StallioneSearch Podcasts
StallioneSearch Podcasts
Ep. 63- David Smith- Founder of StallioneSearch.com
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
DALLAS, TX — May 27, 2026 — David Smith, founder of StallioneSearch.com, joins Episode 63 of QH Racing Talk — Weekly for an in-depth conversation about his career covering the Quarter Horse racing industry and the evolution of digital racing media.
Widely recognized for his longtime contributions to Quarter Horse racing journalism, Smith discusses how StallioneSearch grew from an independent media platform into one of the sport’s most-followed sources for race coverage, video features, interviews, and breaking news. Over the years, his work has helped bring greater visibility to owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, and horses competing across the country.
During the episode, Smith shares stories from his early years in racing media, reflects on some of the industry’s most memorable moments, and explains how technology and online broadcasting transformed the way fans consume Quarter Horse racing content.
Co-hosts Greg Thompson and Bailey Ivey also recap recent stakes races and preview this weekend’s major events in Oklahoma City, highlighted by the $1.1 Million Heritage Place Futurity (G1).
For Wednesday, May 27th. It's Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly. Ask yourself, where else can you find this content about quarter horse racing?
SPEAKER_02I have that answer. It doesn't exist other than here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly. If you aren't listening to this, can you really call yourself much of a quarter horse racing fan? Introducing our host, Greg Thompson and co-host Bailey Ivy. It's Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
SPEAKER_03And hello again, everyone. Bailey has a lot of things going on in the industry. We got the gigantic weekend staring us right in the face there at uh Rymington Park. And I know you're going to be out there and I know you're super excited about not only getting out there this weekend, but also getting to the preview section this week where you have a bunch of special guests with you.
SPEAKER_19Yes, Greg. I love when there's huge nights of racing, especially when it pertains to quarter horse racing. These are some of the best horses in the country.
SPEAKER_03And all on one single night there at in Oklahoma City. And, you know, Bailey, last week with Andy Golden, formerly a Speedhorse magazine, I had a lot of calls and a lot of people send me messages that they really love that one. That was one of their favorite ones. So it was uh it was nice to hear the feedback from our podcast of last week.
SPEAKER_19You know, Greg, listening to Andy's interview really made me think about how people got information back in the day. Like knowing the stallion numbers, the process of breeding the mare and being so accurate, how we are in the current day.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_19How did they how did they do it then?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it you know, I imagine it it it probably had a lot to do with proximity, it had a lot to do with affordability as well. So it it was very unique to hear that his perspective of how the game has changed and how they receive information, and especially in the modern day, how the breeder wants the information and they want it now.
SPEAKER_19And Greg, we've seen a lot of the magazine publications trying to get with the trend of getting things out as quickly as possible.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and that falls into our featured guest this week of with this individual is the pioneer of getting it to the people that day or within the hour of when something happens, and that's David Smith of stalynesearch.com, the the guy that signs mine and your paycheck, Bailey.
SPEAKER_19Yes, Greg, but your paycheck is a little bit bigger than mine.
SPEAKER_03I don't think so. I think that you uh you know saw that Lamborghini you got out in the parking lot, and I, you know, started to question that or not. But uh with David Smith, David has a tremendously great story and a background in racing. You know, him and Fred Stanley, they were toddlers and strollers at the same church that kind of tells you and ties you into how far back in quarter horse racing David goes throughout the the times of Sprinklin, the huge story about how he was involved in the special effort story, the syndication, even the core racing record uh all the way into the formulation of the idea of TinySearch.com.
SPEAKER_19Well, Greg, I'm really excited to listen to your interview with him.
SPEAKER_03And yes, one of the things that with David over the years is David is one that is not for the limelight or the spotlight to be shined upon him. So I pretty much had to force him at gunpoint to get on and do this podcast with me. But here it is. Uh we'll be right back after these words with one of the pioneers of the industry of how we get information in the modern day, and that's David Smith of Stallioneesearch.com.
SPEAKER_00There's more to come. Stick around after these words from our sponsor.
SPEAKER_02So be sure to check out the Stallion roster at Roboshow Ranch in Bro Bridge, Louisiana. Sires like AQHA Champion Sire of Political Blood, Grade One winning and grade two winning, Gold Heart Eagle V, the Grade 1 winning and Grade 1 producing, KVN Corona, the multiple Grade 1 producing sire, Tempting Dash, and the All-American juvenile winning son of Corona Cartel, Visa, standing at Roboshow Ranch LLC.
SPEAKER_03At Dunn Ranch in Winniewood, Oklahoma, let me tell you about a sire by the name of A Political Victory. He's the son of the legendary a-political jest out of the Trey State American City, which makes him a full brother to the multiple Grade 1 winner and back-to-back winner of the Champion of Champions A-Political Fantas, who was a $1.8 million earner on the racetrack. And A Political Victory has put together two standout seasons at stud so far starting in 2025. So remember him. Remember that he's a royally bred son of Apolitical Death. And remember this he's the choice for the 2027 breeding season. Also standing as champion and grade one producer A Revenant, the runner of fish for the grade one at Bert Million in hot pursuit, and the graded states winning Juices Lose and the Grade One producer PYC fun and fancy. All standing at Dunranch and Winniewood, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_02All right, back to the show.
SPEAKER_03All right, we're back here on Quid Horse Racing Talk Weekly, ready to jump into the featured guest section. And as mentioned in the intro with Bailey, I have my boss, David Smith, on the phone. Now there's no other way to say it. David is truly a pioneer in the publication world as it pertains to the quit horse racing industry. David changed the game. He took the way people had been receiving information, the speed that they had been receiving the information at, and changed it all, and made it to where the news was readily available within hours of the horse crossing the finish line. The qualifiers list was up within hours of the last horse and the last qualifying trial went across the finish line. And in information that was essentially outdated by the time a publication would come through the mail, David was making it to where they were receiving that information. It's updated almost weekly. And to go one step further, David forced the hand of these companies that had been doing it the way for years and maybe decades, has forced their hand to look at going into the electronic age and trying to replicate the speed and the efficiency of what an online platform can offer to somebody that's looking to make decisions in the industry of who to breed to, as well as it's just as somebody that's wanting to keep up with the sport of court horse race. And David pioneered all that. And I have him here discussing not only Stallion eSearch, but life before Stallion ESearch, which was pretty darn interesting, which includes that story of his affiliation with the Triple Crown winner special effort. So without further ado, let's get into the conversation with David Smith of Stallion ESearch. David, thanks for joining us here on Court Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
SPEAKER_17Well, Greg, thanks for having me. You know how much I hate this. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yes. I'm enjoying every minute of it, David.
SPEAKER_03Just just if we're if we're if we're keeping score, it's this is one of the more enjoyable ones. So David, the talk about stallionese search is getting way ahead of ourselves. So really want to kind of talk with the origins. You're originally from Oklahoma. Not necessarily a complete quarter horse racing background, but you know, you had always told me that, you know, you and Fred Stanley are had been in a stroller next to each other in the church growing up, so you knew the fa the Stanley family, so you had ties with quarter horse racing from from way back.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, I was I was actually my parents lived in Medill. I was born in Ardmore, but they lived in Medill and the Stanleys were from a deal. We all went to the same church. I was always horse crazy, but we didn't have any room at the lake for a horse.
