The Weekend Preview: July 6

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00:00All right, so we kind of led into this from the last segment, John brought up the Belmont

00:10Turf Festival, which is this Saturday, great, great races, five euros, five euro shippers

00:16in each race in the Belmont Oaks and the Belmont Derby.

00:19We have 13 horses in the Belmont Derby, 10 horses in the Belmont Oaks, also the Suburban

00:24and the Victory Rider on that card.

00:26At Delaware, we have a couple of stakes races.

00:28We got the Delaware Handicap, which is a great two.

00:31That used to be a big deal, honestly, that used to be a race that a lot of top fillies

00:34and mares pointed to.

00:36I honestly have not heard of any of the horses, and this year's Delcap, unfortunately.

00:40But the Robert Dick Memorial Stakes is a great three over there.

00:43Again, turf gets a big field.

00:46That's the future, these big turf races, those are the most bettable races more and more

00:50these days.

00:51We also have big cards at Indiana and Iowa.

00:55I'm sorry, guys.

00:56I support the smaller tracks having these big days.

00:59Why are these races on the same day?

01:02Why is the Indiana Derby and the Indiana Oaks on the same day as the Iowa Oaks and the Iowa

01:07Derby?

01:08It makes absolutely no sense to me, but we are happy for those cards to get their moment

01:14in the sun, Saturday night, and get those big races at their track, because I think,

01:20especially Indiana, I think does a really good job for the horse players.

01:24So we're looking forward to that.

01:25Also, the Cornhusker this weekend at Prairie Meadows, they should just rename that race

01:28the Knicks Go Stakes.

01:30After what he did last year in that field, it's never going to be topped, although I

01:34guess there is a Knicks Go Stakes.

01:35We already made a Knicks Go Stakes at Churchill Towns, because God knows we need more stakes

01:40races.

01:41Can we make it the Terrence Collier Invitational?

01:45Exactly.

01:46And then, you know, it really is the Belmont turf races.

01:51I think that's the most exciting thing.

01:53Over this weekend, you actually had an Annapolis who came back and won the Manila over the

01:58weekend.

01:59We didn't talk about him in the weekend review, but he's a really nice horse, really nice

02:01turf horse for Todd Pletcher.

02:03He was thinking about going in the Belmont Derby this weekend, but I think he's going

02:06to wait to put him in the Saratoga Derby instead.

02:09Yeah, I mean, no household names yet, but it's hard this early in the year with three-year-old

02:15turf horses to have household names.

02:17The point is, big fields, shippers, big-time trainers, and actually a bettable product

02:23on Saturday.

02:24What do you guys think?

02:25Yeah, I mean, these Belmont turf races are very interesting, and I think a couple story

02:29lines here.

02:30First of all, you know, I look at the Charlie Appleby horses, and, you know, they don't

02:34get me that excited when I just look at them on paper, but, you know, is this going to

02:38be an encore of what he did last year, that just unbelievable year he had, where he ran

02:4318 horses, won nine.

02:45I believe I should have looked this up.

02:47I believe all nine were grade-one stakes races, maybe.

02:50Joe, you even mentioned at one point that maybe he would deserve a few votes for trainer

02:54of the year in the Eclipse Awards after what he did last year, and the Euros bring their

02:59jockeys with them.

03:00You got Ryan Moore coming in, you got Frankie DeTore coming in, Pasquier, what's his first

03:07name, the French jockey, anybody know?

03:08He's coming in?

03:09Don't know.

03:10Yeah, that guy from France is coming in as well.

03:14The Belmont Derby, it's very interesting what, you know, Kenny McPeak is up to here.

03:18Two horses, first of all, a classic causeway, comes back in two weeks after the Ohio Derby,

03:22which you never see anyone do outside of a guy like McPeak.

03:28He showed a little bit of promise in the Ohio Derby after running so poorly in the Kentucky

03:32Derby and the Florida Derby, McPeak is hoping that the move to grass, you know, vaults him

03:37up to the next level.

03:38At one point in time, he looked like a really interesting horse with a bright future.

03:42And then Tiz the Bomb is back.

03:44He goes back, you would think of him as a turf horse, but the thing is he hasn't run

03:47on the grass since last year when he was second in the Breeders' Cup juvenile turf.

03:52McPeak, he had some success on synthetic, he tried the Derby, it didn't work out.

03:57You know, how will he fare?

03:59I would think he, I don't know if he'd be the favorite or not, maybe he'll go for one

04:01of the Euros, but I would think he'd be the horse to beat in there.

04:04And then, of course, you know, the big story in the suburban is, will Uriah St. Louis once

04:09again pick up that fifth place jack?

04:11We've got to have Uriah on the show.

04:12I feel like we bring him on more and more every single week.

04:15So we've got to get him on.

04:17Yeah, he's quickly becoming a fan favorite.

04:19He actually, in my mind, is replacing Kameen as the go-to comparison to talk about.

04:25I want to bring up, you know, Joe, you mentioned some of these smaller racetracks and they

04:28really should be highlighted.

