Tesio Day 2025 | Dan Illman & Kali Francois

Oh yes, you can break yourself with Mike Gandolfo, but not the

theme song. This is the Horse racing happy

Hour on April 17th, 2025. Cali Francois, Dan Illman in

tow. It is our final show on the 2025

Road to Pimlico series. Preakness 150 in our sights.

Just a month until Black Eyed Susan tomorrow.

Callie, we are getting hot and heavy here.

I know you're going to be in town here for the Derby, but

goodness gracious, we're already getting close to the Preakness

as well. It just it and it's going to

happen in the blink of an eye. We will be at Preakness time

before you know it and it's going to get crazy.

It's the countdown is officially on.

That's exactly right. And Mr. Mr. Dan Omen, Proud

shark, joins us here from the Is that the press box?

That's the press box. Laura, how are you, Dan?

Laurel Park press box. It's going to be a bittersweet

Preakness. Louis Preakness 150.

It's the end of an era in the beginning of a new era.

The last Preakness at Old Hilltop.

Then we'll have one Preakness right here at Laurel Park, and

then we'll start anew with a new brand new Preakness and a brand

new Pimlico. So we're really looking forward

to it here at the Maryland Jockey Club.

Yeah, you should be and by the way, the people in charge of

candid yards and where the Ravens play in charge of the

publico renovation. So I'll worry not it's going to

get done very well in Baltimore. There tons going on this

weekend. I love these shows because

getting to preview the big day at a track.

Obviously Maryland Million has its spot on the Laurel Park

calendar, but certainly the Weber City Miss and the and the

Tessio here leading into those win and ends for Friday and

Saturday Preakness weekend and just an awesome, just an awesome

experience getting to be on track for those big days.

What do you guys have going on Saturday?

It's a huge day. Listen, what don't we have going

on on Saturday? We've got 5 stakes races, two

win and you're in qualifiers. One for the Preakness, of course

that being the Federico Tessio. One for the Weber City Miss.

Of course, that being the Cali. For the girls, for the the

winning, you're in Wednesday, see you in May.

For the Black Eyed Susan, of course, yes, is the Dan.

Oh, I got her. OK.

It is, It is. Of course, the Weber City Miss

is, of course, for the Black Eyed Susan.

You know, we also have a handicapping contest.

We've got a lot of things going on.

Family friend, family fun day as well.

So what's going on at the Maryland Jockey Club on

Saturday? Of course, the Federico Tessio,

named after a man born in Torino who died in Milan.

We'll talk about that when we get there.

But what? Dan?

Dan, make it a face? I don't know.

I you've been in Milan, Dan. It's a nice town.

I've never been to Milan. I wonder how far Torino is from

Milan though. It's.

A really good question. His best horse he ever bred was

Rebo I believe. There you go.

All right. He served in the Italian Army

during World War One. How about that?

And that's the whole thing. That's a busy man.

How about that Old Federico Testament?

Very busy. Yes.

Yeah, a very busy man. All right, so of course, we like

to start this by explaining the road to the Preakness.

If you haven't been joining us previously, we certainly welcome

you in. Thanks so much for making us a

part of your horse racing weekend.

Heft and gin talking. Get us started just after

Christmas, right before the new year, on the 28th of December.

Shorter distances to start. Of course.

We stretch those horses out from 2 year olds to three-year olds

there in Maryland. A very logical series leading

into the Black Eyed Susan and Preakness.

We've had repeat runners several times in these races.

Onyx 10 and Barbadian Runner went back-to-back in their

races. The extra heat in wide country

on the Philly side and of course, the spectacular bit of

Miracle Wood on their side. We haven't seen Barbadian

runner. He won't be back in the Tessio

here, but we will see. Pay Billy, who won the private

terms last month. Save Trust gets a disqualifying

win in the Beyond the Wire. Tons of controversy there in

Maryland. What are they gonna do?

They're gonna put Old Bay seasoning on it and move on.

The Federico Tessio is run at 9 furlongs.

We're running at 8:00 and half in the the Weber.

I've been saying Weber for years.

I I got to sound like an out of town rude when I do that, don't

I? You do sound a bit like an out

of town rude, but no one blames you there.

You go, yeah, that's not the Weber thing either.

All right, so both guarantee of course the spot in the starting

gate on Friday and Saturday there in Maryland.

We'd like to start this part of the show with our top three in

the Maryland circuit right now on the three-year old side.

We'll start on the Philly side. With this one.

We're going to see the the return of the two top finishers

in that last prep race there and a new shooter at the top.

And for the Brittany Russell barn in reply, let's just drop a

daughter of Curlin in this one. No big deal.

Must be nice. Dan, who's your top three on the

Philly side? Let's go there.

First, I'd say reply is number one, $450,000.

Curlin made her debut at Colonial Downs.

We'll talk about her a lot later, but when you watch that

race, don't you get the feeling that distance is going to be her

friend? She's a late blooming, well bred

big scopey Philly and you just have a feeling that these longer

distances are going to help. Now, will she have enough time

with only one race and the Weber City miss to make it to the

Black Eyed Susan and then contend against all the big

girls coming in from out of town?

We'll find out a lot more on Saturday, but even as a

sprinter, Callie, I'm I'm a little bit interested in your

opinion on high path. I mentioned last time out, won

her debut. After I mentioned her, she won a

Sprint race. I wonder if it's a little too

much, too soon for Brittany to consider stretching her all the

way out, but she's got a lot of potential.

I agree. I think with it when it because

high path was actually originally, you know, I was

going back and forth between reply and high path and I think

you were talking about two different Phillies that are

ultimately going to be having I think two different game plans.

Now, when talking about high path, you know, kind of cutting

back in distance, there was kind of a kind of a reason they did

that. They wanted kind of get more

spark in her when eventually they do stretch her out.

So I don't leave this one off of your 123, you know, 4 in your

top fillies here for Brittany Russell.

And can I go back to just something really quick on reply

when it comes to reply. And you know, you mentioned the

fact that we've got, you know, only a first start, then going

in for the Weber city, missing potentially the Black Eyed

Susan. I see this as a type of thing

that Brittany Russell is going to absolutely dominate because

we already can. She's trustworthy with a first

time starter, right? But she's even more trustworthy

to me with a second time starter and a second time router.

She's 12 for 36 with her second time routers as of late.

That's 33%. This is the type reply is the

type of filly that Brittany is just going to kind of prime this

one to perfection here. So I have, I have way less

worries than you do when it comes to reply, when it comes to

high path, high path. I think she's just kind of

taking a little bit of time, a little bit of a different

direction with her really getting the basics on her before

she moves forward. And As for my third pick, I'm

just not thrilled really with the three-year old Phillies in

Marilyn right now. It seems like they're still

trying to distinguish themselves.

You saw the Safe Trust Moon cash race last time out and noses

apart on the wire. Safe Trust then cuts back to A6

prolong allowance race a week ago.

She gets through that performance, just not very fast

races. I guess I'll take safe trust

right now because she's one sprinting, she's 1 going a

little bit longer, but I'm not sure either one of them are

going to be factors in the Black Eyed Susan.

