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00:00So we're three days away from the Blockbuster Belmont Stakes cards, one of the best cards
00:11of the year.
00:12Usually, we talk to Terry Finley from West Point, obviously, about Flightline, and I
00:16think Flightline is going to be a headline attraction on Saturday.
00:19The Belmont Stakes, obviously, is the Belmont, but with no Triple Crown on the line, even
00:23with Rich Schreck running in the race, I think Flightline is the major, major attraction
00:27of the day.
00:28Overall, we have eight Grade 1s and a Grade 2, so nine graded stakes overall.
00:34And Bill, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but again, we got a lot of short fields.
00:39We got five horses in the Acorn, we got five horses in the Just a Game, we have six horses
00:44in the Woody Stevens, in the Ogden Phipps, we have five horses.
00:49I mean, it starts to get a little better as the card goes on.
00:52The Jiper has 13, the Met has five, you know, you'd expect it to be a short field with Flightline
00:59in there.
01:00The Manhattan has 10, and then the Belmont has eight.
01:02Overall, I think it's a quality over quantity card.
01:05You're going to get to see a lot of stars, and we'll talk about them.
01:08But again, man, why can't these races fill?
01:11Yeah, no, I mean, you're not being a Debbie Downer because you have to talk about this.
01:15It's a major story, Joe.
01:17And you know, in some way, shape, and form, it's kind of the story of the day, you know,
01:22sort of overshadowing.
01:23Well, it's not the story of the day, but it's one of the stories of the day, overshadowing
01:26other things.
01:28And, you know, but it's a little bit of, you know, the good and the bad.
01:32The good is that there are some spectacular horses running on this card.
01:37I mean, Jack, Christopher, Flightline, Speakers, and this is not even talking about the Belmont
01:42State.
01:43Jackie's Warrior, Latruska.
01:44I mean, champions up and down the card, races that, you know, you get excited about because
01:50you want to see stars.
01:52But from a standpoint of betting, it's, you know, how do you get excited about betting
01:57some of these races with five horses, six horses, etc.
02:00And even the Belmont Stakes only has eight horses in it.
02:03You know, you know, this is such it was supposed to be such a wide open year.
02:06I'm surprised there's not more.
02:08You know, we talked.
02:09I asked Randy Moss when he was our Green Group guest of the week last week, you know, what
02:13do we do about this problem?
02:14And his answer was the same of all of us.
02:16Just shrug the shoulders.
02:17I don't know.
02:18You know, there's too much racing out there.
02:20There's too many stakes races out there.
02:22But can you expect a Naira to say, well, you know, we're not going to run the Met Mile
02:26this year or we're going to get rid of it because it doesn't attract a lot of horses
02:30or the Ogden Phipps.
02:31It's just not going to happen.
02:32So, you know, I guess we just got to grit our teeth and put up with it.
02:36But it'll be interesting to see how this affects the handle.
02:39And I don't remember exactly what the card was like last year or how many what the average
02:43field size is.
02:45But you know, you have a Belmont again, that's not going to really resonate much with the
02:49masses.
02:50It's going to, you know, the racing people are going to be into it.
02:53So you're not going to get a lot of like, you know, money from people that bet three
02:57or four times a year.
02:58I don't think you're going to get a lot.
03:00You know, will the handle be affected by this?
03:02It probably will.
03:04So, again, I don't want to go all negative here, just like you said, you don't want to
03:07be a Debbie Downer because, as I said before, I mean, you know, this is must see racing
03:13coverage because of the stars that I'm talking about.
03:15But in some respects, an interesting Belmont, not a scintillating Belmont, but an interesting
03:20Belmont.
03:21But, you know, at some point in time, can we get everybody in the same room and just
03:24try to figure out, is there a better way to do this?
03:28And I don't know.
03:29I'm not smart enough to know what the answer is, but it's one of the stories of the day,
03:33no doubt about it.
03:34Yeah, absolutely.
03:35And, you know, it's just one of those cards, those typical cards that you get sometimes
03:39where, you know, from a fan's perspective, I cannot wait.
03:43It's just there's so many horses that I want to see that are appointment viewing for me.
03:46But from a betting perspective, it is very, very hard to get excited about this card.
03:51The only thing maybe is like maybe the late pick four or something, because like I mentioned,
03:54the Jiper has 13 horses in it.
03:56And you got a couple of other like semi big fields, you know, like 10 in the Manhattan,
04:01like I said.
04:02But yeah, like star studded does not even begin to describe this card.
04:06It's like, you know, we got Echo Zulu and the Acorn and the just the game.
04:09We got five horses.
04:10So, you know, Matt has three of them.
04:11But Regal Glory and Speak of the Devil, who I, you know, raved about in the Distaff Turf Mile.
04:17She's going to be in there.
04:18The Woody Stevens, obviously Jack Christopher is the main attraction.
04:22But you've also got Morello coming back, who was the Gotham winner, and he missed the derby
04:26after a pretty poor start in the Wood Memorial.
04:30So he's in there as well as well as Witt.
