trainer Troy Green

hasn't won a route in his last 18 attempts, right?

And so if that was going to be what we were going to go after,

that would be it. But frankly, he was ahead from

that not being true with let's talk about me winning last time.

So maybe Corey Landry can push her through in this one.

I agree. I think the Two's definitely the

one to beat. I did think if you wanted to try

to find a price here I thought the one for seen who has run a

bunch. But Rusty Arnold, man, this is

the kind of race that he seems to pick off at Churchill Downs.

Gets Tyler aboard here. Wasn't great at a mile and a

quarter, but if you go back and watch that race, I think the

race is a little bit shorter. Their horse is much more in it

like like she was at Keeneland the time before.

Didn't like the slop at Gulfstream before that under

Luka Pinichi, they tried her on the synthetic.

She hated it. So we're going to get those dry

conditions again, a little bit shorter.

Maybe Tyler's got something in the bag there for for scene, but

man, it's hard to look past. Let's talk about me at the

distance and in this field as well.

The seventh race is the Chorleywood overnight, $175,000.

And Speaking of longer turf races, a mile and 3/8, Steve, I

think a fun, frankly a pretty fun little field here.

You do get the return of a of webslinger who, I mean, has done

everything right at Churchill Downs except the Grade 1 Turf

Classic last time out under Javier Classilano.

No real drop here. We get Jose Ortiz aboard for

this one 20 port. We'll have to see where he ends

up landing red runs in this one coming out of the Isaac Murphy

marathon. Hated it on the dirt is going to

get back to the turf where he does have two wins.

Son of gun runner there. Bold act is in here for Tyler

and for Charlie Appleby as well on the outside, not to be

forgotten near the outside. I should say the 10 and Sookoi

who actually won that Louisville last time out of grade 3 as well

after winning a climber at Keeneland.

Well, I think a lot of different ways you can make a case here,

Steve. Yeah, I and I, what was I kind

of thinking as I looked through this year?

So I'm I want to go against Boldak, you know, losing twice

in a row now, you know, as the odds on favorite.

But of course, I almost feel like you got to use protectively

because you got that Sycamore at Keeneland and, you know, liable

to just, you know, I can definitely, you know, can

definitely win here. I mean, it's Applebee, It's good

dolphin, you know. So I I I you know, I feel like I

can't I can't leave off, even though I I really just like to

play against. I like web Slinger.

I've been a web Slinger fan. I wrote down horse for course,

you know, in here for, you know, exactly the reason you're

saying, you know, a little longer, but ran in that, you

know, Saratoga Derby last year, you know, pretty similar and you

know, second almost won it. I remember losing that day.

So I like I like web Slinger and if if 4:00 to 1:00, if it's

anything like 4 to one, you know, I think that's a decent

price. The other one I looked at too,

that was just coming out of that same race as Segoy was Utah

Beach. You know, who's just who's been

improving, you know, going from level to level.

That was the first time obviously at that, you know,

stakes level, that great stakes level.

The race was kind of weird. I I think just looking at it,

the the, the, the horses in front kind of all stayed in

front. It didn't seem like anybody was

really moving from the back. I guess you thought beach moved

a little bit at least. So I thought, you know, maybe,

you know, maybe there's more there.

Second time, you know, at this level more acclimated and maybe

the nature of this race is a little different.

So I think web Slinger would be my top pick top pick, but those

are some of the others I used to.

Right man Coraeus lately, that guy can't miss the stakes

prices. He's winning essentially 1/4 of

them. I mean, he has been just

terrific placing his horses in this spot.

If you're looking for a longer shot, Steve, I love the 11

Anglophile on the outside. Didn't run great in that Turf

Classic, but we're second off the layoff here.

Last time at the distance almost picked off the Mack Dear Mita in

a in a grade 2 down at Gulfstream Park.

Brian Lynch really slow start to this meet one for 32, but has

hit the board 8 times otherwise in 30 two runs.

Sometimes in these longer turf races, Steve, eventually these

horses just breakthrough you just get signed.

You know, some kind of horse just picks off the pieces.

Declan Cannon kind of a sneaky good 12 times hitting the board

1st 43 runs at Churchill as well.

Could that be the horse that picks this off?