How? About for you there, Kelly.

I, I agree. So we talked about when we're

talking about moon, moon cash, I like a lot.

We're just at the timing where I agree with Dan, we need to see

more. We need to see something that

packs more of a punch. Complexity.

Jane intrigues me a little bit. I don't know if she's going to

be a scratch out of here for Saturday.

And if she, I mean, if she is, then then she's out.

But if she's running and if she runs well, she intrigues me

because she was working with a very highly touted Brittany

Russell horse when she was working and she.

So there's just a little bit of background buzz that I really

kind of appreciate about this one.

Of course, she was dropped down to dropped down to second or she

was bumped up to first. Excuse me.

And I think with her, she just kind of needed that one run.

I trust her a little bit more with the second time route as

well. So Complexity Jane, I think

could be a little bit under the radar as well.

Yeah, I like complexity, Jane, a fair amount actually.

And I think that the mile in a six teeth will fit her as well.

I think that complexity go Sapper type of of breeding makes

sense for her to go a little bit longer.

Do we, do we know the rider assignments yet for those two

Phillies in this race? I'm sure we'll get there by the

time, but is there, has there been an update on that at all,

Dan? I was a bit surprised that

Brittany didn't name a rider for either of the two entrants in

this race. It makes me wonder if she's

beginning to have second thoughts.

But I do think she's going to run at least one of the two, and

I won't be surprised if she runs the Ripoli entrant breaking from

the inside reply just to get that experience.

It just seems like a good spot where if she doesn't win, she at

least gets that valuable black type and you still have a first

level allowance condition to fall back on.

Yeah, I I agree. I have her very much at the top

of my rankings and I'm not at all sure that there's a close

second in this case, and I'm with Dan on this.

Not a not a a terribly deep year for a three-year old Phillies

yet. Yet we have a long way to go.

Yeah, we have a long way to go. Lots of really good Phillies are

broken their maidens 3 year old summer.

I mean, that's that's not a problem for me moving forward,

but I've got to reply very much at the top.

Let's go to the Colt side Cali for your top 3 here.

We'll see some of those certainly in the Federico

Tessio. I feel a little less dumb

because Dudley Do Right did end up with this, so I gave him as

my third highest ranked horse here in Maryland last out.

But Kelly, where did you land? Who are your top three Colts in

Maryland? So Dan alluded to this one, I

believe last last episode, but Passion Rules is actually he's

not running in Maryland at all, but he's a Maryland bred with

running with Brad Cox. He was a decent third in the

Wood Memorial. So just that based off of that

alone, I've got to go with that with that a little bit.

But when you're talking, when you're talking about the other,

the other cults, give me one second.

I did this again last last episode where I accidentally

deleted my deleted my notes on this one.

Just give me 5 seconds, guys. But when you're talking about,

of course, hey, Billy, who I harped on so well last episode,

I'm still sticking with that. He's definitely, you know, he's

he's going to be in in second choice for me.

And then when you talk about the third selection here, you got, I

mean, you got to have sacred Thunder in there just because

he's just going to be a consistent 3rd.

So that's just where I'm going to be keeping him.

How about for you, Dan? Well, we have a deeper crop of

three-year old Colts and geldings this year than the

Phillies, and Callie mentioned several of the top ones.

We still should talk about Omaha.

Omaha. I'm not sure if his Preakness

bound after his disappointing performance in the Wood

Memorial, but that day he broke from an impossible outside post

position and I guess distance would be his friend if he showed

up. His stablemate Pay Billy is one

of the horses to beat in the Federico test, so he's done

nothing wrong and he acts and looks like a horse that would

get a mile and an eighth. Personally, I believe the best 3

year old Colton Maryland right now is the horse that is going

to be competing on Preakness Day, just not in the Preakness

and his name is It's Hammer Time, who was so impressive

winning last time out sprinting. I know that Gary Capuano who

does have Sacred Thunder in the Tessio will eventually want to

stretch the source back out in distance, but he has already

said he is pointing to the chick clang for three-year old

sprinting on Preakness Day and it's Hammer Time.

You can't touch him so far. I got to say, just a reminder

for everyone that hangs out on this show, you'll get references

like that from Dan Illman once in a while, just once in a

while. And by once in a while I mean

5-6 times an episode. The other part.

The name Chick Lang incredible. You're just not going to do any

better than that. The the stakes names over

Preakness weekend are undefeated.

The dinner party, the the very one, I mean all the Chick Lang

it's it's, it's incredible. It's fantastic.

I think the dinner party is just so hard to beat, man.

That's so. Well, 'cause he's never been

invited to one Cali. I always have to host.

It's a thing, all right, Dan Elva, Cali Francois hanging out

with us on the horse racing happy hour.

We will be in Maryland and Cali Will.

I'm dragging her to Jimmy's Seafood the Friday before

Preakness. Come join us for a seminar at

7:00. Dan, there's no damn chance that

you are available at 7:00 on a Friday the night before the

Preakness. There's just no chance give.

Me a break. Stop it for you.

A good close personal friend of mine, I would certainly make

time to appear at Jimmy's Seafood and, and let me tell you

something, you can even call me up on stage and I'll give an

opinion or two. I know you don't like it because

the people down in Louisville are calling me up.

They're saying, you know, there's this slot opening up in

the on radio land and and they want me, but I understand.

Bring me out. Yeah, it's the competition part

that I'm very concerned about. Dan, you're right.

Also, you're better looking than me, so that's a problem too.

You know, It's a whole thing. Danielman shows up at Jimmy's.

I can't help you people. It's just it.

Listen, I I can only control so much in my life.

Billman shows up in that hoodie at Jimmy's.

I will fall over. It's a thing so come join us

it's Black Eyed Susan evening 7:00 I started it earlier

because Cali is very high maintenance and so she needs to

go to bed much earlier on a Friday.

I'm learning things about Cali, but I simply.

Didn't want to know what's. Up you got that self-care

routine on a big weekend, got to keep got to keep the schedule.

Absolutely, absolutely not. I know Ilman was watching, We

had Kornacki on a couple months ago and I asked him about his

skin care routine and he was not happy so I know well.

I, on the other hand, have no problem delving.

We can talk about my skin care routine for the next hour, but I

think we have other stuff that we need to cover.

Here and there we have other things to get into, including

our handicapping section here, which is presented by our

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All right, we're looking at the late pick 6 here, late pick 6,

the pick six at Laurel Park on Saturday.

Of course, we encourage you to play the pick five there, Dan,

but if people need help with their handicapping outside of

this show, where should they go? They should go to

laurelpark.com/picks. You're going to get probably the

most extensive handicapping guide available for free on the

interwebs. I'm telling you, you're going to

get Cali's keys. You're going to get my full card

analysis. You're going to get top picks

from the entire team. You're going to get trip notes

from Will Humphrey, former jockey on this circuit.

He does a fantastic job. You're going to get hot trainer

stats for the day, future horses to watch, track trend bias

information, and lots, lots more.

Again, it's free. It's laurelpark.com/pics.

