Kenny McPeek Doesn’t Hold Back 🎤 + Horses to Watch This Weekend

Kenny McPeek is back and holding nothing back 🎤

In this episode of Horse Races Now, Kenny speaks his mind on the biggest topics in horse racing right now—and as always, he tells it like it is.

Plus, we dive deep into his barn as he breaks down every horse running this weekend, giving you insider insight, strategy, and a few names you’ll want to keep an eye on at the windows.

With the road to the Kentucky Derby heating up and contenders like Right to Party making noise on the trail , this is the kind of behind-the-scenes intel you won’t find anywhere else.

👉 Who does Kenny like this weekend?
👉 Which horses are sitting on big performances?
👉 And what’s really going on inside his stable?

Hit play and get ahead of the field.

#HorseRacing #KennyMcPeek #KentuckyDerby #HorseRacesNow

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:39

I reached out to the BC boys and and I couldn't get the rights for fight free rights party, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

So that's for permission. Yeah. That's for forgiveness.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

So the way this thing works though is like you can it'll hear it as soon as we put it up and it'll just shut us down. So really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Even if I just play it on my phone and stick my microphone. Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. No way.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Yeah, it's how it's how that music rights is working these days. Is it really? It's kind of crazy. Artists gotta get their cut. You know how it is. Um here's where I want to start though. Uh right to party. Uh is is he at Churchill?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah, yeah, came in over the weekend. He's gotten several good gallop days here. He galloped uh the last three days here at Churchill. Um, I'll post those on Twitter.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

What do you think? How's he look?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Um great. You know, look, he settled right in. You know, we're gonna hit some details with him and maybe make some a little little adjustment to see if we can move him up a little bit. And um you know, look, he he he's an outside chance and and uh but but the horse is thriving, he's eating good, he's settled in good, he's done everything right, and uh we're gonna give him what I call a nice little happy half mile on Saturday. Okay. Let him stretch his legs over the the um Churchill strip. And then uh a bunch of the horses, the Derby horses are gonna start training. Um and the Derby break is 15 minutes or 7.15 typically. So I'll get to start eyeballing a lot of that out there and maybe getting a little uh idea of of who who stands out.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

So what kind of odds do you think Wrights Party will have? I I've been seeing some haters online say 99 to 1, but do do do you where do you think he falls?

SPEAKER_02 2:21

I think that's reasonable. 70, 80. You think he's gonna be that high? Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

It's that big of an out uh long shot.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah, he's I would say, you know, 60, 70. May somebody said they may bet on they may bet on me and they might bet on the name. Yeah. Um, but you know, look, uh I'm I I'm not worried about the odds, and he he can't read them, so yeah, yeah. He doesn't care a whole lot about them. Still have to line him up and run them. But he's he he's a never one too, you know. He's not one a stake. He's knocked on the door on some stakes, but he's coming in good order and he does have the points, and doc um um Mr. Broman and um his racing manager, Becky Thomas. Uh-huh. Um, you know, they're optimistic, and you know, this is a race that that Mr. Tom or uh Mr. Broman's never um participated in.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

So with the experience alone's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yeah. Uh you know, people ask, is the universe gonna get in? Is he gonna go? No, we're gonna give him a little bit of a break. We're gonna point towards later in the summer. Um he would he would have been an extremely long shot too. Blackout time doesn't have the points. He's gonna be pointed towards the American turf on the same day. Okay. Um Louis Saez is gonna ride that horse. And um, so there's you know, look, there's some uh some good things going on out there.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Well, you were active on X yesterday. I want to read for our listeners who who maybe don't have social media or don't don't read what's going on. I'm gonna read a post you made. So this is from Kenny. Um I'm losing my optimism about horse racing. State vet situation in Kentucky is ridiculous. The sport gives media rights to third party that won't open up viewing. Heist is failing to align rules and even licensing. Department of Labor is terrorizing trainers, jockeys can't use whips. I've devoted my entire life to the sport, and I've watched it lose viewership annually. I've invested in helping grow the sport while enduring pushback from entities more worried about their market share than growing the industry. Um then you you go on to say I'll retire in June 30th, 2030, 2034, see all my equipment and properties, likely to never sell all my equipment and properties, likely to never look back.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

I was ticked off. I'm ticked off. I mean, you know, the Kentucky State Vets scratched 10 out of 93 entries this past week and one race card. It's ridiculous. I mean, it's completely ridiculous. They're proving that they don't know what they're doing. They're just scratching more horses to try to keep anything from breaking down. Good horses without issues will break down, and it's terrible when it happens, but these state vets can't predict it. They've admitted they can't predict it.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

They've even admitted it.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, well, I mean, like for for me, them scratching 10 is them admitting it we can't predict it, so we're just gonna scratch them all.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Why don't we just not have horse racing?

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

I mean, it it ticks me off. One top client said, get all my horses out of Kentucky now. I've already lost Scott Leeds. Great client, super pay, love the game. Said, sell them all. Now I got another one that's saying, take my horses out of Kentucky. I don't want to race there. This is ridiculous. His horse got scratched over the week. We can't find anything wrong with him. We we went all winter, four months. We hadn't had a horse on the vets list, hadn't had a horse voided, claim voided. We get to Kentucky. I I wager with my assistant. I'll wager within the first week we have three on. We have three horses that have already been vet scratched in the first week. They've lost their minds, in my opinion. They they I mean, and and nobody seems to want to address this overdoing of this. I mean, one point one one point something in a thousand breaks down. Why are we scratching ten out of ninety?