I'm not sure, but at least at a price, man, that's the kind of

horse that can fill out an exacto trifecta something like

that for you as well. I do agree with you, by the way,

that, you know, it's it's tempting to try to beat bold act

and it's it stands out to me that this is a horse that that

Charlie Appleby has just left at Keeneland.

This isn't one of his best. All right, that kind of thing.

And so interested though. But look, he keeps booking top

flight, you know, jocks to ride this, you know, Frankie Natori,

Flora's rude now it's Tyler Gaffer Leon.

Obviously they still think there's something there for the

Godolphin folks. But I'm with you.

He's not on top for me for sure. Can Stone Age get up here?

Interested in that one as well. Gets back to the turf after

running on the synthetic. That's a horse that it just,

it's so annoying because it hits the board a lot but doesn't win

a lot. And yeah, I just think if Web

Slinger runs his race, Steve, especially if you get forward to

one on a web sling or something like that at Churchill.

And I think of the Churchill turf course as having multiple

eras because they've had so much trouble reinstalling it.

He likes the new turf course, right.

So he's not, he's not one of these that, you know, was good

3-4 years ago or whatever. No, no, he likes the current

iteration of the turf course at Churchill Downs.

So webslinger on top for me for sure there in the Chorleywood

overnight as well on Yacht Rock night.

Yeah, we'll have to get our Steve out there.

And oh man, I don't even know like who my favorite Yacht Rock

person would be. Is is air supply?

Qualifies. Yeah, Yeah, that's pretty good.

Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah.

That might be that might be my favorite yacht rock group.

I, I don't care if he is, I'm going to say Michael Bolton.

Yeah, Michael Bolton, be on there.

Yeah, for sure. Why not?

Yeah. No, it's that kind of whatever

that version of rock. Michael McDonald I.

Always think of the 40 year old virgin when I hear.

That you're right. That's not the great scene.

Oh, it's so stupid. Well, what else you got going on

right now, man? I know it's election year, so

you're busier than bleep and all that, but you know, is it a, is

it a fun? You got to tell the people is it

fun in these election years? I know you're busy as hell, but

is it? Is it fun?

Well, yeah, of course. I mean, everybody's very, you

know, calm about it. Everybody's very serene.

And, and no, it's, I, I mean, it's, it's, I always, it's funny

to me because, well, it's like, you know, I grew up, I was into

politics, you know, from a young age.

And I mean, I, I was in, I can remember being in high school,

you know, Dole versus Clinton and, you know, try, try talking

to anybody, you know, in my senior class about Dole versus

Clinton. I mean, you know, there's no

easier way to get people away from you.

And now it's like here I am a generation later and everybody

wants to talk about it. And, you know, I know people,

you know, college friends who probably couldn't have told you

who the vice president was when we were in college.

Now they're, you know, they're shouting at politicians on

Twitter or whatever. So it's, it's just a very, it's

when I take a step back, it's just, look, I owe my job to it.

So I'm not going to complain. But it's wow, it's, it's a,

it's, it's kind of wild to me that it's that it's become this.

Yeah, we were talking on on my weekday show the other day about

why we love baseball players so much.

It seems like we can identify with them for some reason.

And I think it's 'cause we just grew up playing the sport,

right? And so all of us have hit a

baseball at some point. So we're like, Oh yeah, Tony

Gwynn is just a a chubby guy who's better at hitting the

baseball than I am, you know, that kind of thing.

And you know, you can identify with that, but like what you do

with politicians like those people, I just like my mom was a

was a city commissioner in my hometown for eight years.

And I remember watching the election results come back in

precinct by precinct and watching those things on the

map. And oh, we're going to do well

in this neighborhood and not well in this neighborhood and

that kind of stuff. So when I watch you, I always

think of my mother that way. But but no, I I can't identify

with the politician, but I do think I could do your job, just

not as well. No, I mean, listen, if you are

you, you're in the geography, you're in the numbers.

Yeah, horse racing, you're the numbers, you know, there you go.

That's what you need to know. Yeah, yeah.

There you go. I'm sure you're tired of saying

that. Well, this is Florida's third

Congressional District, and we're looking at it.