We also have free daily racing forum, daily racing program,

past performances on the website.

Download them for free, download the guide handicap along with us

and bet those 12%. Those low take out pick fives.

We've got two of them on Saturday.

Love it and I, I, you can go back to Equibase.

Everyone can check me on this. The handle is ticking up at

Laurel Park and part of it is the information is available.

So you can, you can sit down and feel like you got a real fair

shake when you bet Laurel Park, Pimlico, Timonium, whatever

you're doing there with the MJC. We start with Race 7.

It is the Dahlia. We are in the five straight

stakes here. Starting in race 7 starts the

the pick 6A mile on the turf. We see green.

How about that? Let's go not just at Keeneland,

but also with our friends there at Laurel Park.

A mile on the turf here. That is one trip around the turf

course there at Laurel Park, Phillies and Mares 3 and up,

100K in the Kitty here. Callie, we go to you first.

Who did you land on in the Dalia?

I think you and I, by the way, both capped this before Dan's

morning line came out. So it'll be interesting to see

how we agree or line up with the morning line or not.

We did. And 1st off, I want to say that

this is honestly, when it comes to Maryland stakes, this is one

of my favorite stakes of the year because it's the official,

official sign that it is spring. We've got turf going on.

It's it's always and plus I love Dalia.

So that's always been one of my favorites.

We go, we start things off. I go with the Stidham horse and

Barbosa. Barbosa very hungry coming back

into Maryland, trying to kind of get picked business back up here

with Tufani coming off of those fairgrounds stakes.

I mostly look at the fact of what this is and this is how I

generally handicap. What kind of trip does this one

need and how much of how high of a reality is it that she's going

to be getting the trip that she needs?

And I think she does find a really sweet spot in post 7

here. She's going to be able to

listen. We have speed in this race.

We have horses coming off of the layoff.

They're going to be coming guns blazing and they will get tired.

That's where too funny kind of really picks things up.

I'm really, I'm, I'm very OK with the fields that she's come

out of. They're not as tough as one

would automatically seem, but they're very comparable here

today at Laurel. Hi, Dan, who'd you land on?

I think the worst to beat in here is certainly the favorite.

I made Sparkle Blue six to five, and why not?

She's a millionaire, dropping out of a graded stakes race for

Grand Motion, second start of the form cycle.

She's a proven commodity at Laurel.

That being said, she's getting a little bit older and she's going

to be a heavy favorite, so I'm going to try to upend her with a

horse that almost upended her last year, and that is the #3

cut from class, a horse that does have some speed, a horse

that, like Kelly mentioned, might be a little bit fresh off

the layoff. And while I see Kelly's point

that the five and the six also have speed in this race, I just

think the cut from class is the classier speed drawn inside of

those sources. So I think this one's going to

go under Kevin Gomez and we'll see how far she wants to take

for the field. Remember, the last time she was

beaten by Sparkle Blue was at a much longer distance.

I think a Kyle hits cut from class right between the eyes.

I have no arguments with Callie's case for Tufani.

She's going to be running late and she's going to be a better

price than Sparkle Blue. Sparkle Blue's the horse to

beat. I respect Callie's pick Tofani.

Curious to see what cut from class does, maybe close to the

pace. I so love that you went with cut

from class because I've looked at this and I am such a huge

fan. I'm so and I was worried that

Katie Keel was going to be trying to give this one a dirt,

you know, campaign during the winter.

Luckily gave her some time off. It's just a question of what she

going to be off of the layoff. But we kind of know if you go

back from February to April, there's a little bit of an

indication that she runs well fresh and that was on the dirt

and we know that she loves the turf already.

So I love that you went with Cut from class as your top

selection, Dan. I'm interested in 19 amendment

on the outside, 8 to 1, Paco Lopez into ride for the day.

There's a horse that's picked off optional claiming kind of

company mile and a 16th sort of races both at, you know, at

places like Colonial, places like Gulfstream Park.

Interested to see how she fits in this field.

She is a 5 year old. She's never tried stakes company

before, so this is an obvious step up.

But I trust the Trombetta barn to place this horse in the right

spot here. I don't know that she wins here,

but certainly because I have Sparkle Blue very much on top.

She's very much the class here. There's no debating that part of

it, but I'm interested to see what Paco can do with this one

because I think she's fast enough that it's not going to

bother her to break from the outside.

But I still do think it's a detriment to her to have to

start in the 9. I like her form recently.

I know she's coming off the Tepeda, but that's not, you

know, not the end of the world, I don't think at this time of

the year. But yeah, I, I, I think she's an

interesting one on the outside. I like how you went with that

because Paco Lopez, Trombetta, they just teamed up at Keeneland

for a Grade 3 in the Giants Causeway last weekend.

So that's going to kind of carry a little bit of course, what the

future is now. But I it's if there's anybody

that can kind of get this one from the 9 post in a decent

position up there, it's going to be Paco.

He's going to. We know he can go gun to blazing

out of there. Race 8 starts that late, pick 5

again, low 12% pick take out there with the MJC.

The King T Leatherberry is race 8 here, 5 1/2.

We are sprinting on the turf in this one for three-year olds and

up in this case, no Lasix for you.

How about that $100,000 on the line here?

And Dan, who did you land on in the King Leatherberry?

I think the 10 determined Kingdoms, the horse to beat

despite the layoff for Michael Trombetta, will be the first

race for Trombetta. The Source was purchased for

$190,000 at Keeneland November. And listen, they bought this

horse because he loves Colonial. How much does he love Colonial?

He's won the last 123 editions of the Punchline Stakes there,

and I'm assuming that the Hermit Kingdom is going to go for four

in a row in 2025 S. Perhaps this race is a starting

off point, but this horse just looked so good winning that most

recent start at Keeneland. In turf sprints, when you win a

race by 2 1/2 lengths, it's like winning a race by 5.

And this horse had to squeeze his way through in between

horses and drove proof clear of a good group.

I just think he's going to get close to the pace and get the

jump on his true competition coming from way out of it.

I have the 10 on top as well. Callie, who did you land on?

I didn't go with the 10, but I love how you guys have him on

top because if you go back, he comes from not quite a year

layoff, at least a 6-8 months, almost a actually no, almost a

year layoff. And that year layoff was coming

in an allowance at Laurel Park. So while you while you talked

about him loving Colonial, he also loves Laurel as well.

So and he's put in some bullet works.

I have nothing to argue against him.

This is where I kind of go with the obvious choice here.

I'm such a witty fan, so I'm kind of sticking to that

bandwagon a little bit. I just love that he's not coming

off of the layoff we've gotten. Well, he is coming off of the

layoff, but in the sense where I've seen him come off of bigger

layoffs where it's been a bigger issue.

So I, I just think this is a little bit as well of a horse

for course. I also love him, like, you know,

just coming in fresh. Louie Browns condition and

course condition, pardon me, is going to is going to really make

a an important determination of who's going to win these races.

Because I talked to Lizzie Merriman and she really feels

that at this point in Whitty's career, he wants a little bit of

given the ground, he doesn't really like it very firm.