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

I mean, there's hundreds of horses on the vets list in Kentucky. Then they don't even help you get them off. They put them on them, but they won't help you get them off. And and so now I've got another client who says, get my horses out of there. Okay. You know, I think one of the vets was quoted saving racing one scratch at a time. Oh my god. Nonsense. Killing racing, yeah, ten scratches at a time.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

And and owners are bearing the burden of this.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

I mean, me like this client says, What do we do with this horse? Now, this horse is doing really good. I said, in our opinion, he was doing fantastic. Other trainers are very frustrated.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

It's not just you.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Owners are very frustrated. Yeah. I'm a loud mouth. I tell it like it is. I don't really care.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Yeah, you don't hold back.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

No, I'm the end of my career in the sense. I'm I'm I'm in this fourth quarter of my career. I don't really care.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

I mean, they are screwing it up. Yeah. They're making it impossible for us to work. Every time we enter a horse, we're just scratching our head like, well, or what are they going to find with this one? And and then it's a matter of cleaning up the mess after that. And it's costing owners a significant amount of money in the sense that we get a horse ready. Okay, now I'm on a 14-day vets list. Then I've got to work the horse off the vets list, and then I've got to wait for blood to come back, which is a ridiculous thing anyway. We've talked about the blood work, doesn't do anything other than delay the time for that horse to be re-entered. And uh nobody ever gets suspended for blood work being bad. I've never heard that. Um, if it's happened, it's very rare. Almost uh it's just small, small, small, small percentage. Right. And yet it cost owners and trainers time and money. And and the game has gotten so bureaucratic that it, yeah, it's discouraging. I am pessimist, pessimistic after seeing all that. We've got other stupid things going on. We've got a company that we want to show racing. They don't want to show racing. Why wouldn't race why wouldn't racetracks want their horses to be shown? The racetracks do though, right? I think the race racetracks do, but then you've got to jump through this these hoops to try to get it turned on. And at this point we haven't been able to get anything turned on. However, many of them are going to YouTube. Many of them are on YouTube.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

And if you go to YouTube, then you can turn it on.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Well, if the company that's that's streaming it's sending it to YouTube, why can't horse races now get it? Yeah, right. We're just kind of like the YouTube of racing. Yeah, sure. We just want to show live replays, so that's frustrating. You know, we've got HISA, HISA needs to align rules, they need to align licenses, but they're supposed to be doing they need to align the media rights. Um, you know, I read somewhere, and I don't know if it's true or not, that Lisa Lazarus has a second job. I mean, I don't know what the industry's paying her to run, and you don't want to believe on on uh social media, but she's got a second job. And I mean, wait a second. I mean, they're supposed to be solving problems. I would love to have that job. I think I think I would be more qualified than most.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

Yeah, well, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, well, you know, anyway, let's see, let's see if uh maybe that pays better than what I'm doing today. I'm not sure it does, but we'll but we'll see. And then the Department of Labor is terrorizing trainers. They're going through us, they're treating us like we're gaming. We're not gaming, we're agricultural. We can't get politicians to get with the Department of Labor to explain to them that we are dealing with livestock. This isn't a factory. We are not a farm. Even dealing with our visa workers is very frustrating because our visa workers want to work, they want jobs. Um, we we go through the proper channels. Then we get then we get guys from the Department of Labor coming in that's saying, I swear to you, I got I was told that I had civil penalties by the Department of Labor in the last several weeks.$2,900 for not supplying toilet paper. What toilet paper to my staff. I'm like, huh? Really? I said, could you please just give me a picture of the guy that came up with this because I want to make him famous. Right.$2,900 for toilet paper. Um, the housing for my staff, we put brand new heat air conditioners in. You know, look, uh this dormitory we've got down there in Florida, there's 24 rooms multiplied times$2,000 a unit. It's almost$50,000 in heat and air conditioning. Sure. Department of Labor is fining me for not having screen doors on their rooms. And I'm like, I've put in heat and air. Yeah, what's the really good units? Right. They're expensive to put in. Sure. And now they're gonna civil penalties me for not having screen doors on all the the rooms.

SPEAKER_03 11:12

And you've showed our listeners these these properties, they're all beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

I know. I inherited the dormitory, but you know, these are things that have really frustrated me. Um, you know, yeah, I got I got a little bit, little bit um fired up yesterday. And then uh, you know, they think that they they think that breakdowns is the problem, they think that jockeys hitting horses too many times is a problem. Not that you want a horse beat up, no, right at all. But but you stewards shouldn't have to sit down and count how many times they've used the crop.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

I mean, um if a trainer's not happy with the way a horse is treated with a jockey, that's his job.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

If if I have if they're worried about breakdowns, if I have a multitude of breakdowns for particular client, then that's that client's job to fire me because he's not happy with my results. Right. If my vet bills are too high, that that's that's supply and demand and business, you know, business seeking its level. Sure. But the bureaucracy's just gone wild. Wild.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

How do we fix it? I I know that's a that's a tough answer, and the it's it's a it's a deep hole there, but is is there a way to fix this?