It's very purple. That's a very purple district,

you know, that kind of thing. So do you know, is that one of

the things that's in your brain now that you're like, I don't

know my mom's favorite color, but I know about this

Congressional District in Virginia or something?

It's kind of sad. Yeah.

I I tell people like I, I know I know a lot about a little and

nothing about. Everything.

Else the things that I'm, the things that I'm oblivious to

are, are just, they're shocking to some people and they're,

they're generally embarrassing. I do love our emails back and

forth 'cause I'm like, Hey, can any chance you can get down to,

you know, to, to Haskell day, whatever.

And you're like, oh, the Republican National conventions

that weekend this is going on. I'm like, I know that's not even

on my calendar. Like, I don't even know.

That's not a thing. Like, I'm like, how do I get to

New Jersey? That's all I'm thinking about.

You're like, well, you know, Trump's going to be yelling at

people, and that's kind of a thing too.

So you know it is what it is. All right, these people is what

I'm saying too, about just all the passions around it and

everything. It is for me.

That's one of the reasons I love horse racing, you know, because

I, I Monday to Friday, you know, I mean, it's not a Sunday of

weekend work sometimes, but generally, you know, when I

finish up for a week, it's like tomorrow I get the races, you

know? Yeah, right.

Yeah. That's the best thing about

Saturday for sure is kind of wake up, make a Big Breakfast

and get out the get out the Daily Racing Form and kind of

try to figure it out. How much did you, did you

calculate how much your pick four is going to cost at

Monmouth or how are you going to play that sequence I guess would

be my question. I didn't, I didn't calculate it

yet. And I actually I haven't, I

haven't fully. I'm giving you my top choices,

but I'm going to structure something Saturday morning, you

know, but and I'll do, I'll play the pick five and I'll do I

love, I love pick fours and pick fives.

And that's the fun of Saturday morning is I get to structure

them, write them all down and then.

Start watching. There you go.

Well, good luck with the old. I'm trying to remember, is it a

75? Yeah, it's a $7500 claimer to

open that pick five late at Monmouth.

So good luck with that. By the way, if you do come down

to Haskell Day, we'll we'll sneak you in.

Have you gotten to meet Matt Dinnerman yet?

I haven't met him, no. OK, all right, Matt's good dude.

The rubber ducky thing in the announcers booth is absolutely

real. So we'll have to, we'll have to

bring gift of it will be like the three wise men will bring,

we'll bring rubber ducks for for one, we have a as part of the

Kentucky Derby festival here, they dump, you know, 5000 rubber

ducks into the river here. Whichever 1 finishes first, you

know, someone gets their name pulled out of a hat or whatever,

and I've always thought they need to bring Dinnerman to town

to call that. Like, that's of course.

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, that's right.

Let's get bigger that up. Yeah, right.

Travis Stone be like, yeah, go. You can call that.

That's fine. Well, he is Steve Kornacki.

Well, you didn't get your trophy home for winning the Derby

draft, but do you know the other winner of our other national

attempt at a Derby draft by chance?

No. Who is it?

It's Naysmith Hall of Famer Dan Issel, Kentucky's leading

rebounder and scorer of all time.

Oh former Denver Nuggets coach. There it is.

There it is. Classic.

Yeah, he was the he was Coach Matuba when they came back.

Against the one of the greatest upsets in NBA playoffs I

remember so well. Yeah, do you know the back

story? No I so.

George George Carl I can't believe Dan said this out loud.

George Carl left his playbook after Game 2 next to the cards.

It won the. Last three.

Games get out, I had. No idea.

Oh, so fantastic. Yeah.

Dan was so afraid about this. Like, no, no, we we had their

playbook. So we beat up Elastic Games.

It's like, there you go. There it is.

Fantastic. So there you go.

All right. Well, he is Steve Kornacki.

Enjoy all the racing this weekend.

Hopefully we'll get you out here for a Yacht Rock night at some

point. But I'm glad you you enjoyed the

Triple Crown so much. And I'm glad you were the other

person because I felt it was so strange.

I saw no complaining after Dornik won the Belmont Stakes.

I saw so much complaining on Twitter about she's the great

winner. I mean, he's a son of Arrogate.

What are we doing? Why is this surprising to

people? Right.