So it'll be interesting to see. We're expected to get a little

bit of rain here on Friday and that could help Whitty, a horse

that certainly kicks in the stretch 4. 4 Harp is in here as

well, and that's a horse that's run well at at Laurel Park

before as well. These seven-year old geldings,

sometimes it's just tough to know which races they're going

to pop up in. But I think that's one that I'll

be using in exact and trifecta kind of place because I think

he's definitely going to be part of the equation at the end, Dan.

He's going to be part of the equation in the beginning.

He is brilliant for at least speed from the rail and this

source is just going to go and you're right his big win at

Laurel came one of the Laurel dash a couple of years ago.

Which region You know he comes into Laurel and he wins races

and now he's win races. He wins stakes races.

I'm curious to see what we get from for far.

I'm looking for a little bit of a price underneath and this

horse might sound a little bit wacky on paper, but had to have

them as kind of an interesting horse that I've been following

on the circuit for a while. The number 9, I made him 20 to

one on the morning line. He was starting the Maryland

Million Turf Sprint. Now that's a restricted race.

Three starts back. When you watch him run, it seems

like he doesn't know what he's doing.

He swaps leads 3-4 times in the stretch.

I think it's interesting that they gelded him over the winter.

Maybe this guy comes back a little bit more focused, a

little bit more mature, and he has a versatile running style.

I could sneak him into the number at a big price.

Had to had to have him 15 runs last year.

You love a horse that just shows up and he hit the board in nine

of those runs. So we love those kinds of horses

in horse racing for sure. Moving on to Race 9.

This is the horse racing happy hour hanging out with our

Maryland crew, Cali Francois, Dan Illman down there at Laurel

Park ahead of our trip to Pimlico next month.

Again, Jimmy Seafood, the Friday night of Black Eyed Susan, come

see us at 7:00. I may or may not have a cigar

for you. All right, so race 9 is the

Weber City Miss as I try to seem like less of a rude before I

take my trip to Charm City. This is a mile out of 16th for

$150,000. three-year old Phillies.

A spot in the starting gate for that Black Eyed Susan on that

Friday. Fantastic, fantastic opportunity

for several of these Phillies and here we talked about them at

the top of the show Cali with between reply and other things.

When you see a reply in a race like this, how tempted are you

to just say, OK, this is probably just the best horse?

And it was originally, and I actually, I originally had Moon

Cash on top just because I love the fight that I saw the wire.

So, but ultimately I do go reply and then Moon cash because you

take a look at the fact that this reply came from that

Colonial Mile effort being on the inside, we get a similar

situation. I think this one is going to

appreciate, you know, breaking and then tucking around those

two terms. You know, as far as breeding

goes, the dam was, you know, a sprinter, you know, 7 furlongs

at most. But you taught like mostly a

sprinting family, right? But there are a couple.

There's a little bit of distance there.

Again, we discussed this earlier in the show.

I just think that, you know, you trust Brittany on a second time

router, 12 for 36. So this is a note.

She knows exactly what to do with these second time routers.

How? About for you, Dan.

I had a very tough time with this race.

I certainly respect Brittany's second time starter.

It's tough to make a line for this race also.

I mean, she earned a 67 buyer in a maiden special.

I made her 8 to 5. Is that crazy to say that she's

going to be not only the favorite in this race, but a

fairly prohibited favorite against some legitimate steak

sources? I just have a feeling the

Brittany factor, the Ripoli factor, the pedigree, she's

going to take a lot of money. I'm going to go with horses that

are going to be close to the pace in here.

This is a short field. I don't think the pace is going

to be fast. Kelly made a very good point

about Moon Cash, who I want to use in any sort of multiple race

wagers. I know she was claimed for

$40,000 two stats back, but she ran her heart out in the beyond

the wire. Look at those fractions,

especially the second quarter. They went sub 23 and Moon Cash

is right up close to that pace and then advancing into a 3/4

split in almost 111. No wonder say Trust came from

the back of the pack. She would look like she was

going to go right by Moon Cash put.

Moon Cash dug in and was the victim of a tough

disqualification. I think she's going to sit a

very good trip and not have to work nearly as hard here.

If Complexity Jane runs in this race, I'm very curious because

her debut to me was an extremely professional effort.

She missed the break. Sheldon just let her get into a

nice stride. She professionally moved along

the inside, stayed on the rail and exploded home.

I don't know whether it was just simply stretching out in

distance last time out that made her a little bit speed crazy,

but she just didn't stay the mile.

I think she gained a lot of experience from that race.

If she runs in here, I think there's a chance she gets to the

lead and wires them. Wow.

All right, Yeah. What about late night call

coming into this 1:15 to 1:00 on the line here does break her

maiden last outgoing this distance over this course breaks

from the four hole in that one look.

Not the fastest race ever, Dan, but I do think that this one is

absolutely a candidate for an exact trifecta cut and play.

Well, certainly again, if you don't believe in the three-year

old Phillies and we talked about it earlier today, if you don't

believe in the sort of stakes Phillies here, why not go with

late night call? These connections actually

thought enough of her to run her against the boys at parks.

Two starts back going two turns and the distance.

You're right. The distance is really exactly

what this horse wants is going to have to improve from a

buyer's speech figure standpoint.

But I liked what I saw last time out.

I won't knock a long shot. The Henry Clark is race A10, it

is the start of the late pick three there at Laurel Park on

Saturday on Tessio Day. A mile on the turf here.

This is the guy's version of this for three and up $100,000

in the Kitty here. Dan, we go to you first for this

one. I thought amongst the more fun,

try to beat the favorite kind of races that we have on the card

today. You know something and you say

that, and I go with the favorite.

I think Neat's going to be the favorite at 5:00 to 2:00 in

here. And this is a horse that might

not like a little cut in the ground.

This horse really wants it firm. I talked to Rob Actress earlier

this week and he said he shipped out to Southern California for

that tough race off the layoff expecting firm turf and he just

felt it was a little bit softer than the usual firm turf you get

in Southern California. Now this horse just didn't

really run a step that day, but I think he probably needed the

race First off the layoff. This drop in class helps and he

is a stone cold Miller that should get a fair pace to run

at. I think meets going to give a

very good account of himself in this race, but I can understand

if you don't want to take a short price.

So how about this horse that could upset the apple cart?

Mischievous Angel. The number 8 hasn't been seen in

a while, but this is the guy who's stretching out in distance

and he's only tried it once in his career.

Was his second lifetime start. I think he can get the two turns

being by into mischief and I think he's all upside for a very

underrated trainer. And you talk about the fact that

he ran for seven furlongs at Kentucky Downs.

And, you know, when we get to the afternoon, I'm going to look

over my paddock notes and I will, I'll be down there in the

paddock that day. So I'll get to see how much this

guy has developed since then. But you talk about that 7

furlong, that 7 furlong with the way that Kentucky Downs, you

know, turf course goes, you're getting a bit more bang for your

buck there. So that's where I think we see,

you know, you talk about Dan that you know the Hollow fame,

you know the G2 first time routing at Saratoga, we get a

little bit more of a development here.

I think you're spot on with that.