SPEAKER_02 12:17

I don't know. I mean, I'm I'm I'm like I said, I'm not optimistic. I mean, I'm thinking I want to work my tail off for the next seven or eight years. I'm certainly all about presenting, you know, my opinion, of which means little. There's so many people with opinions, and who can align it? I'm not sure who can. Um, you know, I've just kind of committed myself that I'm gonna stick it out till 2034 and you know, and then find I've got some young guys working for me that I would love to put them in their name and let that let them deal with all the BS that's going on. I mean, they maybe they will have adapted to it. Kind of reminds me of my oldest daughter, you know, when you used to get on a plane and you didn't have to go through security and you didn't have to take your shoes off and your belt off and all that stuff before some idiot in England decided he was gonna put a bomb in his shoe.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Um, but I hate security. Yeah. And my youngest daughter's like, oh, it's fun, Dad. It's okay. But of course, she's she grew up with it. Yeah, it's nothing new to her. So this next generation of horsemen perhaps will grow up with all the bureaucracy that they've put us in put us and put in front of us. Yeah. And all the things that we have to keep track of, and all the and we did it already, most of it we've done already. And and I'm all about rules, but I'm also um, you know, more than willing to complain about things that are silly. There's a lot of silliness.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

This can't just be you. I mean it's not i i i is there a way to create some sort of organization, board, something that can be a mouthpiece of of how to fix this industry?

SPEAKER_02 13:51

We've set with the state vets it's a waste of time. We've tried to talk to the Do they not care about the sport? They oh well they they think they're doing the job. And in their mind, they they are doing the right thing, but they're not understanding what the fallout is for overdoing all this.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Here's what I find funny, Kenny. Obviously, you know, when you there was a moment there you're dealing with some some ailments and and horses and traveling everything else. So we've had guests on, we've had other trainers, we've had guests who are involved in the industry, and I I try to ask them these questions every time. Nobody wants to talk about it. Like they're scared to death.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Well, look, I'm I'm different because I'm independent. I'm the one I'm I can be a mouthpiece because I own parts of most of the horses that I train. I I am not beholden to any one particular client. Yeah. I mean, I'll have great relationships with all of them, and they trust my judgment, and they they they know that I'm can be outspoken, and I will tell them straight. There are people that like being told straight. Mike Rapoli's a straight shooter. Yep. He's calling a spade a spade. Um he's he's the guy that could really make a better.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Because he's got the pocketbooks to do it.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Yeah, he he does. But um some trainers are scared to death to speak up.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah. And I'm not saying just trainers, just people in the industry just they won't, they're like, oh, they're doing their job when they're talking about the vets. But it's it just sounds like, man, it's just it's not fair.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Well, no, they and and but when I see them, they all I got I got how many trainers reached out to me over what I posted yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

And said yeah. But why aren't they doing that publicly though?

SPEAKER_02 15:29

I feel the same. They they they send me these notes. I feel the same way. I got one that said I'm looking for a house in Hawaii so I can get out. I you know, you just lost, you got trainers quitting. It's because the bureaucracy's gotten so deep. And no, they won't say it publicly. We have these meetings, we've we've had multiple meetings with the vets in the state of Kentucky. It's not HeISA that's scratching the horses, it's Kentucky. These horses are gonna go to other racing jurisdictions if Kentucky decides they're not good enough or sound enough for them. But they won't in the meetings, they they're they're a waste of time. Um I've been to multiple ones. We've yelled, we've screamed, we've argued, we've had everybody said their positions. Nothing's changed. It's gotten worse. Um there's you know, we we uh when a horse is lost, nothing no one is damaged more than the trainers and the owners and everybody involved, certainly the jockey. Let a jockey decide how a horse feels in the post-prose. Sure. Allow their opinion to be heard. Yeah. You have they have all morning to scratch horses, and but they yet they wait till they get behind the gate. Really? I mean, so so why is it that if they don't trust us and and I and I've said this to others, the relationship between the vets and the and the trainers is dysfunctional. Yeah. And when a dysfunctional relationship exists, you have to change it. Yep. You have to get out of it.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Yeah, to save that sport for sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah, and so and so it's kind of like having bad referees in the NBA. And I mean, college coaches or or football, you can at least watch a replay and see whether that referee made a bad call. Oh, yeah. Right. You know, and horse racing, these are all And now they're overturning all that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Now that there's replays. They should.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

When the end of the if a if a referee's a bad referee and he makes a bad call, you know, they're those guys lose their jobs.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

I I relate it to like think like Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson gets hurt, the Ravens say he's good, and Lamar says, Well, obviously the horse can't speak for himself, but the Ravens, like, all right, he can go play, he's good. Our team doctors, we're in good shape. But there's some outside entity that says, no, he's not ready to play. That would be crazy. Like, it just doesn't make sense. Now, I understand the horses can't speak for themselves. I get that. I understand there's a whole thing there, but man, I mean, as a trainer, as the people that take care of these horses, that's their lives. They don't want anything bad to happen to these horses. It's everything.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Trainers need to know how their horses move. Our team needs to know how that horses move. The jockey needs to understand how that horse feels underneath him. And if everybody's comfortable, then we should be allowed to go. Yeah. And especially if, like, let's say the other day we had this horse, that the Mo the Merry, who, in our opinion, was fine. And they said, well, he jogs up fine, he moves fine, but he's a little tender on his inside middle of his suspensory. Okay, why don't we do this? Why don't we put a scan on that?