SPEAKER_03Yes, with your with your interaction with the Stanley family, what was your interaction with the m the Barnes family, Marvin and his wife?
SPEAKER_17Yeah, it kind of goes back to when I first got a horse. You know, I was not a very good student in school and my dad told me if I could make a B average, he'd buy me a horse. Well that took me like one semester and I had a B average and so my first horse he bought me cost a hundred dollars and uh I convinced him to let me go to the county fair about six months later and actually won first place in the barrels and the poles on this hundred dollar horse. And so my dad thought, well maybe we should get him a better horse, so that's when I got my first quarter horse and I started showing horses and rodeoing and doing stuff like that and everything. But when I got into racing, you know, Fred's family had been in it and I'd kind of been around it, but I went to Riadosa for the first time in 1973, and uh Time to Think Rich won the All-American that year. And I came home and I was hooked on horse racing, and I sold all my show horses and took the money and bought a brisk dead filly and sent her to Blue Ribbon Downs and lost all my money that I'd made on my show horses, and my dad was pissed, but I was hooked.
SPEAKER_03So you've gone to college and lead into David as n not just like myself and Leanne of of Stallion ESearch, we're all former speedhorse employees at the time. So talked about your integration into the publication world, then the first taste of it you got up there in uh in Oklahoma with Speedhorse magazine.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, I I'd quit school twice before because of horses, and I convinced my parents I had moved to Oklahoma City and I enrolled at OU and I promised I wouldn't quit school this time, and so I got a job at Speedhorse because I thought that'll take care of the horse part for me. And I worked in the Canadian Valley pedigree department ad or whatever, and Pat Robertson, her dad used to own haymaker cells, she worked there and she taught me how to ride a catalog style pedigree. And that was when I first got into like the lineage of horses and court horses and female lions and you know, wondering why some of them were more prolific than the other ones and all that, and I was kind of just like really hooked on that. And about six months later, Don Tyner's he Don Tyner was a guy that used to be a big court horse agent in the business. And his sister moved to Oklahoma City from California and he got her a job at Speedhorse. And she and I became friends and we started carpooling together, and she started telling her brother that there was a kid that worked at Speedhorse that was like a walking horse computer. And long story short, we met a couple of times and he offered me a job and I kept telling him I had to stay in school 'cause of my parents, but finally I took the job and I went in to give my notice to Connie and she fired me. So I called him up and started working the next day and he wanted me to build uh when I started with him, he wanted me to build a research department, you know, for his horse selling business. Back in those days, you could call AQHA and get three horses over the phone and then you had to hang out and then you called back and you could get three more.
SPEAKER_03And when you say get three horses, you're talking about getting their pedigree or getting their race records.
SPEAKER_17If they had any sisters, you know, just putting together their whole family. And what would happen was after the trials for all these big races, you know, there wasn't any there wasn't any place the magazines came out once a month. You couldn't get a list of who qualifiers were or anything like that. So I would call the racetrack, call the racing office, and I would beg them to give me the ten finalists, you know, to big race. And so then I would take those ten horses and I would start calling AQHA and I would just go into their family, does the mother have any sisters as you know, all this? If so, who owns them? What have they produced? You know, all this kind of stuff. And so it was like a genealogy like map because the records they had, if you ordered them, it you know, took a week, they had to come in the mail, you know, and so that was just the only way you could do it. So I would like call and research these horses and then we'd find where all the females were. Then we would call up the people and we would try to buy the ones that we thought was gonna win the race. Anyway, that's how we bought a lot of marriage and sold them. You know, that were from good families.
SPEAKER_03David, I would say that the high point of being in your agenting career early, your correlation was your relation to the story of special effort being sold over to the Urshals through Don Tyner and through your association with Don Tyner.
SPEAKER_17I worked within a couple of years to agent status and I started traveling with Don every day and he had a plane and we went to all the Faturity trials in Mexico, California, everything. And so that time we had sold a lot of horses to the Urshals and it was nineteen eighty one. We were at the Riodoza trials, which was the Kansas Faturity back then, and uh his horse called special effort, won the third trial that day, just the easiest we'd ever seen a horse win. He said the fastest time we got him for the races that day, and Dan had called Don and asked us to come by their horse. So we went by there and Dan said he wanted to buy him. And so Don called to see about buying him, and they kinda laughed at him and they said it you know, it'd take a million dollars to buy this horse. Well, at the time Special Effort had two wins, two hours, two wins, and he'd made three thousand dollars. You know, and there'd never been a quarter horse.
SPEAKER_04Go for a million dollars at that time.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, for a million dollars. So he calls Dan back thinking, Well, you know, here's the deal, whatever Dan says, buy him. And so this is where Don Heiner specialty came in. He had kind of introduced the quarter horse rule to buying horses, selling horses on time, and he put together the deal where he bought special effort for three hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars down and three hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars for the next two years. And so he really bought him on time, and so we got him bought, he got three Bar D ranches, so exciting for the Riados of Faturity, wins it easy, and then comes back and wins a couple of rainbow trials, wins the rainbow. So then Urshals call, we go over and we start talking about syndicating him. And so Dan doesn't want to give up any control of the horse, and he said he has this idea, new idea called a breeding rat syndication, which that wasn't the way horse syndications work.
SPEAKER_03Up David, up to that point, was there any horses that before you get into the syndication story with special effort, were there was there any other horses that were syndicated prior to him that uh Yeah, Don had already done easy jet for that six hundred thousand dollar syndication.
SPEAKER_17I see.
SPEAKER_03Dash for Cash, was he a syndicated horse or was he?
SPEAKER_17Yeah, he was syndicated. Okay, there were several, you know, that were that were syndicated. So you know, people knew about how syndications work. And it was usually it was forty shares, you know, syndications. And so Don wasn't real sure of this in the word, but Dan said, I want to keep fifty breeding rights for myself, and you can sell a hundred and uh a hundred and a hundred thousand, hundred and fifty thousand apiece, which could divorce at fifteen million dollars or a hundred thousand apiece.
SPEAKER_03And for the listener, this isn't nineteen eighty-one money. Yeah, nineteen eighty-one money.
SPEAKER_02And we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_03Another successful year at stud is coming to an end of 2026 breeding season for Eagles Fly Higher, standing at Leicester in Opaloosis, Louisiana. That's the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction. Check out its stallion page on stallionesearch.com. New for 2026 at Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma, is the Grade One winning unrelentless. A ton of each relentless out of the PYC painter wagon bear painted wine wagon with earnings of nearly $426,000 going into the big champion of champions weekend. He's a standout performer who has a runner claimed victory in the grade one Brad McKenzie winner championship at Lotal Fatis, and with the runner-up finished during the grade one Golden State million at the two-year-old.
SPEAKER_02Also standing at least the rant is the super derby winner, Big Blue. A tire of nearly $73 million to earn it, Corona Cartel, the Grade 1 producing stire, Coronado Cartel, the Grade 1 winning, Cyber Monday, the all-time leading stire, first down dash, the Rio Dostofuturity runner-up, Jets Fire Me. The Grade 1 winning champion, Kempton. The multiple Grade 1 and champion producing stire, Kits My Hawks. A tire with nearly $44 million in earnings, DYC Paint Your Wagon. A tire of three champions and five millionaires, Valiant Hero, all standing at Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_03Hey, a little bit further down the front page on Stalynesearch.com, you'll find the AQHA Challenge section, where you can read all the AQHA Racing Challenge stories, including the regional races that are happening across the country, or you can go to AQHA.com forward slash racing and look for the challenge tab along the left-hand side, and you can read all about the upcoming pending deadlines as well as the schedule for all the upcoming races of the AQHA Racing Challenge. All right, back to the show. And also to explain one step further, David, is Dan and Jolene Urschel had previously won the All-American Futurity the year before with the two years before with Pie in the Sky.