I have Mischievous Angel on top. I didn't know I was going to get

8 to 1. I feel very good about that.

So that's awesome. I went with him on top.

The 8 horse here. I did have the four horse in

second here. Need is obviously a very good

horse. Been riding a very good company.

We've seen frankly kind of a resurgence of the turf scene in

Southern California recently. Johannes, we're going to see the

return of Endlessly on Sunday. There's been a bit of a Weisel

out West, a very, very good turf runner, especially turf routers

out West. And so to see him finish,

frankly, he was in that at the mile, essentially, he was in 3rd

place. And so if we're going from a

grade one killer a mile to this kind of spot, obviously neat

makes a ton of sense. And I think signator is

interesting too. Shipping in from Tampa.

I love how this horse did not have a great start in that last

race and still had all of the engine to get that done.

Kind of a weird starting spot too in the shoot there at at

Tampa. I I like that the horse was able

to overcome those things. But yeah, Kelly, what you said

about Kentucky Downs and what everything else that Dan said

about Mischievous Angel, all of those things line up for me to

put them on top. I'm thrilled to see the 8 to 1

number. Yeah.

Perfect, Can you guys make a case for Ocean City breaking

from the rail? I know he seems a little bit

cheap on paper, but he is very, very fast out of the gate and

he's going to take advantage of the rail draw with a short run

into the first turn. This is another horse we're

turning off. A layoff is a gelding.

Maybe he'll relax a little bit more if they forget about this.

Source. You get the rare Britney and

Sheldon at a price at. That's the only thing I can be

sold on. That's where I I do.

Here's the thing. What's great is that this horse

is going to be coming in fresh going a mile.

We've seen something similar to that already.

I think solid for a price Underneath that you can trust if

listen it and Dan, you've time and time again you've made these

calls and gotten some great prices.

So I wouldn't be surprised at all if this one just goes and

runs with it and wins with it. Especially having a nice little

bullet work being a little quick right before we get back into

the swing of things. I could see that happening

because if we've seen Sheldon, you know that effort last time

out when he rode at the mile here at Laurel back in October,

we're talking about a little bit of a different track even though

it was rated firm that time, that season of year.

You have to double check that. But I think coming into today

that I could see it. I could see it.

Long winded answer to say I could see it.

She could see it. Dan, how about that?

This. Go ahead.

Louis, I'm going to take control of this program right now as we

move on to the Federico Tessio, because I'm interested in your

opinions, not really mine in this race.

I'm curious as to your thoughts. I know we're going to play a

little game. I know you have a little game

ready for us. But before we do it, I just want

your thoughts on Sacred Thunder. Is it just, have you had enough?

Are you getting tired of his act or is this the race for him?

Second, you know, just just getting another chance to go a

mile and an eighth and really stretch out and finish.

I is Gary Gary's middle name. You don't need a layoff.

Capuano is that his name yet? Like you don't need time off

Capuano is that. His No he certainly didn't need

it last year with copper tax when he won this year.

Yeah, that's right. I don't know what to make of

that horse, but I don't trust him.

I'll, I'll put it that way. It's a trust issue with that

horse. I don't, I don't think he's

giving bad efforts. I just don't think he's, I don't

think he's up to the I I don't think he's as good as Pay Billy.

I think it's that simple, frankly.

Yeah. All right.

Now you may go ahead with your game.

Dan is correct. We are going to play our game

and if I hope Zach is there because this is this is a little

inside baseball. Oh, thank you.

Your face, your face. All right, so the if in honor of

Federico Tessio, if a horse can win, we're going to go with

premio. You have to say premio.

OK, does everyone understand me? That's how this game works.

We're doing that. It means prize.

Literally just that kind of thing.

He's. He's Why wouldn't we say Forza?

You want Forza instead? Because I can do.

Forza, it doesn't matter. I mean, I mean, Sour del Fabro's

not here. I can't ask her what, you know,

what she would say in this situation.

But you know, OK, well, let's go Premio.

Fine. I appreciate the in show

criticisms. This is great.

And if not, they're a meatball. So if they can't win, they're a

meatball. We're going to go with that.

That's a little Italian American action here, a little New York

City, if you will, Dan, I'm trying to, I'm trying to bring

your people into this. How about that?

You mean, I get that dance from New York, but he's criticizing

your Italian? Really.

My my mother's maiden name is Cervante.

We come from Parma. I know Molto Ben.

I mean, I I can start speaking right now.

The only reason I do this show is because yo niente dafari OK?

You watch your mouth, you understand me, Dan Ellman.

You watch your mouth. We go through the the major

stake of the day one by one. We're playing premio over

meatball. That's it.

That's what we're doing. All right.

Surfside Mood will be in the one.

We got to see him run in the Withers behind Captain Cook.

Captain Cook, of course, hit the board in the Wood Memorial.

What do we make of Surfside Mood?

Premio or meatball here, Kelly. I am going to have to say

meatball for this one when we're OK.

So when we talk about Surfside Moon, I just actually no, sorry,

what was I looking at? Hey, this could be a possible

premio, but I'm not totally sure about the premio of this one.

Sorry. It's the best I can give.

That's a good accent. That's that's kind of what I was

using to just like sell me on that whole moment all.

Right. Yeah.

This source is certainly a primio for me.

I would say this source really appreciates distance.

I was talking to Chucky Lawrence.

They said they always had high hopes for him as a 2 year old.

They just needed to stretch him out around two turns and he sure

showed it in a mile and an eighth last time out in the

Withers. Now here's a possible worry.

He got very sick after that last race.

He had an infection and that's why he had to miss a race like

the Wood Memorial. So he's going to have to run a

mile and an eighth fresh off of the February layoff in here.

Any sort of a closer that's a little bit dependent on pace and

because of the 90 buyer speed figure we see in his last race,

he's going to take some money. But I can't really knock this

horse. I I think he's a logical

contender, praying. And you've never sounded more

like Wisconsin Cali with Dan around.

I'll tell you what, yeah, I'm Premio here as well.

I do think he's got a shot in here.

I echo Dan's concern here though, that this is a lot to do

after this kind of layoff, I said.

Possible premio? OK, I said possible.

Premio the two is right, Greed, murder, a son of preservationist

will be in the two here. Dan, the old Pennington light

combination that we all look for.

I respect this horse, but I think he's a bit of a meatball

in this spot. They ran him in the City of

Brotherly Love. It was his first try around two

turns and I just didn't see an excuse.

I thought that track was very speed favoring.

He was on the pace. They went 49 to the half and he

got beat on the square. He does have tactical speed.

He has to show it to me again, I hate knocking horses at big

prices because there's just no margin to it.

But right wing runner to me is a meatball in this game.

How about for you, Kelly? Yeah, I'm going to have to say

meatball just on the fact alone that when you come from the

field that kind of came out of the City of Brotherly Love.

I don't think it's very much just a key race, key race in

general. So that's where I go meatball.

I'm gonna go Premio because I think that that horse going

routing the first time actually showed me enough that I think

that he can do something, especially from the two.

He's not gonna have to fend off too much speed from the inside.