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

We'll do it right now. And if it scans clean, let him run.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

No, sorry, he's out.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Just because they think they see something.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Yeah. Golly. Yeah. That's crazy. And then and then taken by the wind is a frustrating example. We've did bone scan, we did PET scan, we did X-rays. She's never moved any different. He wouldn't let her run. And even I said, well, if I get a bone scan comes back and it's clean, nah, I don't like the way she moves. That's un unreasonable. Yeah. Unreasonable. That's personal. Yep. Matter of fact, to think of this point as personal. I don't really care, Nick. I think you're bad what you do. So there you go. Anyway, um, you know, onward and upward. Well, I hate to be negative. I don't know. Um, but but you really somebody's gotta stand up and and say, hey, wait a second here. What are we doing? And um, yeah, it's discouraging. I mean, like I'm I'm a facing, I'm a certainly well known in the sport. For me to take this position, I think woke people up. I think uh I think I here I'll look it up. I had 70,000 people read that text.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Oh yeah. Oh, trust me, it's viral.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

70,000 people read that text.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yeah, uh well, okay, and that's not the biggest one. So there was another one the same day. You you're obviously, and listen, I totally agree with this, and the people that don't, I don't quite understand their take. But um this is from Kenny on X. It's still stupid. First Saturday in May, first Saturday in June, first Saturday in July. Makes more sense. Then you have Matt Jones, who's a very big sports mouthpiece. He chimes in, good. More horses with a chance to win the triple crown is positive for the sport of horse racing. The old-timer purists would rather hold on to the tradition while watching the sport kill itself than embrace change and make the preakness a major event again. I I completely agree with this. Like it only makes sense because here's my question, this Kenny. We're talking about the vets, we're talking about all these regulations. Are they making it even tougher to run in these three races back to back the way it is? I mean, it's almost impossible to do, anyways, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Well, um, two weeks is way too short. Um, I've experienced it several times. It's really, really uncomfortable for the trainer um coming back in two weeks. Yes, it takes a great horse to come back in two weeks, come back in three weeks, but that's over. I mean, that that that the the preakness, there was a period where the preakness was before the derby. Yeah. That that the derby's been shifted. We've had COVID, we had World War II, we've had lots of movement. We've had different racetracks that were out of submission. When Belmont was torn down, they had to run it at Aqueduct. Now that Prip Pemlico is has gone, then it's gonna be run at Laurel. You've got to adapt, and this sport needs to adapt. Okay, here's the reasoning on every first Saturday. For one, people want the simple calendar first Saturday in May. No, everybody knows where they are first Saturday in May. That look, Churchill Downs is not gonna change that spot. No, and they shouldn't. No, and they shouldn't, no. However, Pimlico and Belmont have the ability to move their move their races. Um, and they've done it before. They did it during COVID just recently. Um, Pimlico's already tinkering with it. Um, you know, maybe Memorial Day is a good idea, but four weeks in between would be great. Me, myself, I think the first Saturday in June. June is even wiser because once you get the community or race or the world into what's the first Saturday in June? Oh, that's the that's the preakness. Like the Derby is the first Saturday of May. Once you get them into a rhythm of understanding, that's the fall date. Memorial Day. Wait a second, you got Indy 500. Right?

unknown 22:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

And that's the same weekend? I think so. Why do you want to run head to head with Indy 500? I mean, Indy 500 is a great, great race, but that whole weekend, people in car racing, so you're not going to get those for that. Memorial Day week? Sure. Yeah, yeah. All right. Um, why why head and head? First Saturday in June, that calendar's wide open.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

That one makes sense. The one that I understand a little bit of the pushback on is if that falls on 4th of July for the Belmont, that could be an issue. I can kind of see that from a travel standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Fourth of July's perfect. There are no big three-year-old races.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

So you think it's a good date?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Well, it's a perfect date. Every year. The truth is that they're lucky that another entity wasn't smart enough to create an American Derby on the Fourth of July and give away more money than Kentucky Derby. Amen. And make the Derby Preakness Belmont prep races for the American Derby. Yeah. Because the Fourth of July is a huge weekend. But there are no top three-year-old races in the country during 4th of July weekend. Now the Haskell, late July, early August. The Travers is typically later in August. And that falls right in line. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Imagine a horse that could win the Derby, the pre Preakness Derby first Saturday in May, Preakness first Saturday in June, Belmont first Saturday in July, and when maybe perhaps the Haskell and the Travers. What an unbelievable horse. Yeah. You know, what do they call that? It wouldn't be called, it's certainly not triple crown. What would be what's five crowns? I don't know. Right. But um, but anyway, it would take one hell of a horse. But horses are sturdy enough to do that, to run once a month every or five five times a year. Yeah. Can you imagine that that that that what what kind of lift it would give? Oh, it'd be huge for the sport. Well, the spacing of first Saturday of May to the first Saturday of July widens, and we've talked about this on the show. It widens the visibility of the triple crown.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Agreed.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

It's still the triple crown. It's just spaced safer. It's spaced for everybody. And the other thing that they're not even thinking about, it's not just three-year-olds we're talking about. You need three-year-old Phillies running those same dates. You need turf horses running those same dates. You need sprinters. So that there's they could follow all those horses through those three series, those three weekends, and there's more stars born. Yeah. They're literally like breeder's cup days the whole time. What's happened with the Black Eyed Susan? It's been diluted so badly that nobody wants to come back in 14 days with a Philly from uh Kentucky Oaks to the Black Eyed Susan to the Acorn. Yeah. Nobody wants to do that. So the the Phillies that run in the Oaks disappear until later in the summer when they write the races in Saratoga. Right. When they write um the coaching club and and of course the Alabama. Those horses are invisible until then. Yeah. But because they can't come back in two weeks. Plus the prize money on the on the Black Eyed Susan is minimal. And the the Acorn, great race, run at a different distance, one turn mile. So there's you know, look, there's a lot of lot of details here. Um, you know, but I yeah, I think that they need to space them out of the room.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

