The Weekend Preview Presented by Three Chimneys: Life Is Good in GI Woodward

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00:00This week's weekend preview as always is sponsored by Three Chimneys. I felt like we did a Three

00:11Chimneys commercial earlier in the show, but we were just talking about Gunrunner and how

00:14great he is. So I guess there's probably a little bit more of that coming up. We have

00:18a huge weekend. This and next weekend are the last two major prep weekends for the Breeders'

00:24Cup. It kind of reminds me of like late March, early April when you have all those derby

00:28preps coming together. So we have 12 Breeders' Cup Winning Year End Races, big weekend at

00:34Aqueduct and Churchill especially. We also have the ARC this weekend, and we're going to

00:39talk about that after we come back from the break. But at Belmont this weekend, we have

00:44the Champagne, which is a grade one, the Miss Grille, which is a grade two, the Woodward,

00:48which is a grade one, the Belmont Turf Sprint Championship, which is a grade three. And

00:51that's just Saturday. Sunday, we've got the grade one Frisette, the grade two Pilgrim

00:55Stakes, and the grade three Fasig-Tipton-Wyatt Stakes. At Santa Anita on Saturday, we've

01:00got the grade one. Awesome again. But let's start with Belmont. The Champagne and the

01:05Frisette, I think are both going to be pretty interesting races. The Champagne, I think

01:09we're going to get a couple of the top horses from the Hopeful coming back in Forte and

01:14Gulfport. Gulfport needs a little bit of a rebound as well. In the Woodward, we're going

01:18to see Life is Good. He's obviously a point viewing. Very unclear who's actually going

01:23to show up against him other than a Uriah St. Louis horse. But we're always, always

01:27interested in seeing him. And then on Sunday, I think the Frisette is going to be a really

01:31interesting race. One horse I'm looking at for that, which is a horse I made a rising

01:35start at the TDN, was the Great Maybe. It was a Cherie DeVoe horse by Upstart. She was

01:41an incredibly impressive winner, first time out. So I got American Rockette, who I think

01:46is sneaky for Belmont. She was fourth in the spin away, but got off to a terrible, terrible

01:51start and came flying late. Chocolate Gelato was a nice horse for Todd Pletcher and Rapali

01:56Stable. Also have some action at Churchill. Bill, what are you looking forward to on Saturday?

02:01Well, I guess I'm looking forward to Life is Good, but maybe not so much because he's

02:05running against Tomato Cans. Right now, it looks like there's going to be either a four

02:10or five horse field, including our friend Uriah St. Louis with Informative. Keep me

02:15in mind. Let's see, I can't even read my scribbly handwriting there. So forget about

02:21that. But I mean, we're looking possibly at a one to nine favorite in this race. And,

02:25you know, so I don't know what we're going to learn about him. And one thing that I want

02:29to learn about him is to still, I'm not convinced he wants a mile and a quarter. But

02:34what is this race going to tell you when he's running at a mile and eighth against, you

02:38know, basically horses that, you know, he's going to pull a flight line on and win by

02:4219 and a quarter lengths. Exactly. And one of the reasons why the field came up fairly

02:48weak is that I think there are people ducking him to go to the Lucas Classic, which is a

02:53$500,000 race at Churchill Downs. And this field came up, you know, it doesn't have Life

02:58is Good, but top to bottom, it's a much stronger race. You have Rich Strike trying to

03:03catch lightning in a bottle again on the track where he won the Kentucky Derby. First

03:07time he's going to take on older horses. Hot Rod Charlie, happy saver and art collector

03:11among the field that is lining up for that race. So that'll be the better race of the two.