04:32So that's exciting.
04:33Obviously, the Ogden Phipps, you know, Latruska, Latruska is always important to watch and
04:38it's always, you know, always puts on a show, you know, not a ton of competition in there.
04:43I guess Malithat, you know, if she gets the excited, you know, coming off that very workmanlike
04:48win in the Double Dog there, I don't think she's going to be any match for Malithat.
04:52And of course, in the Met Mile, Flightline, it's just every time I see Flightline's past
04:56performances, I have to do a double take because you just don't see horses run a 105, 114,
05:02118 by her wing by double digits each time.
05:05So he's obviously a super exciting horse.
05:07But this is not a walkover for him.
05:10And Terry Finley, you know, talked about it when we asked him, Speaker's Corner is a real horse.
05:15You know, he got a 114 by her in the Carter last time out.
05:18He's won three in a row.
05:20He, to me, is on the ascent also.
05:22You do have Aloha West in there who did win the Breeders' Cup Sprint last year, but he's
05:27just on paper way too slow for those two horses.
05:29So it sets up as a pretty decent match race for Flightline and Speaker's Corner.
05:33It's been interesting to see how the race is written because those two are the two inside
05:38posts and the two main speeds.
05:40So it's going to be interesting to see, you know, if Junior lays off of Flavian on Speaker's
05:44Corner, if Flavian just sends Flightline to the front and says, you know, come get me if you
05:49can. It's going to be that's going to be a really interesting riders race to see how those
05:53two guys kind of jockey for position in the early going, you know.
05:57And then in the Belmont, I have said for a while now that I think We the People is a
06:02likely winner of this race.
06:04I, you know, maybe if you like creative cause, he's kind of a forward moving Cole.
06:08I, you know, I could see a case for him.
06:10I don't like Rich Strike.
06:12I don't know. Bill did a story yesterday that he was on the vets list.
06:15You know, they supposedly had a very, you know, benign explanation for it.
06:19But it's just not something you want to see going into a big race.
06:22You know, I think also that We the People is the controlling speed who drew the rail.
06:27So that takes, I think, all of the, you know, all the decision making out of it for Flavian Pratt.
06:32I think it makes all the sense in the world now just to go to the front.
06:35And then, of course, we get the Philly in the race nest.
06:37And we talked to Mike Rapoli a couple of weeks ago when he was considering it.
06:41And she ran second in the Oaks.
06:43She's too slow on paper.
06:45But if she truly does want to go a mile and a half and they think that she's going to get better at that distance, why not take a shot instead of just running her against Echo Zoo at a mile in the Acorn, which is really not up her alley.
06:56But any other thoughts on the Belmont specifically, Bill?
06:58Yeah, first of all, I got to correct myself.
07:00I said Jackie's warrior was part of the car.
07:01He's not. He's racing on Friday.
07:03But two things.
07:04Let's take one race at a time.
07:06And, you know, it's interesting because guys like us and John, you, me and John, the we're going to be zeroed in on the Met mile.
07:13I mean, I don't care what happens in the Belmont stakes that, you know, We the People runs off the screen and wins by 10 lengths.
07:21It's not going to be as impactful or interesting as what happens in the Met mile, because here we have a horse that, you know, looks like he in fight line, looks like he might be one of the fastest horses we've seen in our lifetime.
07:35But he still has to prove it in a race like this.
07:37And this is a litmus test for him.
07:39I mean, I know he won the grade one Malibu, but, you know, this is a litmus test for him and going against a horse like Speaker's Corner.
07:45You know, maybe he'll get beat.
07:47Maybe he'll win by a half length.
07:48But what if he just thrashes this field and goes off and wins by seven, eight lengths and gets a 120 buyer, all of which is completely within the realm of possibility?
07:59I mean, come Sunday morning, that's all Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, John Green and the real insiders are going to be thinking about.
08:08But, you know, it's still Belmont Day and the more casual racing fan is going to zero in on the Belmont.
08:13And, Joe, I'm with you. I mean, the peepees came out last night and I'm not going to make my pick now.
08:18But we the people, not only is he a good horse in here on the rise for Rudolf Brissett coming off a big win in the Peter Pan, but could he be six, seven lengths in front after a half mile?
08:32I mean, that sounds like at first blush, like, no, that'll never happen.
08:35But he's that fast and there's no one that looks like that they can even come close to keeping up with him early.
08:43It'll be interesting to see how he's written.
08:45Will they will they go to the front and try to go in like forty eight and open up by ten or will they try to get to the front in a length and a half and go at fifty something like that?
08:54I'm not sure that the former isn't the better strategy.
08:57Just take it to him out of the gate.
08:59Dare them to come catch me and, you know, just run off the screen.
09:03I mean, Rick Strike is an easy horse to dislike.
09:06I mean, there is the Cinderella story and all that, but he did win the Kentucky Derby largely because of a pace meltdown.
09:13And, you know, that's not going to happen here.
09:16You're not going to get me, the people and someone else going forty five in the first half mile here.