As a marketing person, this is the the most important move that I think horse racing can make. Because right now there's there's very little stars in the industry. We we saw Torpedo Anna become a star, but there's very little stars in the horse racing industry. This could create that. And and people are just not taking that chance because it's just too soon to run them back.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Imagine if a Philly ran through some of those races and then you ran her like I did her in the track.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

I know.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

And there's some other things. Like somebody asked, can do trainers have any input? No, we don't have any input. Um one guy, TK, he said something about there are two trainers on the board at Maryland. Maryland doesn't make decisions on when the preakness is gonna run. Pemlico or the Patronic group does. Got it. I mean, I hope that they can help make decisions, but if they want they want an opinion, I just gave it to you. But nobody's like, I can't tell Churchill Downs what to do. Right. Nobody's gonna tell Pimlico or Laurel what to do. Nobody's sure as heck not gonna tell Belmont what to do.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

I mean, we can give them suggestions. This is a strong suggestion out there for all of you that run these racetracks. However, um, you know, look, they're not they're not gonna listen, listen to us for the most part. Maybe. I've told Gulfstream for years they need to have a three-year-old Philly series going a mile on the 16th. They won't listen. They wonder why none of the three-year-old Phillies run in Florida during the winter. Oh, it's tradition. We run seven-eighths a mile, the Davona Dale, and then we run the Gulfstream Park Oaks. You know, there's no tradition going to be left when they shut the place down. Amen. Well, there's not a horse.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Come on, you know. What what would you say to the people? Because I was I was surprised by the number of these responses. Um, I totally disagree. We are looking at the T Ballization of the Triple Crown, making the triple crown easier to obtain just cheapens it. Why not just give every horse a participation trophy? How do you respond to that? Because I listen, I'm most simple.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Just get straight to it. I am sure that person is undefeated in all those races. All right, they've never even participated in them, never prepared a horde for it. When they get off their couch and their and their keyboard, yeah, they don't know anything really. Keyboard warrior. Any of it. Yep. Never at any point. Yep. All right. One other thing I want to mention. Somebody said, Oh, you didn't mention CAWs. Okay, look, I understand what's going on with C A W, but I don't understand the engine of it.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

All right. So he said, Well, how could he not know about C AW? Somebody said, um G T F O H. I yeah, I remember you, dude. Listen, okay. I couldn't understand anything you typed out. Matter of fact, a little English grammar would help you. However, CAWs is a big deal because the the odds board is changing a minute to two minutes to post. And a lot of players wait till a minute to two minutes to post, and then in the middle of the race, they're running and the odds are shifting. Um, you know, I I don't understand how that math works. I understand it's happening, but I don't understand how the engine of the sport, when the bet's taken and the CAW throws their money in the pot, how they're adjusting the odds. I don't know what whether it's the tote companies that are delayed and that their their technology's too slow to to address it. Um like I said, I'm aware of it, but I don't know that I have a strong opinion about it because I don't know enough about how to fix it.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

You know, I've got a horseman's perspective, but not a technical tote system. Um, where's that money coming from so fast, and and why players are, you know, 10 to 1 is all of a sudden five when they hit the wire. I think that's yeah, that's disturbing. But the think the key is is to grow the pools, which means open the sport to more eyeballs without having to jump through ADW registration, without having to subscribe to a to a to someone that's selling video. You can't grow youngsters.

SPEAKER_03 30:17

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah. So if you grow the pie, then you've got a better chance of that CEW having less of an impact upon the odds. Um, but how you do the technology, I don't, like I said, it's not my business, it's not my world, and certainly I don't have a depth of knowledge to comment on it. Is it a bad problem? Yeah, I think it's a bad problem. I think tracks are are recognizing and addressing it, and I think they're requiring CAWs to bet a little earlier. I don't know. Some tracks are doing it, some tracks are not. There needs to be one consensus rule on how that's addressed. And like I said, it's not really not been my my um depth of knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Once again, we don't know much about we don't have a governing body that goes above all the states.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

If HISA is a federal entity, then HISA should be able to get our content federal so that if if our rules are federal, why aren't isn't our wagering federal? Okay. If um, you know, that's how do you understand whether you know states' rights, federal rights, all that stuff. We're in the middle of all that, and I still think we're on quicksand in all of it. And um HISA should address that. Um and could HISA address CAW? I don't know. I like once again it goes to the tote company, it's responsibility to the track and how what if bets they're accepting. But um how to fix it. Um there there's people in different seats than mine that know more about it, and that's why I didn't comment on it. They, you know, somebody said, Well, well, you know, how come you didn't bring that up? Well, it's uh you know, look, I'm glad to bring it up, but I can't answer right. I can't give you a solution. Although I'm you know, I dig in and find the people that could.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Yeah, yeah, that's that's it's on my job. All right, so let's wrap up here with some horses. Um First Division. Uh really good win here recently.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah, what a cool horse. I mean, he's a warrior. There's a horse that's got completely failed all vet exams as a yearling. That one is? Oh, yeah. And he is a warrior. He goes out there and runs out, runs hard every time. I'll never run him in the state of Kentucky. They'll pick him apart. But every time you run him at Oaklawn, he wins. Yeah. Or at least he's right there. Yeah. I mean, he's a fighter. He tried to bite a horse a few races about back then. Interesting. That yeah, he was down the lane, and I think the rider waved the whip and too close to his nose, and he tried to bite the whip or the horse. And um, yeah, he's he's neat. He's gonna probably run the end of the month at Oaklawn, or we're gonna sit on and wait for the Indiana bread races because he's a restricted Indiana bread.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Caviar breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Ran ran flat. Actually, a bunch of my horses at Keeneland have run flat. Yeah. You know, maybe I ought to get off the podcast and spend more time worrying about horses with my people. I am not happy with my Keeneland mead. I don't get it. Yeah. Um, we went in there thinking we could win five, six, seven. It seems like the horses we thought would win either had an issue or we've had several that had to be scratched. Um Buckeye Bombshell's gonna be scratched tomorrow. She's got a bruised foot. Day after tomorrow, she's got a bruised foot. We're trying to actually we might be able to fix that between now and then. But um, it's gonna be nip and tuck. And then, yeah, it's just been one of them things. I mean, I've had meets. I hadn't I went one for 35 at the Keeneland meet in in the spring of 1995, and then I ran second in the Kentucky Derby, and people congratulated me on what a great spring I was having. So, but my my vision of it is from the internal vision, I see it all. But you know, I like winning at Keeneland, and um my man Rusty Arnold's he's knocking them dead right now. Yeah, I mean he's he's won five. Uh Rust uh uh Billy Mott's won a bunch and Wesley's won a bunch. Yeah. We we won opening day, but we we've we've shot blanks since then. But yeah, you know, look, it happens, it goes like that. We're we're we're analyzing it hard and trying to figure out what we can do different.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