03:16But, you know, again, right now it's the battle to see who's going to be the second

03:20choice in the Breeders' Cup Classic. If Flightline wins the Woodward, obviously he'll

03:25be the second choice in the wagering in the Classic. And most people will give him the

03:28best chance of any to beat Flightline. But we'll see. You know, again, I just I don't

03:34know what Naira's supposed to do. They put up a big race and a big person. And, you know,

03:37if people are going to run away from Life is Good, you know, so be it. But I just don't

03:41know what we're going to find out about this horse or what he's going to prove. I mean,

03:45I would be shocked. I mean, I literally think he'll be one to nine in there. I mean, he's

03:48got to pay the kind of field that he's lining up against. He's a horse that's going to pay

03:51220 in that race. So I guess I'm looking more forward to the Lucas Classic because it's

03:56a deeper race with, you know, more competitive race. But again, I think sometimes we forget

04:01how good Life is Good is. If it weren't for Flightline, take another drink. He would be

04:06the horse we would be raving about right now, the horse, the obvious horse of the year,

04:10et cetera. He's a really, really, really good horse. We just came around in a year with

04:14a horse that might be once in a lifetime.

04:16Yeah. And having watched Life is Good all summer at Saratoga, trains first thing in

04:21the morning. He's coming in with the ideal situation. They're shipping him straight from

04:25Saratoga. So he's not having to train at Belmont at Aqueduct or at Aqueduct because the

04:31training hours are all messed up down there at the moment while they redo Belmont Park.

04:35But he's just sensational.

04:38There are not many horses that give you chills when you watch him work just as effortlessly

04:44as he gets over the track.

04:45He's simply amazing. And he's proven not to have to take his track with him.

04:49He's going to be coming in from chilly Saratoga, where he's had ideal training conditions,

04:53less horses there to get him riled in.

04:56He's a good shipper. So, yes, I am really looking forward to Life is Good.

05:01As far as the Lucas Classic is, I love Art Collector.

05:06I think he's a horse who's just coming in at the right time.

05:10Belmont has done a sensational job with him, just inch by inch, getting him back to where

05:15he needs to be. And I think he most definitely is the horse to beat at Churchill on

05:20Saturday.

05:22Thank you, Zoe, for reminding me that it's Belmont at Aqueduct.

05:25I keep saying Belmont just because I'm so used to these races being at Belmont.

05:28Belmont at Aqueduct.

05:30As an Aqueduct guy, I should be remembering this, but I never do.

05:33So two turns in the Woodward, which maybe, maybe gives someone else a little bit of a

05:38chance more than if it were one turn.

05:39But, yeah, I don't think there's going to be show betting.

05:41I don't know if there's even going to be place betting in the Woodward because Bill's

05:44right. He's going to be one to nine, if not one to 20 in that race.

05:48But he is a point reviewing.

05:50He's great to watch.

05:51And like Zoe says, he's just he gives you chills, you know, training, racing, all of it.

05:56He just is the second best horse in the country right now.

06:00And he's an unlucky and it was an unlucky crop year for him.

06:04But he's definitely one to watch.

06:06So, yeah, after this break, we're going to talk a tiny bit about the arc and then we're

06:09going to talk about the rest of the races to look forward to, including the great one.

06:13Awesome. Again, that's Santa Anita.

06:15But the weekend preview is brought to you by Three Chimneys.

06:17It was an incredible day on Saturday for Gunrunner with five stakes winners, Teba and

06:22Society, plus Echo Zulu, Gunite, 63 caliber.

06:26Gunrunner's great one winning son, Cyberknife, not to be outdone, also ran third in the

06:31Pennsylvania Derby and then running son of a gun placed in the Gallant Bob stakes.

06:35Also, fellow Three Chimneys sire, Sharp Azteca, will be represented on Saturday by

06:40Tyler's Tribe and the Iowa Cradle Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

06:43Bill did a story about Tyler's Tribe.

06:44My horse, love that horse.

06:46Yeah, he's going to become the new mascot of the show with Bill as the host because

06:52it really is a super exciting horse.

06:54So we'll be interested to see him run at Prairie Meadows.

06:56And we've talked about his connections before.

06:58We'll be cheering for him as he looks for his fifth straight win.

07:01We'll be right back after this message from Three Chimneys.

07:04Sire Sensation Gunrunner is the sire of six first crop grade one winners.

07:09Got eye and he's going to win the Hope Bowl.

07:12Echo Zulu wins the Raiders and Juvenile Phillies.

07:16And Cybernites has won.

07:18That has the society is going to win the Contillion and take off.

07:23They win the Batcars Pennsylvania Derby.

07:26Early voting comes inside and wins it.