SPEAKER_17Right. And then they ran second by nose with Mighty Deck 3 in 1980, and then we're now in 1981. Okay. So they've had a they've had a real big run at the All-American Yeah, the last two prior years. Right. The syndication is 150 shares, 100,000, so the horses is valued now at 15 million, and this is six weeks after we've paid a million dollars for him. He went as two trials for the All Americans at the fastest time. We get all the paperwork ready and we introduce the syndication and we're going to do it at the PCQ HRA cell out in California. It's about a week or so before the All American. How people are going to react. And so we go in there to sell, we leave that night, and we sell ten shares and we have two hundred thousand dollars worth of checks in our pocket. It was like crazy. And so we go back to Riyado and people are just lined up in the turf club, coming to our table, signing the contracts, leaving the checks. People are coming to our hotel, they're banging on the door, they want to share a special effort, you know, everybody can't get one, and it was just it was insane. Like I'd never seen anything like it before. So we sold all hundred shares. We were completely sold out, money collected, you know, like probably three or four days before the finals. Well, that weekend of the finals, two shareholders resold their shares that they'd given a hundred thousand for for a hundred and fifty thousand. So that put the value of the horse at a little over twenty-two million dollars. And he's still gotta win the race. So you know, I told Don, I mean if we don't win this race, we're sitting here in the turf club, all these shareholders were gonna be dead, you know. But of course, lucky for us, you won that warlink and you know, er everything was great.
SPEAKER_03Take us to that weekend, David. You know, like you were saying, you had all these people just falling all over themselves to give you guys money for the syndication, and and uh clearly there's he wasn't a sure when. Uh you know, he had had all those races up to that point before even getting into the starting gate on that rainy Labor Day weekend. Or so kind of talk to me about the pressure.
SPEAKER_17It rained as bad as I've ever seen it rain at Riyodosa. And I mean, the it it was just you couldn't walk across the track without it pulling your boot right off, you know, you stepping in the mud and he was in the tin hole the last one to load. And he he just I just never seen a horse ever run like him. I mean, it you have to used to go through two trials where you had to run first, second, or third in the one and then come back and do the time trials. And they would hold him in the first set of trials where there wasn't the time and he would come by the the stand and just be throwing his head back and forth and winning by three or four links trying to get away from the jockey, you know. You know, whenever he ran.
SPEAKER_03Right. After the win, there's the the big winter circle presentation. Well, really, they were all lined up along the rail is what the pictures looked like. It was completely just it was almost dark.
SPEAKER_17It was right, it was all it was it was dark, the thunderstorms and all that it was almost dark, and there are there really are hardly any good pictures, you know, of it because it was so the weather was so bad. But Don Tyner being the guy he was, a lot of people didn't know, but he did. There was uh I don't know if you remember the horse Ali Dar. There was a cult that was born in nineteen eighty one that was in Ali Dar's first crop and he was out of special efforts hire razor glass's mother. And so that made him a three-quarter brother to razor glass. And Don had already decided that that horse needed to come to Quarter Horses. And so in the next year we made a couple of trips back to Kentucky and went to Tom Gentries on the raised him and we went to his farm a couple of times, but we ended up he was in the Keeneland July cell and Don put together a group of people And they bought him for one point seven million out of the cell and brought him back. And he ended up not doing much for quarter horses, but he did turn into a really good cross on paint mares. And a lot of uh the paint runners now, you know, go back to him and his name is Special Image.
SPEAKER_03David, one of the things that I've always marveled with over the years of of knowing you and working for you is that you're you just you really love pedigrees and you have a very deep knowledge. You know, I'd I'd stack you up just about at the top of the list when it comes to knowing pedigrees and quarter horse racing industry. Of all the things that you could have really focused on in the quarter horse world, what was it about the pedigree and all the lineage that that really kind of drove you to the love of the sport?
SPEAKER_17Well, it was just it it seemed there were certain Marylands that were just prolific, you know, that they just all the daughters, the mother, the daughters, the sisters, the you know, they all seem to produce black type, you know, and it just always drew me, you know, to those families, and I would try to like figure out what makes one family do that where another one doesn't. You know, another family will have some big runners and several runners and stuff like that, but there's some families like you know, first down Dash's family and Corona Chick and stuff like that, that they're just different, you know, from you know, from the other mayors. And so I was just always interested in that and studying that. And of course after all these years I still haven't figured it out if that makes it work. You know. Yeah, when I was working for Don, you know, we sold a lot of mares in Urshals, but we sold them Passover and Lady Juno and Possum Jet and Stoaminga and Miss Thermal Arc and all these mayors. Well, a couple of mayors we sold them belonged to a guy named Ivan Ashman, who was real big in the quarter horse business. He owned a champion horse called town policy, but he was a potato farmer up in Idaho, that's where he made his money. But he also had a place in California and had a farm there. And so we had become friends when I worked for Don Tiner and sold mares for him. And so I ended up leaving Don Tyner, moving to California, and I lived there for a while and up in Washington and was just doing deals with Ivan. And one day he asked me, you know, what what I really wanted to do. And you know, I always loved when I worked at Speedhorse, and for some you know, crazy reason I said, I want to own a magazine. So we end up buying the quarter racing record he does in in Fort Worth, and I gotta work for him to run that. So I did that for about four years. The two guys at Track had worked at the quarter racing record and then started track and there was speedhorse and then there was the quarter weekly. So there was a lot, a lot of you know, magazines in the business. And so when I got out of that, I for a couple years I did sell catalogs. I did the Riadosa Select sale catalog for two years, I think, and I did the Phillips Ranch sale. And then I kind of just drifted out of the business for about ten years. I went to work for Computer Scientists Corporation. And that was really where I kind of got an MBA in business, you know, that I'd never had before. That's where I you know, I'd quit school, but I actually learned everything and all about business, computers, computer data, marketing sales, you know, everything at this this company. And I started out as a desktop publisher and worked up to a senior consultant, and I was over the company's annual sales meeting and marketing meeting and did all that.
SPEAKER_03David, before we exit the publication discussion, talk about the competitive nature of having four publications out there that are all going after the same advertisers. And in, you know, even like Quarter Racing Weekly, those guys were on a weekly basis, several of the publications, and including the Quarter Horse Racing Record, I believe it was a it was a monthly, is that correct?
SPEAKER_17Yeah, it was a monthly. And we actually started we had a stallion directory that was up against the Speedhorse Stallion Register for the couple of years that I was there.
SPEAKER_03Talk about the competitiveness of having four of them in the same market. It just makes my head spin thinking about it.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, it was because everybody was after the same dollar.
SPEAKER_03We were all calling the same people, and you know, it almost I mean, from somebody looking in 2026, knowing the market nowadays, David, and and looking back and saying somebody that was in the thick of things back then, it's almost sounds like it was overkill with four publications discussing the same race, the same Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_17I I don't know how how we did it and hats off to the guys that were able to gut it out and get, you know, Andy and Ben and because it was tough, you know. Um they stuck it out. And then of course a lot, you know, the first quarter racing journal also going into that.