And it's who? Lucas winning at 88?

Even if you don't have it, you got to smile.

I mean, come on. I mean, even Baffert was like,

OK, you know, this guy, this guy.

I like this guy. Yeah.

So good stuff. All right, Well, he is Steve

Kornacki. Steve, we appreciate you, man.

We'll talk to you probably in a month for the Haskell.

How's that sound? You got to enjoy the music this

weekend. Yeah, we will.

We'll be there. Thanks, Steve.

Appreciate you very much. All right, Steve Kornacki, get

him out of here. That's enough Steve Kornacki for

a night. I'll do something else here,

Zach. All right.

Well, Zach, what do you what do you got going on, man?

You had your birthday this week. We need to talk about that.

I did. June 11th was my birthday.

How about that? It was nice.

You got to remind me, did you turn 44 this year?

How old are you? 45?

Oh, 45 this year? OK, You're 2 years old.

Yep. OK there.

You go all right? Yeah.

I I I only planned to live for another 80 years so.

What do you do on it? So this is, you know, the

eternal dad question on this show.

What is what is what does Zach Zayner do for his for his

birthday? By the way, the the The Show

Twitter account shouted you out on your birthday and I saw no

interaction from you. I love that people think that

I'm on social media. When you're the, you're the

draw, Lou. No one wants to talk to me on

Twitter. But no, what what what's what's

the dad Tuesday you go get tacos or something.

What do you do there in Austin? Gorilla steak and potatoes.

Yeah like it it. You know, cause a lot of people

you know like at work and will. Do the thing, yeah.

Right. And friends are like, why don't

you take the day off of work? And I'm like on a random

Tuesday. That's not relaxing.

Yeah, yeah, I'm 45. Yeah, that is not relaxing.

Like I'll take Friday off or something like that, but not

gonna take a random Tuesday off. I'm sorry.

That's just not. Me.

That doesn't help my life. That's right.

Yeah. Yeah, so it it, you know, I had,

I had toasted waffles for breakfast because that's what

one of that's what Gavin made for me.

My lunch was roast beef sandwich with.

Horseradish. Yeah, Yeah.

Yep, like like I am when you say like, what was your dad

birthday? Like?

Like I'm pretty sure you could just put that in the dictionary

next to dad birthday. Yeah, no, that's right.

Yeah. It's either food, some kind of

bourbon, in my case, of a kind of cigar or something like that.

Yeah, Yeah. No, no, no.

Doubt. So I my my current bourbon

obsession is a $30 bottle of bourbon.

So this goes out to anyone who likes cheap bourbon.

Cult Smoke Wagon, it's made in Vegas.

It's good, good stuff. It is some of the best drinking

bourbon I've ever had. You can throw it into a glass.

It's smooth. It's got that like nice caramel

flavor if you like that. And I actually got turned on to

it by a bartender who made me a Vegas Gold Rush.

And so that's the other thing that I enjoy doing with Smoke

Wagon Bourbon, which for those who might not know, that's a you

take a little bit of hot water and pour some honey in it, mix

it into a liquid, pour that in with some lemon juice in the

bourbon. Good Yep, little Toddy action.

How about that? I like that yeah, I'm looking up

smoke wagon right now They even have nice.

The bottles are cool looking even.

How about? That Oh yeah.

So here's the trick though. Do not buy the $60.00 bottle.

The $60.00 bottle is abhorrent. It is not good.

The uncut 1. Yes, only $9090.00 bottle.

Well there's like uncut one and uncut 2.

The $90.00 bottle is great and the the $30 bottle is great for

some reason $60.00 bottle. No, isn't that funny with

whiskeys like sometimes like the the 80 proof is great and the

100 proof is great, but the 90 sucks like it doesn't really

that's fine. Like one's really great and one

isn't. No, that's totally true about

whiskey, man. By the way, shout out to smoke

wagon. If you want to hang out with the

happy hour, let us know. They have a combo back by the

way, of all six of their bottles.

That's a great. Idea.

Wow. Yeah.

But yeah, so I did that had like a glass to celebrate making it

to 45, hung out with my wife. It was great.

Like that's I can't ask for a better situation.

You know, we're both like we're, we're both very fortunate to

have great families and good kids, so.

