00:00And perhaps one of the biggest storylines, our winner of the Kentucky Derby in Sovereignty,
00:05facing off once again against the winner at the Preakness, that being Journalism.
00:10Alexa, thank you so much for taking the time to join us here on Friday and break down the Belmont.
00:16Absolutely, anytime. It's an exciting race.
00:19You know, we have a lot of storylines at play, like you said.
00:22We have, you know, the Derby winner going against the Preakness winner,
00:26who Journalism also was runner-up in the Derby.
00:29So if he's able to take down this race, he will have been exceptionally close to earning that Triple Crown title.
00:36We have the top three finishers from the Derby in here for the rematch, including Baeza.
00:41So, yeah, we'll just break it down. We've got Sovereignty, who won the Derby.
00:46He passed Journalism late in the lane. He's been over the Saratoga course once.
00:51He actually debuted on it last August and got fourth place.
00:53It was a much shorter race. He definitely is a clear router, likes this distance.
00:57He's fresher than Journalism, right, because he did not run in the Preakness.
01:02But I think from a speed figure standpoint, his Derby performance was like a really big jump up.
01:08And he clearly liked the wet track, which may have aided his exceptional performance.
01:12I mean, he's so talented. He can win it. But I like Journalism better.
01:16He's been running these exceptional races more consistently, even though he's the most taxed horse in the race, having run in both the Derby and Preakness.
01:24He has been looking like a machine out on the track in his workouts this week.
01:29He's totally within himself. His jockey's not asking.
01:32And that performance at the Preakness was so impressive.
01:36He was like stuck behind a wall of horses and made honestly like I was there.
01:41It was scary. Like you were like, first of all, he's just not going to get through.
01:44And then he pushes through and gets through. And you're like, oh, my God, that was intense because it was it was an aggressive move.
01:51And then he still had so much ground to make up on this runaway leader, Gosser.
01:54And he did it. It was crazy. It was like a chill inducing performance to watch him.
01:59And like that kind of grit and competitive spirit is just awesome.
02:05So my only concern for him would be if he's tired, but he doesn't look tired at all this week.
02:10So I think he's the best horse. He's going to be a favorite.
02:14But with sovereignty in years, not going to be a super low odds favorite.
02:17You know, you might get almost two to one on him.
02:20And then we have another storyline by Aza, who's the third place horse in the Derby.
02:25And this is an interesting storyline, right?
02:27His mom gave birth to last year's Belmont winner, Dornock, who's owned by a Major League Baseball star, Jason Wirth.
02:34And then the Kentucky Derby winner of Mage from 2023.
02:37So it would be like quite the legacy to have two back to back Belmont winners and three consecutive triple crown race winners like in three years in a row.
02:48I mean, that would be just unheard of from a mayor.
02:51And then I guess the other horse I'll mention is Rodriguez.
02:54This poor, poor Rodriguez.
02:58He's just kept missing these big races.
03:00This is from the Bob Baffert barn.
03:02He had a quarter crack.
03:03It kept him out of the Derby and the Preakness.
03:07But now he's apparently healed.
03:09He's doing well.
03:10He's been working out really consistently.
03:12And I think he has a really good shot in here because of the pace setup.
03:17There are a lot of clubs in this race.
03:20And he's definitely an early speed horse.
03:23So I could really see a scenario playing out where he just gets ahead, runs away from the field, and nobody can catch him.
03:31So I think Rodriguez, he's got no longer odds.
03:35He's 6-1 or plus 600 if you're a sports bettor.
03:38And I think that can add some value to the race in addition to journalism.