SPEAKER_04Forgot about the journal. Yeah, yeah. So theoretically you had five publications going at it at the same time.
SPEAKER_03So, David, coming out of that position there in the computer world, you'd still kept the the your finger on the pulse of quarter horse racing. What led you or d drove you to the idea of of putting together a website where breeders could come and get more information about pedigrees?
SPEAKER_17Well, I I had you know continued to take the magazines and stuff, even though I kind of got out of the horse business over the years because I was still loved it and was interested in stuff. And then Jim Elser approached me about doing a website. He had J.E.H. Sighting Station in Pala Point, Texas, then and asked me if I could do a website for him. And so I was yeah, you know, so I kind of did that on the side. That's you know, computer sciences corporation was my main job, but I did that and then I ended up taking over all of his print advertising. So I done that for a couple of years, and that got me going back to the sales and stuff, and I got involved in a couple of I bought shares in Stoley and shares in the downside, and so I was kind of getting, you know, back in the horses. And one night it was in December, I got home from work and the Speedhorse Stallion Register for that year had come in the mail, and I opened it up and I'm sitting there and I'm flipping through it. And I'm just thinking to myself, you know, this data is already like a month old. I just thought about people like James Pruitt. I would watch him carry that stallion register around for a year and always refer back to it and pull information out of it. And I mean it was like his Bible. And I, you know, it was like, if you know, if you could figure out a way to update this information, you know, it would be great. And going to the cell going back to the sales and stuff, I'd run into a a woman, Susan Martin, who worked for the Jockey Club Information Systems in Lexington, and she was in charge of Quarter Horse Equine Line, you know, data. And so she and I had become pretty good friends from the computer courses and stuff like that. So I went to work the next day and I just called her at lunch and I said, Hey, you know, I've got this idea. I said, you know, do you think you guys could do something like that? And so she said, Let me talk to some people, I'll call you back. And so a couple days later she called me and she said, Yes, we could do it, but she said we need a business plan and if we approve your business plan, then you have to get H H's approval before we can even start the project. So the business plan, you know, that I had that thing out in forty eight hours, you know, from working at CSC, that was the easy part. And then getting approved by H H A was uh almost a year process. Luckily when I worked at Don Tyner, there was a girl that worked in records named Tammy, and she was one of those that I called and I'd get three horses and hang up and I'd call her back, and well she was now she took over Betty Nix's place, and she was now over all the records, and so she helped me kind of get in front of the right people and stuff. But the final push came, Mr. Helser got on the executive committee and helped me get it passed through before we turn the switch on.
SPEAKER_02And we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_03What can you say about the sire apolitical j streak at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma? Well, first off, he's bred to be a sire, meaning he's by the legendary apolitical jet of the restricted grade one winning mayor streak of Texas. And he's the full brother to Texas classic juvenile winner, a political streak. And apolitical j streak and for the finalist and the grade one. And the grade two third of thirty. And for your breeding plants for this upcoming year, take a look at eight political dates.
SPEAKER_02The grade one producing F D going ground, a perennial leading tire, Flying Cowboy 123, and all American finalists gonna be famous. Multiple states producing tire, part of the cartel, fifth and new for 2026. The grade one winner, just built that all this talent standing at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_03Hey, there seems to be a simple task that's accessed in its quarter horse racing game, and it starts by buying a yearling at either the Redo and the Mexico bread sale on August the 15th, or possibly the select yearling sale on September the 4th or the 5th. So make plans now and readout. It's a catalyst of where success begins.
SPEAKER_14All right. Back to the podcast.
SPEAKER_03When you did turn the switch on, you're talking about uh an industry that had done it a certain way for a long period of time, which means if they had the publications and then as mentioned, as soon as the next weekend of racing w has run, those that information is potentially outdated. You had had an industry that had done it the same way for so long. How did it really get to the point where people started buying into the the new idea of how to do it?
SPEAKER_17When it first started, the business plan was it was really just going to be an online stallion directory, you know, that the stallion information gets updated. And what I did is I went to all the big students, Butchwise LADE and Roboshows and Dr. Bloggett and everything, and I told them about my idea, and I said, if I was gonna do this, you know, would you guys support putting your stallions on there? And luckily got yeses, you know, from all of them. So that's kind of how you know started. I launched with all the big ranches on there, and then stallion owners began to call them and put their stains on. But I realized kind of quickly, I was like, you know, I need something to drive traffic where they come out there every day. And so I added news to the home page and I started just kind of putting up news stories about what was going on in the industry and stuff, and I got a little bit more traffic, and then I remembered back, you know, the days when I got the qualifiers list, and and even though we were this far in the future, those qualifiers lists still weren't that handy immediately after the trials, you know, for people, unless you were at the racetrack, you know, to know what they were. So I started doing the qualifiers by manually and posting them on there, and that really got people coming to the site. And then from that we got a news section, a racing section, a breeding section that I got with HHA, and we did a special section for the challenge, and then I started furnishing HHA with the qualifiers list links and all that kind of stuff. And it just kind of you know began to blow up, you know, overnight. And I had started this gig, it was gonna be a side deal for me because I loved my job at CSC, and now we're like two years down the road, and I've got to make a decision of what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna quit this job that I love and have security, and I'm fifty years old, and if this fails, who's gonna hire a fifty year old? Right. And but I like jumped off the cliff and it turned out uh really great.
SPEAKER_03So well then then progression-wise, you know, uh this is where my humor comes in. David used to say to me that before I came along into his life that he would just show up and go cash checks from the the mailbox, and then I went and complicated everything by and we incorporated video, we incorporated travel.
SPEAKER_17Yeah. I mean it was it was probably about five years. Yeah, I've done it by myself for about five years, and then you finally convinced me to hire you, which is one of the best decisions I ever made. Oh, oh, stop it. And so the two of us did it for, you know, I don't know how many years, and then luckily we got Lee Ann a couple of years ago, and she's made both of our lives better and the website better and more efficient, and you know, she's done a great job.
SPEAKER_03So without a doubt. We we both can say uh and plug Leanne Neguerra. We neither one of us would be willing to do it without Leanne now.
SPEAKER_17That's right. She's she's got uh both of us that we can't do anything without her.
SPEAKER_03We're too dependent on her. So going back to all the history that you have been able to witness and to kind of go along with, and you know, you're talking about somebody that was, you know, front row seat in the you would be going to the barn at Johnny Goodman's during the run of the Triple Crown and all. What are some of those moments in quarter horse racing history that kind of stand out for you, David, and being in the publication world?
SPEAKER_17Well, uh special effort's gotta be the graceful and the only triple crown, you know. So that that is probably the biggest thing I've witnessed. The it's a lot different now than it was back then. You know, I don't know if a lot of people remember there used to be two cells at Riadosa before Hubbard owned the track, you know, he had a group of people that they had, the Riadosa Select cell, and then there was the All-American cell, you know, that the track owned. And the Riadosa Select Cell, it weekend they would have their cell at a fashion show. They had i it was really they had a giant party. I mean, it was just, I don't know, a lot more glamorous, I guess, than it is nowadays or whatever. But you'd buy a horse the first year at the Riadosa Select Cell. When you bought a horse and they came for you to sign the ticket, there was also a girl standing there that had a split of champagne that she would pop the cork and pour it and give it to the new buyer and whoever, you know, was setting behind. So it was it was a lot of fun back then.