There you go. By the way, Smoke Wagon

available in all of our top states.

So California, Illinois, Kentucky, not in New Jersey, OK,

that would have been the one. But there is one in New York,

which is another big spot for us and obviously.

Steve can't have Smoke Wagon at work.

Come on. No, they got it.

Oh, they do have it in New Jersey.

Never mind. There it is.

There you go. And then, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then I'm trying to look for our other states.

There's Ohio. I don't see one in Indiana, but

River City here in Louisville is the distributor, so they may be

able to distribute in Indiana as well.

So yeah, there you go. How about that little smoke

wagon and. Then it was, you know, it's,

it's nice and chill. My wife makes this amazing pasta

salad, which is bacon, avocado, pasta and cherry tomatoes.

How about that? Yeah.

I don't know how you can beat that.

And then it's ranch dressing. I'm, I can't do dairy.

Hidden Valley makes an amazing plant based ranch dressing.

So I'm, I'm like sponsorship advertiser right now.

Sponsor us Hidden Valley. Yeah.

Tax or our guy Steve chiming in. If it's made in Vegas, it's not

bourbon. You watch your mouth.

It's just not Kentucky Straight bourbon.

That's right. You know what caught me off

guard actually, was how good some of the Colorado whiskeys

have. Gotten Oh my gosh, yeah.

So freaking good. Well, in the brands now, but

what's been? It's just a reminder that as

long as you have those swings and weather where it gets really

warm and it gets really cold, you can you can make really,

really good whiskey. Yeah.

And what's been catching me off guard lately actually is the

nocohol stuff. Like a lot of that stuff has

been starting to get really good for beers.

And I've tried some like bourbon flavored nocohols that were

good. So yeah.

Some of those are getting really great.

Yeah, cut above. And some of those folks, the

one, the one that I had that I was like, OK, I could drink this

again, was a a non alcoholic mescal.

And I was like, yeah, yeah, just that like smoky, spicy thing

with mescal like that, you know, one of those things where, you

know, maybe poolside, it's like 2 in the afternoon, you don't

want to get too heavy into it. And So what those are designed

to do is actually you put like an ounce of mescal in with an

ounce of that. So you you essentially cut the

drink in half and you kind of extend your day out that way.

Or if you're making like a pitcher drink, you go half and

half that kind of way and so that, you know, people can, you

know, kind of enjoy it throughout the day rather than

just sitting down with like, like a heavy glass of bourbon or

something like that. So by the way, Kornacki, by the

way he bothers. Me.

So the guy, yeah. I I don't hit any bets and it's

like, dude, you gave a ceiling crusher last year on the wettest

day in the history of the Pennsylvania Derby.

Like, whatever, right? Please.

Didn't he have? And who?

Who? Kornacki.

Didn't he have Mystic Dan? No, no, you're thinking of our

guy Danny. Oh God.

Tennessee Dan. Yeah, Danny Brewer had him.

Yes. OK, yeah, I think Danny went.

Oh, and then of course he's on my show every Thursday.

He was on this morning. Ben Roberts, love Mystic.

Dan would not shut up about him for like 2 months and bet him

like 50 across in the Derby and had him in every.

No. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Like he just went heavy.

And, and so I asked, I asked him a couple weeks ago, I'm like,

how much did you tell your wife about that?

Because that's like, that's one of the great horse racing

discussions is if you hit the big ticket, how much do you tell

your spouse about? I opened with the joke.

So if people don't know, my dad's an attorney.

And so I heard all the lawyer jokes growing up.

And an old woman comes in to the, to a, a lawyer's office.

She sits down, he sits down with her.

They just revise her will. And she's like, oh, thank you so

much. How much is this?

And he said, oh, this is only 1/2 hour.

It's $100. She's oh, no problem.

And she reaches into her purse and gets out a brand new crisp

$100 bill and hands it to him. And he goes, thank you so much,

Says no problem. She leaves and he gets up, He

gets a cup of coffee, sits back down and he realizes she's given

him $200.00. And so he has a dilemma.

Do you know what the dilemma is, Zach?

The dilemma is how should he charge her for another half

hour? Does he tell his partner so?