We already know that that's a horse that's gonna try to close

into the speed, so he's gonna be the speed on the inside.

I think Premio is the play here for him.

I'm not at all sure that he wins 'cause I do think there are

better horses in here. But I think he's absolutely got

a shot. It's not a shocking outcome for

sure if he does win. Speaking of shocking outcomes,

Arcadian is in the three. Marine is up from Tampa.

He is riding for Greg Sacco here.

What say you, Callie, about Arcadian?

I'm going to have to say meatball on this one just due to

the fact that this guy, I know we've seen him come from, you

know, mid pack that stocking position, but I think this guy

very much likes it a certain way when he runs his race and I'm

not sure he's going to be getting that how?

About for you, Dan. Not form.

He's a meatball, there's no doubt about it.

His last race is a throw out the Wingfield because he completely

missed the break turning back to six, and he's likely better

going middle distances. But what excuse can you make for

his race 2 starts back when he was claimed for $50,000?

Maybe he could be a forward factor, but if so, is he really

going to want to run with a horse like Right Wing Runner and

the horse next the horse a couple of stalls over Kentucky

Outlaw? He's tough to recommend.

Yeah, I will leave him as a meatball.

Arcadia, of course, part of the Peloponnesian peninsula there in

Greece. If you were wondering what

Arcadia, CA is named after, we move on to the fourth horse in

this race. Meatball for me.

Sorry. Bold diversion.

It comes in at 30 to 1 here. Interesting.

I I gotta say this one's actually interesting to me,

especially at 30 to 1. Dan, you premio your meatball

here, because this one, I don't hate.

That last race, it was this. It was pretty impressive,

frankly. Well, what's you know what's,

what's the Haiti was odds on. They've stretched him out around

2 terms for the first time and he won like an odds on favorite

should. It's just that the races are

slow. I think he's been exposed.

He won for a basement maiden tag three starts back, and this is

just a gigantic step up in class and even a step up in distance.

I think he's a meatball in here, but he's a very likable horse

and as a Maryland bred is probably going to make some bank

for these connections. Yeah.

I think that's exactly right. How about for you, Kelly?

I think I agree with Dan on all points.

So I'm just going to say the meatball with a little bit of

sauce, just because we might get a little bit we we just might.

This is one at a price, at a longer price that you could, you

know, get a little bit of help with.

Kelly gets the show. I love it, the version Meatball

took on Saturday. But when we get to Marilyn

Million, I expect to hear his name quite prominently.

We move on to Kentucky Outlaw, the five horse in here.

Kelly. I'm fascinated by this one.

I really don't know what to do in my handicapping with this

one. Go ahead.

This is this one's going and I think this one is going to have

a blast doing it. I'm not really concerned about

these connections going Oh, by the way, Premio with this, I

have this one in 3rd. It's just we have this one has

not seen competition really that much and is 2 starts.

So that's where I could see I could see Dan calling this horse

a meatball, but he's premio on the form for sure.

He's going to be fast. I I'm not really too concerned

about the distance for this one. Louis, you, you described him

perfectly because he's the most fascinating horse in this race

and there's no doubt about that. Two races, 2 impressive

victories and I say he's Premio and I think there's a very good

chance he wins this race at a decent price for the Parks

connection simply because he is just very, very quick.

Is he too quick for his own good?

When you watch his last race, he just pulled and pulled the first

quarter mile and just had a whale of a time relaxing.

And then when he did relax and give him a lot of credit, he

settled down beautifully. But it's easy to settle down

when you go a second quarter mile and 24 and three.

That's just as breather, as easy a breather as you're ever going

to get and unlikely to get that in the Tessio.

I wonder if he's a little bit dressed up, but I also wonder if

he's a potential freak. I literally don't know what to

make of this horse, but a $12,000 OBS purchase, he's

already earned over 60,000 in his career.

So certainly a good eye by those owners and son of outwork here,

he's a definite premio for me. I have him second in my

handicapping in this race. Dudley Do Right comes in.

He made my top three last month and then he ran in the Virginia

Derby. And so here he comes in at 4:00

to 1:00 in the Federico Tessio, the Rob Perez connection that we

do see an unbelievable. Is this the number one or is

there a Russell Russell that's more starts than this?

Because this seems like the Maryland connection that I see

the most. Well, it's a Russell Russell.

You get your Jamie Rodriguez, your Jamie Ness, etcetera.

But yes, you can always depend on the X-Men to be first call

for Jerry. Rob suddenly do right as a

reluctant Premio for me, I'm willing to give him an excuse

for the Virginia Derby. I just thought that track was

speed favoring all week long and with Studley Do right's running

style, he really had no chance. That being said, they've run him

in just about every Kentucky Derby qualifying points race to

try to get him into the Derby, and now they're running I'm here

trying to get into the Preakness.

I wonder if it's been one too much.

How? About for you, Kelly.

And that's why I go meatball with him.

I just need to see him kind of get back into the swing of

things. I think he's been run over his

head. I just.

Yeah, I've got it. I you can see potential Premio

in the future, but for right now, for this race today, I'm

going to go ahead and say meatball.

I'm going to agree with you, Cali.

I'm I'm more meatball than anything and this is the horse

on Saturday that I'm going to let beat me and if he beats me,

I'm just going to do one of these and kind of move on with

my Saturday. I just it is what?

It is. Sacred Thunder is in the seven.

This is a horse we mentioned earlier, Paco Lopez in a ride,

this one for Gary Capuano, another horse that is a running

into shape rather than training into it, young Cali.

And so where did you land Meatball or Premio with our guy

Sacred Thunder? Well, we have we.

Sorry guys, I'm just recharging my computer.

We've had this discussion about sacred Thunder.

So like I, like, I want us. I don't know how you can say

both because you can just you can trust him to run well, but

you cannot trust him to be Premio.

So I'm going to have to go with Meatball.

I'm a very, I'm a very forgiving person, Louis, as you know, just

kind genteel, I would say, of all you.

Keep coming back. Of all my great qualities, my

humility is my my best one. But sacred Thunder, I would say

I'm going to give him one more chance.

I'm going to say pray me. Oh, I think a mile and an eighth

is what he wants. And just watch the gallop out

after the private terms he rolled right by pay Billy.

And I know when you see a horse that just gets into trouble,

whether from a trip or pay standpoint, sometimes you might

just want to wash your hands of them.

But I just have a feeling that one of these days Sacred Thunder

is going to get it done. And maybe he's just found the

right spot. I just, I'm meatball on him, but

it's mostly just I think he's flattened out as to what he can

do. And, and you know, I think these

are waters that are a little bit too deep, man.

I really, I, I think Paco Lopez is going to maximize this horse

too. So I'm a I'm a little torn that

way because you can see it when he runs.

You know that there's talent there.

It's not the question. It's never been the question

with him. It's just getting to the to the

wire 1st And what when was his last win at Laurel?

I mean November, OK, and that that was in a Sprint.

Yes. So I mean, I just I don't know.