04:30You know, Delaware has a really nice weekend card.

04:32You mentioned Indiana Downs, or now it's called Horseshoe, Indianapolis, Prairie Meadows.

04:39They all have really big cards coming on.

04:41But we're going to be talking about the theme of the day is graded races.

04:46I'm going to already put in an advance request that the American Academy of Stake Races,

04:53or whatever they're called, looks at the Schaefer Memorial this year, the Schaefer Memorial

04:57at Horseshoe, Indianapolis, where we're running helium.

04:59It's an eight-horse field.

05:01Do you know that five of the horses in the race either won or placed a graded stake race,

05:05including Mr.

05:06Wireless, who won not one, but two grade threes, Running Ray, who ran third in a grade

05:12three, South Bend, who finished second in a grade three.

05:15Then, of course, you have the famous Thomas Shelby, who ran second by a neck in a grade

05:19three, and Helium, our horse Helium, who won the Tampa Bay Derby as a grade two.

05:23I think we need to have this race be graded next year to, again, continue to pump up some

05:29of these smaller racetracks.

05:30If you're listening to the show, and I know you are, and you're on the panel to go over

05:37graded stake races, give this one a look, will you?

05:39You hear that?

05:40You hear that?

05:40We want fewer stakes races and graded stakes races, unless Don Green has a horse.

05:45Unless I have a horse.

05:46If he has a horse, then that's great.

05:47Well, he's a gelding, so what good will it do him if he wins this race from a sire's

05:51standpoint?

05:51It wins from a judge's standpoint.

05:52It wins from a sire's standpoint.

05:53You're exactly correct, Bill Findlay.

05:55But people in the know, like Terrence Collier, know that we actually have two fillies from

06:01that family.

06:01So obviously, if we get graded in place again, then it only begets good for me.

06:10And as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters.

06:14So the quiet part loud, finally.

06:17But yeah, just to go back to what I was saying, the reason that the Iowa Derby and the

06:22Indiana Derby are on the same day is because where else are they going to run?

06:26What other three-year-old race could they possibly compete with in this chock full of

06:31three-year-old race calendar?

06:32It's just not realistic for them to run anywhere else.

06:35But yeah, I just feel bad that those races are cannibalized, especially because, like

06:39I said, those small tracks definitely deserve their day in the sun.

06:42And just to mention the Belmont stuff one more time.

06:44So we have 10 total Euros.

06:45But I love seven different trainers.

06:48So it's not just Aiden O'Brien and Charlie Appleby sending the cavalry in for these

06:52races. Seven different European trainers found these races interesting and potentially

06:57lucrative enough to send their horses across the pond to there.

07:01So that's, like I said, that's a series that's growing organically because it provides

07:06both the bettors and the owners what they want.

07:09It's not impossible, guys.

07:10We can all be on the same team.

07:12And kudos with all sincerity to Andrew Burns, who's the stakes coordinator for Naira.

07:17He's been there forever and he's a really good guy.

07:19But man, he hustles.

07:21He is there literally at Saratoga.

07:23He's there every day on the phone, calling up, trying to convince people to bring their

07:26horses to Saratoga, which you would think would be an easy job because it's Saratoga.

07:31But it's not, as you can see by some of these fields.

07:33And Naira really has embraced this idea of having young turf horses come here and compete

07:38for a lot of money.

07:39And they do a great job in timing the races and the distances and getting horses to come

07:45over here because it's just a natural progression.

07:47They come here for those races, the three race series, Belmont, Saratoga, Belmont.

07:52They stay maybe for Kentucky Downs, Keeneland, and then they go right to the Breeders' Cup.

07:56I mean, it's a natural progression for these horses to come over from Europe to run in

08:00these races. So again, tip of the hat to Andrew Burns for all that he does with the

08:05stakes coordination at Naira.

08:07Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned that because when we bitch about the short fields

08:11and the stakes and gray stakes races, I'm not, you know, it's not because of that, you

08:16know, stakes coordinators or racing office people aren't working hard.

08:19Like, I think they're doing everything they possibly can.

08:21So if we have any racing officials that, you know, watch our show and get a little

08:25defensive about us constantly complaining about these stakes races, I don't think it's

08:29your guys' fault at all. I think it's basically everybody but y'all.

08:32Y'all are doing your jobs.

08:33It's just the owners and the people who organize the calendar puts you basically in an

08:38impossible position. And I know you guys are doing your best.

08:40So, yeah, we're looking forward to that, to that card a ton on Saturday.

08:44A couple of big grade one races.

08:46And like I said, organically, organically, this series grew.

08:50It's not on the card because a great horse won it 40, 50 years ago.

08:55And we need to keep it for the history's sake.

08:58I think just we need more races like this and like Kentucky Downs that naturally

09:03attract betting handle and attract top class horses.

09:06So, yeah, we'll definitely keep an eye on those Belmont Stakes races this weekend and

09:10go up to everybody at Indiana and Prairie Meadows and put on those cards also.

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