So for lawyers, that's the joke, right?

And so I wonder if if horse racing betters aren't the same,

right? Like you hit you hit the pick

five or something and it pays like $8300, let's say.

How much do you? Tell if What if you hit the pick

five and won 365,000? Yeah, right.

At some point you have to tell the truth because you get into a

tax area where it's going to affect your entire family.

It's all right. Yeah.

So those those are different discussions.

Like our guy Scott Issel hit the you know, he swept the pick six

at Saratoga last summer. And that was man 120.

No, no, no, it was in the IT was like 250 or something, right.

And it was huge. That was the.

Joke I was making like. Yeah, with those, he had every

horse in the last race of the Pick 6.

And I feel like that's the situation where you grab your

spouse and you're like, we're watching this race, by the way,

if this horse, this horse, this horse wins, we sweep the pool,

we get this amount of money. And because then you just have

someone to like, catch you in case you faint, right?

Well, dude has value as well. Yeah.

I, you know, we haven't talked enough about how our Triple

Crown went on bets for the the the picks on the gold book.

Yeah, we got time. Let me let me tell you, we were

one horse away from an $8500 payout on on your on your pick

five and like dude, like we were and.

By the way, we had both of we had both of the other horses in

that. Yeah, in the in the photo

finish. That's right.

Yeah, no question. Right, like we that weekend.

Between those three weekends, I spent a total of $300.00 betting

and bent over $1500 in bets. Right, Yeah, no, that's right.

And I, I did the math actually, Zach.

So I started betting the Tuesday of Derby week for five O

Tuesday. And I just used the gold Book.

By the way, Gold book bets will have a freebie tomorrow.

I'll, I'll do every race at Churchill and then that pick

four at Monmouth Park. It'll be totally free.

Gold book, pets.com, go check that out.

The the thing that stood out, Zach, was two things.

So I started with $200.00 on Tuesday of Derby week.

I just kept betting out of that money over Derby week and then

over Preakness weekend. I bought dinners with the cash.

I bought like I like tipped people with it.

I bought drinks for people, like all kinds of stuff.

And then I got home after Preakness, I had an envelope and

I just handed it to my wife and I said we're going to pay for

all of our meals in Italy on a trip because I have money left.

It was like $1200 and I bet everything.

I just bet everything. So no, we had a great weekend

and and it was oh. Yeah, that.

That was the missing context. I bet every single race of all

three weekends, every $10 on the winner, $10 on the winner and

the pick threes. Yep, Yep.

It was insane. Yeah.

So especially in Baltimore, you were able to bet everything and

you started with 100 bucks on Friday morning and it cost you

$100 to bet for both days. You had you had action on every

race. Every race I went into TVG and

looked at how many bets and I showed you.

At the end of the day I had $600 in bets just on Preakness

weekend for $100 starter like. So it's just very fun.

Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to measure, you know, you

know, success and success and all that kind of stuff.

But I mean, to take 100 bucks and bet every race for an entire

weekend, I, you and I have a very similar approach to horse

racing that way, where it's the entertainment value that matters

for us. And to be able to do that at

least was was very fun. And like, like you said, we're

literally a photo finish away in the Derby from thousands and

thousands of dollars. But that's the that's the fun of

the game, right? For sure.

So. Well, and we can look back now

and Louis. So Louis changed his picks

because of the rain and he bet his old.

Pics and here I am. Live for like $8000 and he

missed it. It was the worst.

I was so sick. I was so so I had I had updated

the whole gold book. Everyone else had the right

pick. I had the wrong one on my

desktop. Yep, it.

Was the worst. I was that.

Guy and I didn't know how to be happy.

I was like, well, I got to be happy.

I don't know. But Louis.

For sure, for sure, but then it missed anyway.

Thank God for my my own personal metal whatever.

But yes, it it is. Please, we would have split the

money. I'm hoping, by the way, we'll

have a a very fun show announcement next week on this

show, by the way, as it pertains to the Indiana Derby.

So be be aware of that. If you're going to be up there.

By the way, our travel schedule coming up Indiana Derby every

year, you know we're going to be there.

We're going to have something very special for Indiana Derby

day and and that's going to be awesome.

So if you are up there on July 6th, we're going to have

something for you. That's very cool.