I I'm gonna go meatball on him. It's another one that I'm I'm

very Dan said reluctant earlier. I'm a reluctant meatball on

sacred Thunder because I do think there's talent there for

sure. Dan Illman, Callie Francois were

going through the field of the Federico Tessio against Dan's.

A better judgement. Happy delusional will be in the

8 here. The old haddock and lender

combination here. Man.

Usually we see these folks at parks.

Another park shipper for Cali. Give us a premium.

Give us a meatball. Again, I talked about the fact

that I don't think the City of Brotherly Love is a key race,

but this one and this one runs second.

And I do think he moved forward in numbers.

But there was, to me, there was just a little bit of a physical

regression there, which I'm going to be very, you know, I'm

sounding like I'm giving this horse a meatball.

But I actually think he could be premio just because he could

bounce a little bit back on a physicality wise and if he's

going the right direction numbers wise.

I, I'm very, I'm being a total, I'm being very paradoxical when

I talk about him and I give him a premio, but it's a very

reluctant premio. The old meatball trophy from

Cali. There we go.

How about for? You.

Yeah, that's there we. Go I think happily delusional is

a meatball from a win standpoint, but I think he's a

horse that you might want to consider underneath because I

think he's the definition of a dirtied up horse, a horse that

put things together three starts back and I talked about the city

of brotherly love. It was a race where Baby Dukes

and Right wing runner ran 1-2 all the way around the track and

this just had a tough time rallying into a slow pace.

And last time out when Kentucky Outlaw back down that second

fraction that I talked about, it was tough for Happily Delusional

to make up that sort of late ground.

I think he's going to get a much better race flow this time

around, but now he has to prove it.

Lots of seconds on his page. Maybe he can sneak up into the

number, though at a price. Meatball on the win end, but

kind of an interesting horse in the exotics or if you're playing

a handicap in contest. So I don't know, maybe at Laurel

Park or online? How about that a little

handicapping contest that we happy delusional son of flatter

coming in from parks for this one pay Billy is the 9 the

winner at last out frankly impressively in the private

terms coming into this one. All of us on this panel, by the

way thought that that was that performance was he was capable

of it and then he delivered it. He's an obvious premio for me, I

assume sort of across the board and we're going premio with

them. Yeah.

Premio tactical speed, Speed figures, ability, Good

performance last time out. We'll see how he gets the mile

and an eighth. He's built for it.

He's bred for it, Mikey Gorham told me.

He's training into this race just as well as he was going in

last time. He's the horse to be good.

How about for you, Kelly? Yeah, I mean, no notes as far as

what Dan just kind of shook out there.

He's just, that was for me after that effort, you know, I that

Miraclewood effort, I was still kind of, you know, cheering him

on, but I was kind of like. And so all of my doubts got

resolved there in the private terms.

You know he lost a Barbadian runner that day.

If Barbadian Runner had taken a month off and not run in that

private terms Dan, but was running here in the Tessio,

where do you think you would have had to have put him on the

morning line? I probably would have put them

because you know, the connections are a little bit low

profile with Henry Walters. I probably would have made them

around 5:00 to 1:00 in this race.

They did run Barbadian Runner on a Sprint against it's hammer

time, a very salty race the other day and it just didn't

work out. I just have a feeling they don't

want to stretch that horse out until Turk season and then

they'll give them a shot around two turns.

You're going to want to keep an eye on a horse like Barbadian

Runner. He ran well.

I thought, hey, Billy might have run the better race that day

because he was sort of battling it out and then was able to get

it done. It just looks like pay Billy

seems to be getting stronger with each start.

Just a fair shake. We'll finish out the field, a

field of 10 for the Tessio this weekend.

By the way, if you're an Exacto player, Laurel Park's the place

to be this weekend. Goodness gracious it is.

Just. Nice size fields over and over

and over again. Rodriguez and Mackenzie here,

Dan Daniel Mackenzie. How about that?

Not a huge barn for Mackenzie, but this got to be a big start

for him. Dan, is there is there is there

a story? I I feel like on this show we

don't do enough stories. Is there a good story around

Just a Fair Shake or around the Mackenzie Barn?

Go to the Maryland Racing YouTube channel and you'll get

to see a story on Just a Fair Shake.

We were there at around 4:30 in the morning on Tuesday to film

an interview and a little bit of Just a Fair Shake galloping and

preparing for this race. And if you guys remember the

last time we were on this show, he was my honorable mention of

the top three-year olds in Maryland based on his tough trip

in the Laurel Futurity. Now I know a lot of folks are

going to look at his last race and see that low buyer speed

figure and kind of poo poo him in this race.

Well, poo poo. Just consider it was his first

start off a long layoff. He was going to turns.

The internal splits of that race were very fast and he made this

big wide early move into the teeth of the pace and he kept on

going. Something tells me this horse

has something. Whether it's good enough to win

the Tessio from post position 10, I don't know.

But there's something here with this source you might want to

consider, and he's going to be a big price.

I'm going to premier based on that description because it

feels like I I I agree with you, by the way, on that last race.

I think even actually the mile in and 8th because of where he

is, Dan will give him a little bit more run up to cut kind of

get a position. That's still a tough first run

from the 10 to to get to the the first turn there at Laurel.

But we shall see on Saturday. A reluctant but but but you know

he believes in it. A premio there for a guy.

Just a fair shake. How about for you, Kelly?

Yeah, a similar kind of vibe there with my premio as well.

You talk, you know, go make sure to go to our Laurel Park or

Maryland Racing YouTube channel. That's where you will find that

interview. It's super fun.

And, you know, I actually had a conversation with Daniel just

and noticing things just he's been able to take these horses

that, you know, he's claimed and bring them up through the ranks.

This is the one that he's brought up himself.

This horse is always this horse had some really high stats

amongst the stallion coming first, second, third time out.

So he's just kind of risen to those expectations as well.

And coming off of the layoff to the way he ran, I thought it was

very just professional on a mental standpoint.

So you can only expect more from there.

It's just a big question here in this field.

But if he's got the horse and going right, you might as well

go for it at a bit of a price. Son of Lao Bon, obviously the

uncle MO breeding there Dan in the in the midshipmen side on

the on the damn side. I this horse has never started

at less than a mile. They clearly think this is a

mile and it ain't no problem here, right?

And when you got to look at him, you understand why he is just a

big giant. And that's one of the reasons it

took him a long time to kind of get to the races.

He had to kind of grow into himself.

Daniel told us that, you know, there were there was just a

while where he just didn't know what he was doing in the

mornings when he was working out.

And then one day, because Daniel gallops his own horses and he

works his own horses. So he was aboard just a fair

shake. And one day in the morning, he

just hooked up with a pretty fast horse.

And that horse just would not go by Just a Fair Shake.

It was the typical light bulb moment.

That horse ended up being a pretty nice stakes allowance

source. And since then, Just a Fair

Shake has turned it on in the morning.

Just a fair shake random that Laurel Futurity on Maryland

million day in September took a ton of time off until March and

immediately on return we talk about these big layoffs and

having to go two turns and have to do all the work he did it.

And so who knows. I think it's 20 to one man.