SPEAKER_03Would what would be the difference of the quality of the horses?
SPEAKER_17Would they would the is it just as it said, the select ones were these the Well the Select Cell actually, and I think Lowell was the guy working for him, would go out and inspect every horse that was going to go in the cell. And so in the first year or the first two years there, they had a guaranteed price of what your yearling, you know, if your yearling didn't bring a certain price, I can't remember what that price was, they would make up the difference if they allowed you to the horse in the cell.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Almost like an insurance policy.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, it was like an insurance policy. So it was quality, you know, like really, really the you know, the top yearlings were there. But then when Hubbard bought the track, they put the two cells back together, and of course, you know, now it's just off the chart. Again, going back to special effort, we left for Riadosa the day after the All-American on Urshals Jet. We flew to New York City and we met with the Barry family that owned Faberger, and Don put together the Faberger Special Effort Faturity, which was with Millie Vessels at Los Alamitas, the Faberger Company and the Ursals, and I think that was the first it was a two or three hundred thousand dollar added faturity when it first started. You know, back then there weren't any, you know, races that had that kind of added money. So that was exciting. Just the the prices of forces watching Dash and Folly sell, you know, at the Heritage Cell and Tempting Dash sell their, you know, just uh those those are the the Phillips when they had their dispersal cell, you know, Queen for Cash and Justin O love and Dashingley, they all sold in the same cell there. That cell was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_03The uh evolution of the quarter horse racing industry is is something you've also been able to witness. I mean, you if you go back and you've been listening here, the timeline of you is late 70s all the way to the modern day with about a a decade or so gap in there there where you kind of got out of the sport. Talk about really the the transition of how what it what it used to look like and what it kind of now looks like.
SPEAKER_17Well, uh when I started studying eSearch, I mean it's 20 years ago, the internet was still kind of new, especially the people out on the farm. You know, some of these farms that couldn't even get you know the internet out there, you know, they had to use that uh and broadband is what they're talking about. Broadband, yeah, that's what I'm looking for. You know, it was slow. And you know, so that that's one thing that is is changed, you know, tremendously is now we make sure that, you know, just almost every set of trials that there are within I would say fifteen minutes to thirty minutes, you know, we've got them posted on Stadium Esearch. You know, just how fast you can go there and get the information that you need.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Cell phone is is the the the game changer is a cell phone as well.
SPEAKER_17Yeah, so the cell phone's the same thing. It's it's game changer, and I don't know if this is the place to do it, but at the end of the summer we're gonna launch uh Stadium ESearch 2.0 that's gonna be on a whole new platform and we're gonna have a mobile capability that the stallion owners and people researching mayors and sell results and all that kind of stuff are gonna have it in their pocket in their cell phone. Besides the website being graded, there's gonna be more lists, more data, more research. It's just gonna be bigger and better, and it's all gonna be 100% mobile, you know, friendly.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's reluctant as I've been to announce that, David. So I guess this would be a great platform to do it on. Here's the warning it's coming. It is coming, and it it is big and it is as impressive as I don't think that David and I could take enough time to talk about just how impressive what is just about to hit the quarter horse racing world is how you need to new website that's going to be launching in the coming months, for sure. So David, one of the other things that you have to talk about is the progression of what we see in the future of almost every publication is also looking to do something electronically wise. The even the Monday report is becoming even way more automated and and way more futuristic and all. And the the advent of AI entering into the entire picture of of what our capabilities are as being able to promote stallions, because that's truly the basis of stallion e-search, is where as much as we like delivering the news.
SPEAKER_17Right. That's our core, you know, backbone is still the stallions are number one, you know, delivering the stallion information to the mare owners. And and that was, you know, when we started, uh we talked about the paid service, you know, but I wanted to make it where sta where mayor owners could go out there, and luckily the stallion owners supported it. They put that data out there so those mayor owners can go get the research they need, you know, to make a decision on what stallion they want to breed to.
SPEAKER_03And you know, I it it's been said to me, David, truly if you're serious about quarter horse racing breeding and and matching the proper stallion with your mare and making an educated and it truly is a guess. But making the most educated guess possible is the point. And you know, with that's that's truly what we're trying to to put out in front of there. The we're trying to give the information to the breeder to get out there and and make the best choice. And and not only make the best choice or to hopefully create the better runner, or really to create a higher price of that yearling going through this through the sales ring.
SPEAKER_17And that's the thing we have on Stalin East, not just the research for the stallions. We've got 12 years sales database where you can go pull all the sales data on everything, you know, mayors, see all of her babies, what they brought, stallions averages, see what the industry's done, you know, for the last you know, 10 or 12 years, you can you know look at the progression of what it's doing.
SPEAKER_03So, David, in closing, you've you've kind of putting your money where your mouth is for as it pertains to the industry of where you think it's going because you're putting out a new website in this year of 2026. Talk about your hopes in the future for not only the quarter horse racing industry, but also for us as a as a whole at stallionesearch.com.
SPEAKER_17Well, I mean, I think we're kind of at a crossroads right now in the quarter horse racing industry. I think we've got to get our act together. You know, it's been a great business for a long, long time, and I think it can continue to be a great business. If I didn't believe that, we wouldn't be making the investment that we are, you know, right now. I heard a long time ago somebody said you've got to be lucky, you know, in this horse business, but R.D. Hubbard told me he said you make your own luck. And so what we're trying to do is fit a product out there where you can do the research and everything and make your own luck by making the best decisions.
SPEAKER_03Well, David, I know this is outside of your comfort zone, and I uh I, for one, thank you for all that you've done for my career thus far, but also what you've done for the industry by really revolutionizing it by the way that people get data and the and absolutely the speed of which they actually can get information that they're looking to do, whether it uh is to breed to a mare or to buy a yearling to make the most educated guests as possible. So Thanks for what you've done to the for the industry and we absolutely thank you for getting on here on the Quarter Horse Racing Cost.
SPEAKER_17Well you're more than welcome, and I just want everybody to know without the support of all the stallion owners, we could never deliver what we're delivering to you, you know, to the people that get it all for free, and it's because we've got the support of all the stallion owners and the cell companies and you know people in the business, and we appreciate that more than anything. Thanks again, David.
SPEAKER_02And we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_14Brought to you by Purina Horse Nutrition. As Purina Horse Feed makes a difference, you can see. Go to Purinamills.com forward slash horsefeed to view all of their feed products for your equine investment. As you really will see the difference with Purina.
SPEAKER_02He's the number one third crop sire for 2026 going into mid-May. And he's Uncle D. The standout Grade One winner and Grade One producer is topping the standings with runners like recent multiple graded stakes winner Uncle Redheads. Standing in Roswell, New Mexico at Prestige Equine, he's Uncle D.
SPEAKER_12All right, back to the show.
SPEAKER_03All right, we're back here on Cool Horse Racing Talk Weekly Podcast and ready to jump into the stakes recap section. And let's go out to Louisiana at Delta Downs, the restricted grade two lassie futurity for over $300,000 for the accredited Louisiana bred two-year-old Philly going 330 yards. And here's the call from Don Stevens.
