00:00I mean, I thought you could make a case for like five or six different horses in this field, Scott.
00:04We start out with the one Crazy Mason.
00:06You kind of know what you're going to get from this guy.
00:08He's a deep closer.
00:10He needs them to go fast up front.
00:12And if they do, he will come flying.
00:14And he comes out of a race where he ran third behind two very nice horses, Bookum Dano and Mulliken, who came back to finish first and second in their next start.
00:23Yeah, Crazy Mason is a cool horse.
00:25And shout out to David Jerkins, the VP of Racing, a racing secretary, the guy that writes the races at Del Mar.
00:31To get a horse like Crazy Mason out east, out west, is very cool.
00:35I know it's a grade one, but you just don't see a lot of shippers from east to west like this.
00:40And this is a cool horse.
00:41You mentioned it.
00:42Race-shaped dependent.
00:43But the true north, I mean, those are two of the best sprinters in the country right now that he ran third to.
00:49And prior to that, the carter was definitely a step down in quality, but he came with that strong late run.
00:54So I don't know if the pace is going to be there for him.
00:57Tough task for Christopher Elliott to ship out with Crazy Mason, but he certainly can finish, Gina.
01:03You feel like you'd love him a little more at six and a half furlongs or seven furlongs, right?
01:07The flat six furlongs might just be a little tough for him to get up.
01:11Scott, Dr. Venkman is solid in this field.
01:14He's won all three of his career races at Del Mar.
01:16And most recently, he was second behind a rival in this race, Roll On Big Joe.
01:21But it was a good effort from Dr. Venkman.
01:24He'll go third start of his form cycle.
01:26A lot of times, that's when horses can run their best.
01:29And he feels just like a horse who wants them to go quick, and he can come running.
01:32But he won't have to be as far back as Crazy Mason.
01:36Exactly right.
01:36And I do think the pace will be honest enough in here.
01:39I just don't know if he'll be cutthroat.
01:41And Dr. Venkman, a little bit of a tough read, but the one thing for sure is he's kept very good company.
01:47Last time out, you mentioned the second-place effort in the Kelly's Landing.
01:50He didn't have a great trip that day.
01:52Had a little bit of issues kind of navigating his way through the stretch.
01:56Maybe he should have won the race still if he was the best horse, but I thought it was enough to kind of forgive him a little.
02:01Losing to Nysos in the start before off the bench, didn't lose much in defeat there.
02:06And then he's got a couple of two-turn races before it.
02:08But I just think he's going to sit a really good trip here, and he's three for four over this oval.
02:13Pajazi was a very highly regarded Bob Baffert horse a couple years ago.
02:17He just had about a year and a half off.
02:20But when he showed back up, he ran pretty well, Scott, in his first start in almost a year and a half.
02:25He sort of ran like a horse who needed the race.
02:27He loomed up, and then he just got a little bit tired late.
02:31He did lose to Mbognik, who's also in this field.
02:33But I think if I was going to take one of those two horses out of the race, I'd probably prefer Pajazi, who was making his first start in a long layoff.
02:41And I could expect him stepping forward off of that race.
02:44Yeah, I could see that side of things.
02:45I think Bob Baffert off the layoff generally has his horses cranked and would have expected this one to kind of finish the deal that day.
02:53But you can forgive.
02:53My problem with this horse is five seconds and ten starts.
02:57I think he's a little bit camera shy, but $3.5 million New York bread running in California.
03:05We move to Smooth Cruisin'.
03:07I thought he was a little bit of a tough read, Scott.
03:09He's coming out of a four-horse field in the triple bend.
03:11He was a well-beaten third.
03:13And his best career race came on a sloppy racetrack.
03:16So that might be where he actually excels when there's a little bit of wetness in the track.
03:20Also had Lasix that day.
03:22Will not get the anti-bleeding medication in here.
03:24They were four across the track in the triple bend.
03:26I don't think that's his ideal trip.
03:28I think his best chance is kind of to try to sit off a little further and try to pick up some pieces because I think he's up against it from a win end.
03:35This next horse was one of the trickier reads for me world record because on paper, I really like him.
03:41I think he fits really well.
03:42He's got a lot of speed.
03:44He can sit off the pace a little bit.
03:46His last race on May the 31st at Churchill, it was a little bit weird.
03:49He was involved in like a really fast pace.
03:52Then it looked like he was going to win early in the stretch.
03:55And then he got run down by a horse who was kind of battling it out with him early on.