There's there's legitimate value there and frankly, that's the

kind of thing if you want to get real aggressive, you could key

there or I don't know, if you're in a contest, you should use

that horse in some kind of I. Don't know like the previous

preview day handicapping challenge.

Like that, I don't know. You could go check that out.

Where Dan? At laurelpark.com How?

About that Race 12 is the last race on the card.

It is a $7500 claimer. Say what you want to say.

Say it. Say it.

Say it. Say what you want to say about

this race. Say it.

We have a nice full field debate.

How about that? This will be a mile and a 16th

on the dirt. There $18,000 purse here for

those claimers. You can run for six if you're

willing to take. If you excuse me, if you want a

little bit of a weight allowance in this case, Callie, where'd

you land in our claimer to close?

Cartier I I go with walk away Joe here just for Ness and

Rodriguez, that was too. That was a nice enough run.

You know, a bit of a turn around that we saw in form.

And when I see that kind of thing, you've got to trust when

Ness is coming in for that second entry off of that good

Rafford Pryor. Jimmy Ness, of course, has

started at 24% during this meet at Laurel Park.

Dan, that one is coupled with another horse in the one kick

start nest. Will they both run do you think?

I'm assuming one will run with J Rod named on both.

I prefer Walk Away Joe slightly over kick start nest.

Be perfectly honest with you. I had a very hard time when this

race. All I know is I'd rather not go

with the favorite. A couple of horses that I do

want to mention, Southern District, who does have back

class and kicked on last time to finish behind Walk Away Joe.

He's an honest enough sort that usually runs a good race.

Mr. Jefferson is taking a pretty big drop in class.

The horse that beat him last time out came back, hit the

board twice and second level allowance races with buyers of

81 and 78. So this is just a huge drop in

in class and keep an eye on the three energy efficient.

The horses just broke poorly in his last two races.

If he breaks well, he can make the lead in this race and if he

does, he can take this field gate to wire.

Walk away Joe 42 lifetime starts at Laurel Park.

Six wins, 10 seconds and 6 thirds like I love.

Man. I'm such a sucker for horses

like that. I love it.

All right, so that will close the all of the races.

How about that again, Dan, the handicapping contest.

Please share that with the people one more time.

And what are the, I mean, this is this is awesome because

there's a bunch of great seats later in the season for for

contest players. Live Money Tournament $500 Buy

in 250 goes to the prize pool. 250 goes to your live money

bankroll, which will be playing throughout the day on the Laurel

Park card. Listen the prizes, they speak

for themselves. 2 tickets to Preakness 150 The historic

Preakness at the final old tilt. Top two seats to the Breeders to

the National Handicapping Championship.

I believe the National Handicapping Championship winner

what 858 hundred 50,000 Kelly this year.

One seat to the Breeders Cup betting challenge as well.

So as well as the cash prizes you get and the bragging rights,

you can play online, you can play on site.

Head on over to laurelpark.com. These handicapping contests are

a lot of fun, and when you get a card like this, when you get a

12 race card, an average of 10 horses per race, there are just

great betting opportunities to make some money.

Well, there you go look for them on Saturday again, that low 12%

pick take out on the pick 5. So go ahead and play that late

pick 5. Tons of I think legitimate

opportunities to play against favorites or try to pick your

spots with say 15 to 21 kind of horse as well.

Reminder again, JBC food Friday night after Black Eyed season

will be there at 7:00 with our friends at Amwager.

You can meet Scott Wyckoff. How about that?

That's that's it. That's.

Really, that's all I need. That's all I need.

That's marketing, Dan, You understand me?

That's marketing. Scott Wyckoff's going to be

there. You should be too.

How about that? Isn't that a past Scott

Wyckoff's bedtime? It's way past that poor guy.

Like, what are you doing to him? He's going to be up at 4:00 AM,

You're covering some sort of water main break in downtown

Baltimore, and you're going to have him up at at at at midnight

with shrimp cocktail. Yeah, yeah, I'm doing that,

yeah. You're right and you don't feel.

Bad about it's really good shrimp.

Cocktail. OK.

It's really good. And they have crab.

Which may mean nothing to Marylanders but the rest of us

out. West can't get access to it.

It's so real. It's so real.

We get to Maryland. It's like, oh right, seafood

tastes good. This oh man, this middle of the

country stuff. I'll tell you what.

All right, Dad and Callie, we will talk to you at Piblico next

time we see one or talk to one another.

We'll be in person together there in Maryland.

Callie will be my host Co host, excuse me, on our ESPN Radio

coverage at Churchill Downs six straight days Monday through

Saturday and a seminar Tuesday night here in Louisville as

well. Find us that horse happy hour

for all those details and different things.

But Kelly, excited to get you down here and get us going on

the Derby coverage and then return the favor back at old

Hilltop when we get to Pimlico for Preakness 1 of 50.

I gotta say I get sappy on the show once in a while.

I love this series. I love having both of you on and

I really appreciate, you know, I, I see, I, I, I see my pawns

at, at, at Aqueduct. He says, you got to come to the

farm on Thursday. And you know, when I, you know,

when I just over and over, you see it with a guy like Johnny P

who always hangs out with this show as well.

John Piazza, our friend, mutual friend of all three of us, just

how much he really cares about Maryland racing as well.

And this is an almost 300 year old product, folks.

And so this is, you know, a real opportunity for a reprisal of a

rebuilding of the great traditions in Maryland.

And I'm just so thrilled that I have this much of a part of it.

And thank you for including me because I have a blast.

Well, we're happy to be on. And I mean, you know, Louis,

thank you so much for the support of just not only a

historic racetrack, but a track and a program that's going to be

really ushering in a new era. And we're excited that, you

know, you're including us into a part of that.

I appreciate it very much. Well, Dan, I'm even.

Though you haven't been credentialed yet for the

Preakness because of that nice little closing statement, maybe

I will get you in. That might have been why I did

it. All right, He's Dan Elman.

She's Daily fence. We're both.

We're all meatballs here, people.

There you go. You're all premios to me.

How about that? All right, I'll see everybody in

a month. Get out of here.

Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Kelly.

We'll get you out of here. With that, I'm Louis Rouboux.

This has been our Road to Pimlico series.

If you are still listening, and I did this on purpose, I've got

two of these hats to give away. You have to either DM me at

Horse Happy Hour on Twitter or e-mail us at

horseracinghappyhour@gmail.com. The 1st 2:00 to do that.

Get a hat. I'll send it to you tomorrow.

Frankly, if you go ahead and reply to this, if you're

listening right now, if you're watching this live, if you're

one of the many hundreds of people that are watching live,

you can do that as well. Back at it tomorrow on this

channel, Socal Saturdays, of course, 1:00 tomorrow.

Preview the Santa Anita card all day on Saturday, the grant to

Santa and Maria on Tuesday, turf race out there for the ladies.

We'll talk a little bit about Sunday as well with Endlessly's

return to the turf there at Santa Anita as well, for Zack,

for Cali, for Dan, My name's Lou Rebeau.

This has been the Horse Racing Happy Hour for April 17, 2025.

We thank our friends at amwagerandamwager.com.