SPEAKER_18And they're off in the Lassie Futurity of Delta Downs. MCA Blue Cartel came away fast, but quicker yet. Gold ain't your color grabbing the lead, but here's MC Blue Cartel now accelerating to the front on the inside. RDD reasons for B. Ranging up on the outside. Mucho man shortstop. It is MC Blue Cartel in Alassie Futurity.
SPEAKER_19MC Blue Cartel is a two-year-old Philly by Carter's Cartel out of the Jess Louisiana Blue Mare, Miss Blue Corona. Read by Bottoms Up Racing, owned by Jaime Cardenas, trained by Josue Ponce, and ridden by Jorge Garcia.
SPEAKER_03Well, Alassie was on Friday night, and the boys took their turn on Saturday night in the restricted grade two Laddie Futurity, just shy of $300,000 at $297,000 in change. Accredited two-year-old Colts and Geldings going 330 yards there at Delta Downs. And here's the call from Don Stevens.
SPEAKER_18And they're off in the Laddie Futurity. Big break by a political Latino on the outside to take the early lead. In the middle, Vigilante is trying to catch up on the inside. Sharpa's image is involved. Then comes Trend Politico, but it's getting late, and Vigilante has a lead. Vigilante wins the Laddie Futurity.
SPEAKER_19Vigilante is a two-year-old gelding by Frey Train B out of the Just Good Candy Mare Lethal Candy. Read by Bobby Cox, owned by Renee Perez, trained by Josué Ponce, and written by Victor Yurieta Jr.
SPEAKER_03Lots of great qualifying action down in Houston this past weekend as the grade two Sam Houston Futurity trials took place. And here's the fastest qualifier coming out of those trials.
SPEAKER_21And they're on their way. Corona's first cowboy was out well. Bad boy one two three, quick off the mark. Soaring Lark 123 is also firmly in the mix. Down the center of the racetrack, Flying Party SC, the white outside emergence and nightlife. Corona's first cowboy is sparring with bad boy 123 and soaring Lark 123. Corona's first cowboy lunged on the wire, but bad boy 123 was right there as well.
SPEAKER_19Corona's First Cowboy is a two-year-old Colt by Flying Cowboy123 out of the Corona Cartel mare, Corona's First D.Va. Bred by Paragon Farms, owned by Antonio Mercado, trained by Mark Youngers and ridden by Luis Vavanco.
SPEAKER_03And we were able to get on the phone with former world champion trainer Mark Youngers to talk about the fastest qualifier going into the Sam Houston Faturity. All right, on the phone with trainer Mark Youngers. Mark, this horse Corona's first cowboy, this Colt ran a great race to qualify as the fastest coming out of the trials of the Sam Houston Faturity. Talk about this Colt's progression up to this point.
SPEAKER_16Well, every time we started him, he just seems to get better. He's now won three out of four starts. He got away a little tardy in the finals of the Texas Bread Factory, run fifth. But, you know, we were real real pleased how he ran. And we were a little apprehensive of uh coming back so quick for the trials for this man Houston, but he came back so well and just got a good way of training and you know, just come back feeling good buck and playing. So we went for it and uh he ran a heck of a race, you know, and off track. So we were real pleased.
SPEAKER_03Mark, good luck in the finals and hope to interview you there in the winner circle. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. The trials for the Sam Houston Derby, a grade three event for 400 yards for the three-year-olds, took place this past weekend at Sam Houston Race Park, and a California bread was the fastest coming out of those trials. And here's the call from track announcer Nick Tamaro.
SPEAKER_21Royalist is there chasing on the outside. Eagle on a June bug with Royalist in pursuit. Eagle on a June bug in front of length, Royalist with a final try. Eagle on a June bug, strike shortening. Royalist lunges to beat him. Royalist got him right on the wire.
SPEAKER_19Royalist is a three-year-old cult by Corona Cartel out of the one famous Eagle mare, Ziggfield Follies. Owned by Hector Reyna, read by Veronica Gale, trained by Ben Oliveson, and written by Louise Pavanko.
SPEAKER_03Now we head west to Albuquerque for the grade one Rio Dust of Futurity Trials. And the first day, the fastest qualifier coming out of that one comes out of the Jason Olmsted barn. And here's the call from track announcer Robert Fox.
SPEAKER_11Truman came away fast. Truman from let's see, right outside. Streamin' let's not eat here's an ask her to fly, the ask her to fly goes right on the asker to fly, AJ Invictus Flair, Truman fades, and there goes Strawberry Cowgirl in the third, ask her to fly, nominates.
SPEAKER_19Ask her to fly is a two-old filly by Flying Cowboy123 out of the Teller Cartel Mare asked the question. Written owned by Randy Gieselman, trained by Jason Olmsted, and written by Ramiro Garcia.
SPEAKER_03And I was able to get on the phone with former world champion trainer Jason Olmsted to talk about this talented Philly who came in as the fastest qualifier coming out of the first day. I on the phone with former world champion trainer Jason Olmsted. Jason had the fastest qualifier coming out of the first day of the Rados of Faturity trials. Jason talked to me about this talented Philly.
SPEAKER_10We were a little bit surprised. We really thought she would uh she was the kind of Philly that could compete out there in those sets of trials and stuff, but never dreamed that that uh she'd be good enough to go on and qualify, let alone be the fastest qualifier of her day. So pleasant surprise.
SPEAKER_03So certainly wasn't one that just completely showing all this amazing amount of talent ahead of time from like breaking her or anything like that.
SPEAKER_10Oh, I mean, all winter she was one that I mean she took everything in stride, went through the process great, uh, always worked nice. You know, I'm not gonna say she had us mouth watering, but we always thought she showed enough promise that she'd be competitive. Um, you know, but she just she's not very big. She's kind of a small filly, and jokingly, even when we got to the saddle on Podoc, the paddock identifier even asked where the rest of her was. He was making fun of her size. And then he came by and identified the one in the next trial, and he wasn't making fun of her anymore. I said, Yeah, small but mighty. But no, I mean she broke her maiden her second out at Remington in a main race. The race she ran that night is more of what we expected out of her running compared to 30 trial. She just the for her first out she ran like a horse that needed a race, and and it was what it was, it just didn't work out that night. But like I said, always showed promise, always thought she'd be competitive, but never dreamed about being the fastest qualifier of of our day to a grade one.
SPEAKER_03Day two, the fastest qualifier going into the Rio dose of security was a gelding out of the barn of Raymond Valario. And here's the call from track announcer Robert Fox.
SPEAKER_11Bit of an awkward start from my favorite 9-11. Fast from Highly Lethal today. Highly lethal came away good. Highly lethal now being chased by my golden boys, taking dating, trying to run them highly lethal, but no dice. Highly lethal from my golden boys.
SPEAKER_19Highly Lethal V is a two-year-old gilding by Apolitical Jess out of the Trace Ace Mare Lethal Glass, read and owned by Valeriana Racing Stables, trained by Raymond Valerio, and written by Francisco Calderon.