09:21So, you know, he's obviously he's better than we thought he was going into the Derby.
09:25But, you know, he doesn't look like a horse that you really would expect to win this race.
09:31Moe Donegal and Ness Todd Pletcher, I mean, he's very good at this, you know, bringing these horses into the Belmont off the five weeks rest in between their two starts.
09:39It would be neat to see the Philly win.
09:41You know, it's I'm not going to knock the Belmont, but I'm not going to say at the same time, oh, boy, what an exciting great Belmont it is.
09:48Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't have quite the cachet last year.
09:51We got a central quality and hot rod Charlie in there and horses that you really felt were kind of at the top of the three year old division at the time.
09:57You know, obviously, Rich Strike has the Derby win under his belt, but he's got nothing else on his resume.
10:01You know, I don't want I don't want to trash him too much, because as you'll see in the cartoon later, we might have to have Rich Strike on the show.
10:08If we doubt him again, he wins the Belmont.
10:10But yeah, you know, it's interesting.
10:12I never I haven't really seen this in a while in the Belmont.
10:15You have the horses who are 17th, 18th, 17th or 18th in Rich Strike's case, 19th in Moe Donegal's case, and then Barbara Road, 20th or 19th.
10:26And the first calls of the Derby.
10:27So you have all of the deep closers from the Derby and it just it just sets up for the people.
10:32It might be one of those things where it seems too obvious and then he doesn't win because he does really only have that one big race in the Peter Pan.
10:38And he's probably going to be a short price.
10:40But I definitely would not suggest betting him at seven to five or eight to five or whatever he's going to be.
10:45But, you know, he just he looks like he can't lose on paper unless someone like Skippy Longstocking or somebody unexpectedly goes with him early.
10:54And then then who knows?
10:55Then you know, you could take any of three or four horses.
10:58Like I said, creative ministers, a little bit interesting, you know, lightly raced.
11:02Like I said, the other thing about this, Bill, is, you know, I think it kind of throws a wrench into like what Randy Moss and people were in favor of elongating the Triple Crown.
11:12Say we only had three horses run in the Preakness after running in the Derby and we still only got eight horses in the Belmont.
11:20So I just I don't buy this idea that just because you give the trainers more space, they're more likely to show up in the Triple Crown races because it's not as if half the field ran in the Preakness is now too tired to run in the Belmont.
11:31We only had a couple of horses running the Preakness after the Derby, and still we only got eight horses.
11:37Like I think that that makes a case that no matter no matter how much you space these races, trainers are going to find a way to duck and find an easier spot.
11:44Yeah, you're absolutely right about that.
11:46And kind of a forgotten horse.
11:47But I think he's a good example of what we've been talking about.
11:50People on our side look at Zandon.
11:52He would be the favorite in this race.
11:54He would be the favorite in Belmont stakes of the most illustrious races on the counter.
11:59One point five million dollar purse.
12:00It's five weeks after he last ran five weeks.
12:04And that wasn't enough time for Chad Brown to bring him back.
12:07You know, and again, like we said, and I don't want to continue, you know, we need to move on from this.
12:11But, you know, like I said, the whole idea that people are saying about four weeks in between the races is not not going to work.
12:17It's not going to make it any better.
12:18If horses come back in the Preakness and they won't come back in the Belmont, you know, are we really going to have eight weeks between all these races?
12:24Of course not. We can't. So, you know, there's there's something that can't be fixed.
12:28But I just think Zandon is a perfect example of the way and it gets worse every single year.
12:35I mean, you know, 10 years ago, Chad Brown never would have dreamt, I don't think, of keeping Zandon out of the Belmont.
12:42But now five weeks, not nearly enough time.
12:44We'll see in the summer, we'll see at the Traverse or whatever like that.
12:47And that's it's not good for the game.
12:49But it is the way that it is becoming the standard.
12:52And that's why we have these five and six horse fields and all these great stakes.
12:55But we'll end it on a positive note.
12:57Eight grade ones.
12:58It's hard to be too negative about a card with that many big time stakes and big time horses running in.
13:03So, of course, we're looking forward to it.
13:05Even if we're complaining about the short fields, I think both things can be true.
13:08You can be a little depressed about how many short fields we see in these big races.
13:13But also you can be excited to see the horses that are going to be out there on Saturday.
13:16And I'll be out there on Saturday, probably get there for the first grade one.
13:20And I might actually leave after the Met just to beat the traffic home because, you know, the Manhattan doesn't get me going.
13:28And the Belmont this year, it's a pretty it's a it's a nice enough race.
13:31But it's like it's such a mad dash to get out of there after the Belmont.
13:34I might I might dip after the Met mile.
13:36So if you're out there and you want to meet up and grab a drink or something, just hit me in my DM.
13:40So looking forward to seeing some people out there at Belmont Saturday.
13:43It looks like the weather's going to cooperate.
13:45And it'll be, you know, even if it's not a great betting day, it'll be a great day of racing for fans.
13:50And we're looking forward to seeing a lot of those horses.