07:28He wins the pregnant horse of the year.

07:31Gunrunner standing at Three Chimneys.

07:35I mentioned before the break, it's not just Belmont and Belmont at Aqueduct, Joe

07:39Belmont at Aqueduct and Churchill this weekend.

07:42It's also Santa Anita.

07:43They got a couple of winning year end races highlighted by the grade one.

07:46Awesome again, which they probably should rename the flight line.

07:49Also ran stakes because we have in that race, Royal ship, express

07:53train, country grammar, you had a couple other horses as well.

07:56Azul coast, Tripoli, slow down.

07:58Andy, who I teased last week as a potential Breeders' Cup mile horse is

08:01now going to show up in the awesome again.

08:03Let's see what else we have at Santa Anita over the weekend.

08:06Um, that's a great one.

08:07Uh, when you're in for the Breeders' Cup classic, also the city of Hope mile,

08:10which is a grade two going a mile on the turf, Eddie D steaks, which will be down

08:14the hill, six and a half furlongs grade to, uh, John Henry turf championship,

08:19which is a mile and a quarter.

08:20It's also a grade two and the Santa Anita sprint championship,

08:22which is a grade two.

08:24Uh, and then Sunday we have four more stakes at Santa Anita, including

08:28the grade three chilling worth the grade two Zenyatta stakes and the

08:31grade three Tokyo city cup, none of which are winning year end races, but

08:34they do have a winning year end race.

08:35The speakeasy stakes, which will be two year olds going five furlongs on the

08:39turf, they're going to obviously be qualifying for the Breeders' Cup

08:42juvenile turf sprint, but we also have the arc this Sunday and we would be

08:47remiss if we didn't get into that.

08:48It looks like it's going to be a gigantic field.

08:50I haven't seen any entries yet.

08:52Uh, but just some of the horses that I recognize as a, you know, stupid

08:55American, the Denny, who was a very nice horse in France, uh, Mishra, who has

09:00obviously been a terrific horse for several years now, Torquator Tasso won

09:03the race at 80 to one or so last year.

09:06Alpinista who's been a terrific filly this year.

09:09And just, it looks like the top of her division, uh, Westover,

09:12who was a nice horse.

09:13I believe it was a group one winner.

09:15Um, but Zoe, come on, our, our resident European here, what do we have to look

09:20forward to in the arc and who are you honing in on?

09:23Well, I think we're going to have a little bit of drama leading into it

09:26because it will be a field of 20 for betting reasons in France with France Gallup.

09:32So there are going to be certain fillies that may not get in the race, which is

09:38going to cause some outcry because you've got the Melbourne Cup winner.

09:40She's sitting on the outside looking in right now and they may have to rethink.

09:45They're still trying to think maybe they're going to have more than 20 runners.

09:48Uh, urban C1, there were 23 runners.

09:51You can go back to the sixties and they were 60 runners, 30 runners there.

09:55So there's a lot going on right now, but for me, there is just one, one

10:01filly that I love, and that is my old boss, Mark Prescott Alpinista.

10:05She's not been beat since I think September, 2020.

10:08She's ruled stake after grade one, after grade one, Luke Morris writes her.

10:14She doesn't have to take her ground with her.

10:16She's just a fantastic filly.

10:17Now Luxembourg is going to be very, very tough to beat, but my money is going on

10:22Alpinista and I'll say that right here, right now for my old boss, Mark.

10:27Hopefully he's listening, right?

10:29I don't know.

10:29What time is it right now?

10:32No, she has been super impressive to me this year as well, even as a, as a

10:36novice European racing viewer, but we appreciate that insight.

10:40And yeah, it's usually runs all about like 1030 or so Eastern

10:43time in the morning on Sundays, 730, if you're on the West coast.

10:47So yeah, definitely set an alarm for that.

10:49And obviously the greatest race of the year in Europe.

10:52So we're looking forward to that.

10:53And we're hopefully going to maybe get to see a couple of the

10:55ARC horses come for the Breeders' Cup.

10:56I feel like that used to be a big thing and it's become less

10:59of a thing over the years.

11:01But hopefully we'll get to see some of those horses come over to

11:03Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup as well.

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