04:00I kind of kept going back and forth with him, Scott.
04:03He certainly is good enough to win this race.
04:05I wonder if maybe he gets overbet a little because of Flavian Pratt, who's one of the top jockeys who definitely takes a lot of money.
04:12But I mean, I'm kind of hemming and hawing.
04:14I didn't really know what to do with this horse.
04:16Help me out with world record.
04:17Well, I'm fond of this horse to an extent, but I think it's a tough task, as we've seen, and why probably a lot of guys don't ship out west and stay at home.
04:26This is a big ask to come off the layoff.
04:28Then I think the biggest question you mentioned is his speed, but he's drawn between horses that I think want to be prominent as well in Hijazi and Roll on Big Joe and Mabobnik.
04:38I think I'm saying that right.
04:39So I don't know.
04:40Trip is a little bit concerning for me.
04:41If he's going to take a lot of money, I think I'm going to side against him.
04:44And I am expecting him, like you said, to take a lot of support.
04:47We all have the horses that we remember from some of our big scores.
04:51This was mine earlier this year.
04:52Roll on Big Joe helped me in a coast to coast win, Scott.
04:55So I will always love this guy.
04:57And he continues to win races.
05:00There have been two or three times in a row where I thought, OK, this is going to be the ceiling for him.
05:04And then he still gets the job done.
05:06He can sit off a little bit.
05:07He can finish.
05:08He's just a really honest horse who's in very good form right now.
05:12He sure is.
05:13There's really, he's hard to knock.
05:14He's 7 for 18, the opposite of Hijazi, has a nose for the wire.
05:18If I'm trying to knock him, maybe you could say his two best efforts of his career recently are at Churchill.
05:23He's 0 for 2 at Del Mar.
05:25And then the 6 1⁄2 versus 6 might be a little bit of a difference.
05:29Interesting, Julian Le Perou making the trip out there.
05:32He's a major player.
05:33He's hard to knock.
05:35Mbognik, who was a grade 1 winner in Chile.
05:37He was grade 3 placed in North America.
05:40He comes off of a really big race where he defeated Hijazi.
05:44But I think when you look back at some of his earlier form, he was behind Roland, Big Joe, like four or five different times throughout his career.
05:50I'm not sure if he's going to get the trip he needs in here in Mbognik.
05:54But I'm not going to knock his last effort.
05:56And he moves into a really good barn, the John Sadler barn.
05:59Yeah, we've seen this move before, too, where they claim for a high number, him and Gironis.
06:03And they move up into a stakes race immediately and have success.
06:07I agree with you.
06:08This horse probably up against it from a win end to win right back.
06:11Maybe the outside draw will benefit.
06:13He is also 0 for 3 over this racetrack, though.
06:16We move to Spirit of Machina.
06:17He was so good early in his career, Scott.
06:19He won four of his first five races, a multiple graded stakes winner.
06:23But then he started having some physical issues because it was forcing him to miss time.
06:27He's now 0 for his last five.
06:29And you see a lot of layoff lines.
06:31Yeah, tough one to get behind here.
06:32I think a couple of years ago it would have been easier to support him.
06:36If you're looking for reasons to like this seven-year-old, he moves outside.
06:39He cuts back half a furlong.
06:41Maybe that benefits him.
06:42But he's nowhere near the same horse.
06:44Another seven-year-old rounds out the field in lovesick blues.
06:47He has run 40 times, eight wins.
06:50Very cool horse.
06:51He's multiple graded stakes placed on the turf.
06:53But, Scott, he hasn't really been at this level on the dirt.
06:56That's my biggest concern for him.
06:57It feels like he's going to get caught in chase mode as more of a turf horse at this time.
07:02His trainer, Labrado, Baracio, has had a good year.
07:04But he's just 8 for 108 at Del Mar over the last three years.
07:08I think lovesick blues is one of the least likely winners.
07:11And as we move to selections, I thought what would make this race tough, Scott, is I could see different things happening, different versions of this race.
07:18A lot of horses who are kind of competitive and not necessarily stand out above each other.
07:23So, to me, a race I'd have to use a few in like a pick four or pick five.
07:27I'm going to put Big Joe on top, 6-3-2-1.
07:30Tell us how you stack this race up.
07:32I understand you're going with roll on, Big Joe.
07:34I'm going to hope the pace is a little bit livelier.
07:36Dr. Venkman can save ground early, angle out late, and come with a big run like he has a few times at Del Mar.