SPEAKER_03And I was able to get on the phone with former world champion jockey Francisco Calderon to talk about this gilding, who's the fastest overall qualifier going into this big grade one event. Alright, on the phone here with former world champion jockey, Francisco Calderon. Francisco, you had the fastest qualifier coming out of both days there in the Riados of Euturity talking to me about this talented runner.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, you know, Greg, he's a little he's got a little bit of attitude. We uh worked them at Albuquerque after they came back from Lozaleo. He had got a race over there. He ran a little green, and we worked him and he dropped me before we worked him. He worked pretty good, you know. Nothing nothing really like fast, but like just I felt like he could go down the track, and then but that day he he went in the gates and stood perfect, honestly. And he left there in front, and I got after him right away just so I could keep his attention. And I'll have to race, I really felt him running down through the track. Like I knew we were going fast, and I didn't honestly I did not expect that from him. And when I saw the time, I was I was really impressed. I I honestly was really impressed.
SPEAKER_03Well, Francisco, congratulations, and uh we hope the best for you going into the finals. Thanks so much, Greg. On the last day of trials, the three-year-olds took the main stage for the trials for the grade one Riyados Derby, which the final purse would be close to three-quarters of a million dollars. And coming out of the barn of trainer Wes Giles, another former QHA world champion trainer, was a Philly who topped the bill as the fastest qualifier. And here is the call from track announcer Robert Fox.
SPEAKER_11GF She's Sinful fast, and GF She's Sinful already has stamped herself to one debate. She's being chased by a political valer than Faust in a strung outfield, and here is GF She's Sinful, right mind, and a right finish.
SPEAKER_19GF She's Sinful is a three-year-old Philly by Dulce Santasha out of the Foos Mare BF Foos Rages. Owned by All-In Partners, read by Kevin Burrell, trained by Wes Giles, and written by Noe Garcia Jr.
SPEAKER_03We were able to get on the phone with Wes Giles to talk about the talented Philly who's the fastest qualifier going into the Riadosa Derby. All right, on the phone with trainer Wes Giles Wes, this horse GF She's Senful goes out, posts the fastest qualifying time going into the Riadosa Derby. Wes, talk to me about this Philly's progression up to this point.
SPEAKER_09You know, this Philly always showed talent last year, run a bang up good race in the Texas Classic trials last year, and just you know, had a terrible trip away from the gates, but been, you know, been training good all spring. Always thought she could run, you know, always she showed us last year she could run and she proved it again the other day.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Talk, kind of analyze that trial, if you will, Wes. What did you see from that trial?
SPEAKER_09Yeah, it looked like she broke good this time and just ran, you know. She just she's one that don't need a lot of encouragement to want to run. She likes to run. You know, just kind of does it easy.
SPEAKER_03Well, good luck in the finals, Wes, and we appreciate you getting on here at on the podcast. Oh, you're welcome. And that concludes the recap section here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly, and we'll be right back after these words from our sponsor.
SPEAKER_15Lipchip is calling all horsemen who are ready to bring their barn to the next level. Stop letting technology be your biggest enemy. Lipchip is built by horsemen or horsemen. We know how you ride. Hooflink system, powered by Lipchip, provides you peace of mind. Keeping track of horse identity, health documents, and horse performance. All stored securely right at the tip of your fingers. Even track daily temperatures with a swipe of a Bluetooth scanner. We make life at the barn a little easier. Head to Hooflink.com. Let her rip Lip Chip.
SPEAKER_03It's staggering just how many Grade One winners and champions come out of the Heritage Place Yearling Cell every year, and how you, the buyer, get a chance to be one of those people, owning one of those champions. This year, September 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th, there in Oklahoma City, is when the Heritage Place Quarterhorse Yearling Sale takes place. So reserve your hotels now, and we'll see you in Oklahoma City at Heritage Place, the place where champions are sold.
SPEAKER_12Alright, back to the show.
SPEAKER_19And we're back on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly for the race preview section. This week joining us is Yancy Guiman and Wyatt Hirschberger, both giving us different insights on this week's races at Remington Park. And the first quarter horse stakes race of the night is the Remington Park Distance Championship stakes for three-year-olds and up with a $50,000 purse.
SPEAKER_20Man, handing out Candy's the top 870 horse in the game right now. He's won six in a row. They've all been stakes races. He's two for two at Remington this year, so it's hard not to pick him on top.
SPEAKER_13I like the into the light. I I think that he has some improvement he can make right here. He's won his last three. He hasn't uh won any stakes races, but I think there's a lot of improvement there. Stacey hasn't fit very well, and I think it's uh gonna be a tough field overall. A lot of great horses in there.
SPEAKER_19Yes, I agree with both of you. I think it's definitely gonna be hard to beat the three handed out candy. And the next stakes race that we're gonna cover is the Juno's Request Stakes, a grade one, 400 yards for three-year-olds and up, a hundred thousand dollar purse. And my topic is gonna be Flying Bandita. She has won a stakes race already this year at Remington Park, the Daketta, a grade two event, and she just recently got beat by two great horses, Jay Spray Train and A Poly Revenge. I think she's gonna be tough in this field.
SPEAKER_20Yes, she's always super tough. Um, like you said, she ran won the decetta and she also ran second. The easy date. Jason Olmsted always has his horses ready to go. Uh, I like the horses to her inside, baby Ruth. Um this horse won the Speedhorse Derby last year, and then came back off of a layoff and won ran second in the decetta and won a nice allowance last time out.
SPEAKER_13I'm gonna go with the four Karma Lights trained by James Gonzalez by the Marfa Lites out of Cartel Karma, great mare. Uh Bread in Oklahoma by Paris Wixen. She's been a little off in her last three starts. Um, but looking back, she runs 400 yards uh extremely well. She she won the Texas Classic Oaks, uh, won her trial there, of course, won the All-American Oaks. Uh she loves to go the distance, and seeing as this race is 400 yards, I think uh she's the best my pick in this race.
SPEAKER_19I agree, Wyatt. She has not won a race in 2026, but I think she's due for a big win.
SPEAKER_13Another one I like in this field is the nine, catching Southern race. Um I like that she's on the outside of the track right here. We know uh Remington's been notorious for being on the outside being really good this year. Um Stacy has her fit very well. Um she's been in some big stakes races like this before, and I think that's a great opportunity for the nine as well.
SPEAKER_19And our next graded stakes race is the Heritage Place Oaks, a grade two event, going 400 yards for a purse of a little over $370,000. A horse that I have picked on top is the six, Toby Sis. She's six for seven in her lifetime star. She has three wins in a row, and she was also the winner of the two million dollar fraternity last year at Los Alamitos.
SPEAKER_20This horse has always been super, super impressive. Um she was off a five-month layoff coming into her trial, and that didn't look gonna bother her at all. She's gonna have to beat the one though in Emerald Bay. Um, it's hard not to like this horse. She's qualified to every Derby this year. She ran third in the Remington Park, ran second in uh Oklahoma, so with one more step forward, maybe she'll get the win in the heritage place.
SPEAKER_13Yeah, yeah, see, I agree with that. I'm gonna my pick's gonna be the one Emerald Bay. Um I love this Philly. She has a ton of grit. I actually got to be around her a little bit this last fall and winter when she was off, and um, she's not very big, and she doesn't care that she's she's smaller than the rest. And um, we've seen her run well on the inside as well. I think in her trial she she might have been in the one hole there, and it didn't affect her at all. She breaks hard and she has a ton of grit, a ton of try, and I expect to see her in the winner's circle uh once again.
SPEAKER_19I think another one that we can't count out just yet is the five. What is he? She has never been off the board. Um, eight starts, three wins, four seconds, and one third. I think that she's definitely gonna be a tough contender.