So I I see that you entered rattle and roll here next week. What do you think there?

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Just love that old horse. I love this distance for him a mile and three sixteenths, but he is a bit of a he's gonna need a little pace in the race, and and we'll see how that thing sets up. Um mile and three sixteenths is good, but you can get a slow pace in a race like that, and then he'll have a hard time running them down. But um, he's won several times at Keeneland. He likes it there, he's trained well there. And uh let's look at um let's see what are his odds here. Um, pull it up real quick. And I don't know if they posted him yet or not.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

I was looking on horse races now here recently.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

I love this older horse.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

He's he's um You know, I think it's so important for horses to run a little bit later in their career because we have to have stars in the industry, and I just I think that that's so important.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

He's three to one morning line. Okay, that's pretty good. Yeah, got uh stars and stripes of Mott's four to one, two to one on batten down, so Mott's running a pair. Yeah, it's he's second choice. Yeah. I you know, well, look, Rall and Roll started in his first start was in June. It was two-year-old year. Okay. He won the grade one by the end of the year. Yeah. Nice seven. And we've we've stopped and given him a break here and there. Um and uh when he needed it. And and we do that with all of them. But he's he he's he's a unique one because he's played at a high level for a very long time. Yeah, yeah. He's going on his sixth season uh racing and graded stakes company.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Well, you've got a bunch lined up, so there's a bunch running next week. Um uh Keeland and Oaklawn, it looks like pretty maybe wanted aqueduct.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Teague loves putting pressure on me. I do. I think you got a gambling problem.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

I uh you know, if I was smart, I would take your advice and gamble a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

All right, let's run through him real quick and and um you know get an idea. Stick up with out of guns.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

What a cool name.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah. Uh Harold, Harold Lerner's horse in New York. He's seven to two, seven fur long race. I like that spot for him. Straight three-year-olds. He should run well. Django is in down at Oaklawn in the starter allowance race, and he is eight to one. And this source is a little bit of an enigma, and I'm not sure I'm thrilled with that spot for him. Okay. Um Jang, or I'm sorry, Common Defense, three to one. Looks like he's second choice. No, he's the favorite at Keeneland on on um Thursday. Yep. He's a really, really good Colt. And here's a horse that was on the Vets list for a year in Kentucky. We never really did find anything wrong with him. Good lord. Didn't let him run for his whole whole second half of his three-year-old year. Buckeye Bombshell, like I said, she's got a little bruised foot. We think she bruised her heel. So she'll scratch. Yeah, more than likely. Unless something pops out and cleans up in the next day or two. And unfortunately, she's seven to five.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

She was heavily favored. Um, Gould's gold in at Oaklawn on Friday as well. Three to one. Really good spot for him. Seven horse field. Um, real really want to see this horse get into winning ways. Okay. Um, dare defying in at Keenland this week. He's 12 to 1. This horse doesn't act like he's ultra fast. He just keeps coming and coming. And um, and he he will make his run, but um he doesn't act like he's got great turnover. Yeah. Honey's to blame is is uh looks like he's maybe morning line favorite in the um bathhouse row. Or it's actually second choice to Western Warrior. Um he's gonna love a mile and an eighth. Um he was real unlucky in his last race. He he broke bad and um horse stole it on the front end. But um he's gonna win a mile and an eighth and and and fully expect him to you know get a big piece of that rattle and roll. We're talking about yeah. Um I entered three Phillies in the Valley of the Vapors at Oaklawn for the last week. Um Miss Call's gonna be a scratch. We're gonna wait for her for Keeneland. I entered it just to shop it and shop to to look at the race. Um, black types available here. So, and I think we're gonna run um Holly's Holiday for sure, and we're gonna contemplate Spitfire um in an allowance race if if the allowance race goes. If it doesn't go, then she'll stay in the Valley of the Vapors. This has been historically a pretty easy three-year-old Philly stake. And you always want black type on young Phillies. Um, Miss Call already has some, so does Spitfire. Um, Holly's Holiday just coming off a maiden win. I think she'll step forward and she's gonna need to, but she's she's a 20 to 1 morning line, but uh we're we're after black type on her.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