I'm, I'm working on a, a third member of our broadcast team

that we've had before. I'm hoping he's able to do the

show again. So be watching for that and I,

I'm very hopeful we'll be doing something the week of Indiana

Derby week as well. And so go ahead and, and kind of

get locked in next week. Get ready for that announcement.

Very excited about that. And then man, I think Zach,

we're like 90% to go to the Haskell and I've, I've, I've

never been to Monmouth, I've never been to the Haskell.

I am so excited. Matt Dennerman is such a good

friend of this show. I'm getting to talk to him

tomorrow. A guy that I really respect in

horse racing, I think is I think he's part of whatever that next

wave of horse racing is going to be.

It's going to be mad. We felt that way a long time.

Also excited by the way tomorrow to not excited, but interested

to get his thoughts on on Golden Gate and all those things

because he did. I mean, he poured himself into

that place. And so you know, he was the

announcer, he was the handicapper, he was the TV show

out there. He was everything for Golden

Gate Fields for many years. And so interested to hear from

him tomorrow how he's feeling and all that, but crushing it at

Oakland, crushing it out there in Monmouth Park.

So hopefully keep that going as well in the gold book.

By the way, two pick threes. I'm I'll pick six ticket in the

gold book as well for Churchill. Louis going.

Wide, I haven't hit the pick six at Churchill.

OK, I should re let me start over with the rephrasing of

that. I haven't played the pick six at

Churchill in two years and the last time we played it, we hit

it. And so I'm hopeful.

Just I looked at this card and I thought this is one where I

think we can hit the pick 6. And so I decided to put together

two pick threes essentially and try to figure that out.

So. That's what I'm literally about

to say. I was like, Louis, if there's

anyone in my life that is the king of the pick three, it is

you. And putting together two pick

threes seems like the best. Opportunity we had so much fun

with this on WBAL with with our guy Scotty Wyckoff in in

Baltimore. He I sit down, he calls me the

the Prince of the pick three and I started with me and I go 3 and

I and I looked at him and I went do you know what they called me

in Louisville? They called me the derriere of

the downs like I'm the bum. I'm the bum in Louisville.

I love Baltimore. You people are so kind to me.

It's so there you. Go, I mean you, you hit like

five of nine pick threes that weekend.

Had a good weekend. There, you had fun.

That's great. I my hope is by the way, if

people are heading out on Saturday, 3/23/21, that kind of

area, look for the guy that too many guys with cigars and that

kind of stuff will be out there hanging out as well.

Look for the guy with no hair that's overweight.

That's me. You'll be able to find us.

It'll be a lot of fun. So it's.

Self effacing. But we'll be out there, so if

you want to come hang out with us, you can also DM me.

I'm at Radio Louie on Twitter. You can DM the show, whatever.

We'll get you together. I'll kind of put a picture up on

Twitter. You can come find us as well.

Always a fun night with those. I just, I think the yacht rock

thing is such a smart idea. It's so silly.

Oh, that's amazing. I did not know that fact until

you said it. And I was like, how is this not

a regular thing everywhere? You, I mean, you, you look at a

place like like Golden Gate closing down and you're like,

why don't you have like Yacht Rock Saturdays, right?

Like. Yes.

Make it a party, 'cause I, I I. That's the thing Steve talked

about it and, and I'm not a I'm not a how do we save horse

racing person. I just have fun with it.

Oh, sure. My, my contribution, whatever

small piece of blue, whatever, you know, in the sport is just

that, that we have fun with it and that we try to make it

approachable and whatever else and, and talk about on, on our,

our little local ESPN affiliate here and that kind of thing.

But it's to me, just all I know how to do is have fun with it.

And so when I see I got the e-mail like 1145 before we went

off air at noon and it was like yacht Rock is the theme this

week. And I was like, yes, Sir, it is.

Let's go like 10 minutes of yacht rock talk.

So there you. Go no.

And, and I mean, I'm not saved horse racing either, but I'll

tell you that it. Seems right by the way, I mean

like the events matter and and what I was.

Going to say about that is. To me, horse racing's more just

get people in the door. And then?

See if they want to come back right?