SPEAKER_20Yeah, she's the fastest qualifier going into the race, and it looks like she's kind of improving them. Last year it looks like she qualified for a lot of or ran good on a lot of the trial races, but didn't always qualify, but maybe as she matured a little bit, she'll be tough in the derby so I couldn't agree more.
SPEAKER_13It's uh a tough one to count out. It's a tough field of horses overall. Um it's gonna be hard to pick, but it's gonna be make for a great race, obviously.
SPEAKER_19My top pick is gonna be JC speeding. He's kind of been one of my favorite horses to watch in the last two years. Uh he's very consistent. He hits the board 100% of the time.
SPEAKER_13Yeah, I don't think you can count out JC speeding. I also like uh running next to him, the eight cyber blues. Um, we've seen this horse a lot. He's he ran great in Texas, he ran good here in Oklahoma as well. Uh he ran third against JC speeding as well as AJ's wingman. He was catching up to him there uh in uh his trial race, and I think I think this horse has a has something else that coming for him where this is gonna be his big win, I believe. Um he's been close numerous times in big grade one races, and I think this is his chance to get his big grade one win.
SPEAKER_20Yeah, I agree with both of you completely. Uh JC Speeding's definitely the horse to beat. He's super consistent, he's won seven out of eleven, but my long shot play was also Cyber Blues. Like you said, Wyatt, he's just one of those horses that have been knocking on the door but hasn't quite got the grade one win. But another horse that we have to talk about and we can't leave out is the one Louisiana man. Um this horse ran fourth in the Oklahoma Derby, comes back and runs first in his trial. Um he ran third last year in the Louisiana million. And he's another horse who's just always right there. I mean, if you look, he's won first, fourth, first, third, first, second. So another super tough race.
SPEAKER_19And now headed into one of my favorite divisions, the older horse division, the Debbie Schaff Remington Park Invitational Championship, going 440 yards. I think it's gonna be hard to you have to go with this horse. He's been running all year, toasting heroes.
SPEAKER_13A nice guilding by Valiant Hero. He has some some big stakes wins. Um, he's been running great in 2026 as well as last year. Um he knows how to run here at Remington Park. He ran all over in New Mexico. Um he's seen the seen the lights and he's proven that he can do it time and time again against some extremely tough horses. I mean, this entire field is just packed full of major horsepower, and so it's hard to pick just one of all of them. You have to look at in this race is the 11 hooked and gone, uh gunning by PYC Paint Your Wagon. He's ran against uh Toast and Heroes and Impressum this year. He ran third against those two, and uh, I think he has more enemies out there on the outside of the track where he likes to be, and I think that's a great place for him, and there's a lot of opportunity for for any horse in this field to be uh the winner.
SPEAKER_19I agree with you, Wyatt. He won this race last year with pretty high odds.
SPEAKER_20Yes, this race is always, you know, if you go you circle two or three eight races on the year of the best older horse races, this race is always one of them. Toasting Heroes, if he wins this race, he's pretty much stamped himself as the top older horse in the game right now. Um, hooked and gone's always right there. The one I like is the tan impressum. How can you not like this horse? He's super, super tough for the last five years. Uh he ran a super good second with two Toastin' Heroes last time out. He was really coming on on the end, just didn't have enough ground. But Impressum doesn't always break the best. So I think being out there on the outside, it'll help him a lot.
SPEAKER_19Another horse in this field just won the grade one Leo Stakes, and that's Church Spire. And we were able to get on the phone with trainer Marco Gutierrez to see what he had to say about this grade one winner.
SPEAKER_03Alright, on the phone with trainer Marco Gutierrez. Marco, this horse, of course, comes out of the big win of the grade one Leo Stakes. It's facing a lot of the same horses that you faced in there. Talk to me about how this horse has come out of the Leo Stakes and how he's been training up going into the finals here of the Debbie Shaf.
SPEAKER_08You know, he's been training really good. Um he's been cleaning up the feed bucket. Um, I feel a little bit more confident in him. I think he would he should perform well in the in the Debbie Shaf. He had a little bit more time from the Leo stakes to the to the championship, so that should help him out a bunch.
SPEAKER_20Another horse that we have to talk about is Stetson. Um he's kind of the up and comer for the Dean Fry barn. Uh he ran huge in the Remington Park Championship. He beat Shaker's No Secret and Jay's on fire. He was super good in Albuquerque last year, so he's another one that we can't leave off the list.
SPEAKER_19And we were able to get on the phone with trainer Dean Fry about this horse.
SPEAKER_03On the phone with trainer Dean Fry Dean, this horse is coming right out of the big race there at Remington and going right back into the Debbie Shawfits, kind of what you had also forecasted that it was your hope uh that you would end the the meet here going into this big grade one event. Talk to me about the progression of this horse from the time of winning the last race and until of course now.
SPEAKER_07Well, you know, the horse is coming along just like we want him, you know, uh training really good. I look at him every time we take him the track or we do something with him, and I I still think he's growing, he's turning into a really big individual. But he's happy. I think we're we're happy with the draw. It's an extremely strong field, but uh we're gonna take our best shot. We got a fresh horse.
SPEAKER_19And the last stakes race we're gonna talk about is the grade one Heritage Place Faturity, the $1.1 million race that we have been waiting for all meet long. And the one I have to talk about is Curl's favorite jet. I love this family. This mayor has produced millions of dollars. I a spit curl girl, uh, bred by Martin Stacy, and this Colt is undefeated on the year, so I think he's gonna be hard to beat in the seventh hole.
SPEAKER_13Yeah, I I agree, uh Bailey. That's uh a great pick, a really nice Colt. Uh ran great in his trial. I'm gonna look at the five in this race, Bet the Limit. Uh, that filly by Trey Sayse, um bred in Oklahoma by Flying Racing, owned by Lance Powers, James Gonzalez's training to five. I watched her in a trial race. She kind of stumbled at the break and got in a little bit of traffic and just gritted through it, and she ended up winning her trial a ton of grit on a very nice classy filly, and she was in the middle of the field in her trial and proved that she could do it uh there, and I expect nothing less from her here in the finals as well.
SPEAKER_20Yeah, why both of Gonzalez's horses looked really good to me on on trial night, at the limit, and fall classic. Fall Classic won his trial trial was super easy. He did have a big tailwind that night, but Kristen Cardanas qualified both of the horses, and he elects to stay on Fall Classic, so I really like that horse in this race. But all the way top to bottom, this field's kind of wide open. I think any one of these ten horses could win the race.
SPEAKER_19I agree.
SPEAKER_13Yeah, this is gonna be uh exciting night with a lot of really great horses. It's anybody's game.
SPEAKER_03All right, Bailey, that's all the time we have for another episode here of the Quarter Horse Racing Talk weekly podcast, and always great to get one week further down because that what that means is we're getting so closer to the bigger races during the summer.
SPEAKER_19Absolutely, Greg. It is gonna be a huge weekend at Rymmington Park on Saturday night, and we will have our first million-dollar race of the season.
SPEAKER_03That's right, the the big heritage place maturity, as well as numerous grade ones that weekend. So uh looking forward to being able to recap and getting some interviews from those folks going into that big racing weekend there at Rymington Park. And on behalf of StalineEsearch.com, I'm Greg Thompson.
SPEAKER_19And I'm Bailey Ivey.
SPEAKER_03We'll see you next week here on the number one quarter horse racing podcast in the entire world Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.