And then um Goldeneye, we've got in. This horse is really tricky. Um, you know, he's not a dirt horse by nature, but there's nothing that he's eligible for because he's won too many times. So he's what you call out of conditions. And because he's out of conditions, then he can't run A other than, two other than, three other than. He has to run some sort of high-level, mid-level claiming, high-level claiming. Um, there's an possibility that he would be scratched here. Tarantino's the same ownership, and I've got to have a conversation with David Bursen about where we're gonna or what we're gonna do with him. And then Barracks is a horse that I like on the fifth, race five on Sunday. Another Keeneland. This horse is training really good. Um, he's had a little list of small issues, but he's training really well. Um his uh bullet worked repeatedly, and um he he could be tough in race five if he shows any class. And um then we've got one other one running mile and three sixteenths, East Village. Yep. Um didn't run well at Turfway, um, expected some improvement, and um you know he he's a solid little horse.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

So I'm gonna leave you with this. So uh it looks like you're seeing a lot of depth, um, but we're still kind of waiting on that next headline horse to step forward. Would you say that's fair?

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Well, I think sovereignty's a headline horse. I mean, Oakland handicap. You're talking about my barn?

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Yeah, I'm talking about your barn.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

It's like that. Um, Wayne Lucas told me years ago if you can come up with a really, really top horse every five to seven years.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Then you've done something.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Yeah. I mean, you know, the expectations with us are probably a little higher because we get a lot of young horses, but they take time to develop. And then once we develop them, we figure out where what level they fit in. But the expectation can't be to have Thorpedo in and Mystic Dan every year. And I look back in my career and you know, 94, 95, Tahana Rum was the first horse that what I'd call put me on the map. And then I really didn't have good horses again until 2001. Okay. Take Charge Lady, Harlan's Holiday, Repent surfaced, all one crop, and and Sorava. And then I kind of went in a valley and actually took that, took a little sabbatical, which some of you may have read about. My mother was terminally ill. What are you gonna do? Yep. She had a neurological disease, um, which got my attention because I've got neurolog neurological issues myself. Yep. Um, my mother um passed away, and um that was a tough period for me personally. Sure. Um, but I found Curlin and Einstein at auction. I didn't train those horses, but my name was attached to them because I I found them. Okay. Um, and then after the little sabbatical, I came back and I had a pretty good group in 2012, won the Travers with Golden Ticket. I mean, oh every year we win graded races. Oh, sure. Yeah. And um, and then of course, um, I mean, all the way to I could give you other years. We had Eskimo Kisses, we had some headline horses that won grade ones. Um just, you know, look at that. It's it's a grind it along business.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

When you've said that, it's it's mountains and valleys.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

You just gotta keep it steady, you gotta keep doing what you're doing. Um, you've got to keep bringing in youngsters that you hope that the next one's a superstar. Um there's no givens.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Um and you got a bunch of those right now that could be.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Okay. Some of the greatest trainers that I've ever seen that went through slumps that you could have couldn't comprehend. And actually, I've kept notes on when those kind of things happen. Because I know it can happen to me. Yep. And it keeps me perspective in the sense that I'm not immune to a slump.

SPEAKER_04 43:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

I'm not gonna be undefeated at this. I'm gonna be challenged constantly. Okay, Charlie Whittingham wins the I think he won the derby with Ferdinand and then proceeded to go something like over a hundred. Oh wow. Wow. I know it. That's crazy. My goodness. Yeah. And then and then there was a period when Ron McInally went through this huge long slump after he had John Henry. You probably don't know John Henry. I know the name. Yeah, and John Henry was a horse that kept him on, you know, the in the in the limelight. When that horse retired, he had this terrible slump. Um, Steve Cawthon wins the triple crown on affirmed and then proceeds to couldn't win a race. Triple grab. He'd be great to have on here, by the way. Yeah, let's do it. We'll get Steve Cawthon and Pat Day in here. That'd be awesome. Save that question for him. How did you feel when you went through the slump after after you know what he he he'd say, yeah, it was challenging. I bet. It was challenging. Um I can remember Sugman Gahee having just a terrible spring summer in but in New York. I want to say 0 for 70 something. I don't know. I've had r runs where I went 0 for 50 and I'm just going, did I forget how to do this? Right. I don't know what to do. And most of the people don't count. Like every others don't pay any attention. Like we we watch our own work.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

But not necessarily everybody else does. And okay, this year I haven't won a graded stake this year yet. I've knocked on the door and a bunch of them. A bunch. I've been second, third, fourth, third, fourth, second. Haven't won a graded stake this year. That didn't mean I forgot. It just means it it all hadn't come together. Sure. And so when you have those mountains and those great periods, you really appreciate them.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

You highly appreciate them. And and um, you know, you you you don't uh don't pout about a bad run. Yeah. You just keep, you know, keep bootstrapping yourself and keep doing what you do and and then you wait for your turn.

SPEAKER_03 45:18

All right, last question. Um, any report update on Torpedo Anna? Is she pregnant?