Because if you can get a big crowd, let's say they have, you

know, I don't know, 20,000 for Haskell day.

They they usually have huge crowds.

Man, if you get. 200 of those people to become daily betters

or become you know you know Wednesday at at at horseshoe or

Thursday at parks or whatever kind of betters man.

That's how the sport starts to pick back up and the only thing

I know how to do is just take people on the ground to where

where these races are. Like I said, we'll talk to

dinner tomorrow. By the way, we'll release that

conversation on this platform as well.

So you'll be able to get that without having to go search too

hard through local AM sports talk radio in different markets

that you're not familiar with. But we'll, we'll do that.

And then, you know, just, we have so much fun with it.

By the way, do you know our outside of the Derby, our

highest ranked show this year? I I, I love this was Callie

Francois, Dave Rodman and Scott Wyckoff and Callie talking about

the Raccoon family in her office.

And I just look. It's it, look, it, it's just, it

was a reminder, Zack. It was a really fun one.

If we don't have fun with this thing, like what the hell are we

doing, right? I mean, what in the actual hell

are we doing so? Hopefully I'm calling, I'm, I'm

calling Callie out on this one. She did not show us the raccoon

when we were at Preakness. Yeah, it was almost like she had

something to do Friday and Saturday.

So there you go. By the way, are we gonna like,

are we, are we gonna? No, we're not.

We're not doing appearance based radio.

We're not doing that. We're not doing that stuff

'cause you know, that's just, you know, there was a great next

time Callie's on, we'll ask her about it.

How's that? She 'cause it's just a very, a

very specific look on Saturday. I want to ask her about it.

I think it was weather. It was weather related, almost

certainly. So there you go.

Oh, man. But man, we love that.

We love that Baltimore trip, man.

It is, it is top of the heap for us for sure.

And by the way, like Johnny P hanging out and all that stuff.

We had a great time. So yeah, no, it was it was a

good Triple Crown for us, man it.

Was amazing, can't do any better.

Yeah, no, I'm with you. Outside of getting a Triple

Crown winner, it was a it was a fantastic one.

So, all right, brother, let's get out of here.

Happy birthday. We'll we'll get out of here.

Let's play some music on to Yacht Rock night at the the old

stomping grounds there at Churchill Downs.

I'm. Does he tell his partner?

There it is, Steve. I know Steve.

Does Zacky see? Find a Linkin Park version of

Yacht Rock. It's a good joke for the show

tomorrow. We'll try to do that when we get

together again. Robo and Co tomorrow we'll have

Matt Dennerman at 11 if you want to tune in for that.

We'll be up on the the platform well ahead of the races on

Saturday as well. One of the things I love talking

to track announcers more and more, especially the younger

guys, they are handicappers as well.

So they're really looking at the races, really interested in

because they want to reflect in the call if it's a big upset or

if it's, you know, the the sort of the expected, the expected

person to be there at the end of the race.

And so I think Matt will offer some pretty good insights as

well. And frankly, a a guy that wasn't

probably terribly familiar with Monmouth.

He's been there for a couple weeks now.

And so he'll have a good idea of how the track is playing as

well. He's producer Zach.

I'm Louis Rabeau at radio Louis on Twitter.

You can find our show at Horse Happy Hour as well.

Go ahead and follow us on YouTube as well.

A couple weeks ago, for example, sat down with jockey Jaime

Torres, walked through the Preakness with him, did a little

fill study that way. Hoping to get some more of those

this summer as well. And by the way, end of the

month, we will start the Kentucky Racing Spotlight show

back up when they move to Ellis Park.

And so right when the Indiana Derby's going on, I'll have an

Ellis Park opening weekend show as well.

One of the great things, Zach, they're going to run Saturday

through Monday at Ellis and they're going to run their

stakes for Sunday. So all the Saratoga guys can

come down after running on Saturday at Saratoga and run and

run the stakes races at Ellis. Plus, those Mondays are going to

be complete and total fire. I am so glad they're running on

Mondays out there. So that'll be fun as well.

So we'll get you, we'll get you through the summer here on the

show as well and have a lot of fun with that.

Again, producer Zach, I'm Louie Rubbo.

Thanks for hanging out with us here on the Horse Racing Happy

Hour.