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Oh my god, great, great report. She I went out to see her Sunday with uh Sherry and Ann and another group of people there, and she shines like a new penny. Does she? She was so happy. She remembers us, you know. Oh, that's great. That's great. And uh we we we doted over with um plenty of peppermint. She still will not eat the the lifesaver white peppermints. Okay. She looks at him and goes, you know this. You know I don't eat those. Right. Would you please bring me a starlight? Um, she will she will not eat a white white peppermint. White, yeah, the light. That's funny. But she will eat the starlights. She'll eat 80 of them in there. Yeah. But she was very happy. Um Hillendale Farm has got her looking amazing. Right. I mean, her coat, um, just her whole whole aura was fantastic. And uh hell, I wished I'd had her looking that good when she raced. I mean, but of course, she's had plenty of time to rest and and and really fill out, and she's she's put on a bit of weight.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

That's gonna happen. Yeah, nope. She's a mama now, and she caught, I I think she caught the first or the second time that they did she. So she is pregnant. Oh, yeah. She's fully pregnant to Gun Runner, and um, I'd be real confident that she's gonna throw a beautiful foal and a healthy foal because she looks so healthy. I love it. So um, so all that's good. And and then maybe on a few other notes, um, Mystic Dan's being bred to a lot of really nice mares. Um, we've added a few to the to the list recently. Uh gals delight's gonna go to him. We have um oh, I'm trying to remember some of the other ones we've sent over there, but I think he's gonna get about 80 to 90.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Yeah, that's a good number for him. Yeah. And uh the photos coming back from that my my drivers when they go over there and take a mare to him, they've taken some pictures and he he looks like new money too. That's awesome. Yeah, that time's done him good. He's filled out into a man. Yeah. You know, not that he wasn't already, but he really, really, you know, like thickening up, which is what a good stallion does. And um, the morning line thing's kind of rolling along still. People are interested in that. And um, we're letting, you know, Tom and Joel continue to do their thing. I'm contemplating what I'm gonna do with some young horses on there, but I hadn't pulled the trigger on that yet. Just kind of letting us get through spring here and see how the young ones develop. And then I don't know what else we can touch on. Um, apologies that if you think I'm pessimistic, I'm not I'm not I'm gonna continue to be optimistic, but yeah, it's it's hard to be sometimes. And you know, I'm all about solving problems. I want to contribute, and you know, maybe maybe my voice is a is something people don't want to hear, and maybe maybe it's something they do want to hear. And um, we're we're here to try to you know entertain and also educate people about everything that's going on. Uh, you know, I'm trying to let you know exactly everything going on. I actually do it naturally. Yeah, that's why you talked me into doing this. That's right. You probably ought to do this.

SPEAKER_03 48:23

This fall we're on here.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

You should just do two episodes.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

Hey, listen, Kenny, the the the amount of positive feedback we get on this is insane. The listen numbers are incredible. Oh good. So we're making a difference here for sure.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

I'm gonna I'm gonna try to try to keep educated. I'm gonna get a um get a view of these some of these dirt derby oak sources so I can give you guys some plays. And um, you know, for those that want to gamble a little bit, I think I you know, I'll I'll get a chance to watch them. Um last word I'm gonna put in is okay, my health. I had my first PT thing yesterday. They um have a um pinpointed the locations of the pinch nerve on this side. This hand's just really weak still. Yeah. Um I'm healing. I've I'm I'm a little more than a month out of the last surgery. Um I'm still, let's just say, I'm pacing myself, trying to get into a nice rhythm. Um every morning. I've been like moving a little forward. Sure. And um, but I'm still far from 100%. I've got another physical therapy this afternoon at two. I feel really good coming out of that, but um, it only lasts for so many hours, and they're doing dry needling on me. Um and um I'm not quitting till July 24, three thirty-four, so don't worry about that. That's right, we got it on the books. But I got I got I gotta get I still gotta get my body sorted and yeah um, you know, got some fantastic clients and horse. Somebody said, Why 2034? Simple. You know, look, I've got um I still got a lot of work to do, so I think I got a lot of nice races to win. I've got some wonderful clients um that that I'm willing to work hard as long as I can do it. I got some great young people that work for me that they're they're important to me. Um you know, it's a um and I've got a plan, you know. I should my mortgages should be paid, I should my daughter growing up. Um, yeah, it's it's it's life, you know. And I think having a plan's a good idea. I'm not gonna spring it on anybody. You you're gonna you're gonna know you're gonna you're gonna with certainty, I think. You know, probably sure enough, I'll be on really high roll and that yeah, and it'll be really hard to walk away. Good horses in the barn, and you're gonna be now you're gonna quit. I'm like, uh let me rethink that one. Yeah, maybe for another year. That's every my wife said, You won't ever quit. I said, Well, I'm trying to make a plan to do a step away. I think 71, turning 72 that 20 in 2034 is a very reasonable time. I agree. Sure. And I and I and I've got some young people, young guys working for me that I would love to put their name on the program too. It's not a I don't really want it all to be about me. It's it's the team and and uh clients and I can still buy horses for legacy, and then hopefully horse races now is just humming by then. Yeah, it's it's you know, we're working. We're we've got some interesting stuff going on in the background.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Love it. Yeah, it's like a stock market for race horses.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

Morningmind.io this is a horse that's knocked on the door at a high level and being very competitive at great at stakes level and it's a good cold overall.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Morningmind.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

All right, so if you want to help us grow this, uh please hit that subscribe button. It give us a comment, give us a follow. Um, your support means more than you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

Share the horse races now app. Keep sharing it. That's right. Tell those newbies out there, hey, just try it. That's right. We're working on getting the ads out of there. We're and we're actually we're we're we're close to maybe getting the ads out. Okay, that's good news. I mean, that that would be a big deal. That's good news. If the if the ads are pulled, I think more people would use it. And uh the code writing teams got some interesting stuff going on, and they got a new new uh version in the market. Oh, nice. Yeah, well they're updating it, they're trying to update it every 30 days, every 60 days. It's typical with apps. Yeah. And I've still lost money on it, or at least I've I've got money invested. Sure. But I don't know if I'll ever get it back. Hopefully. All right, see it the races.