Kentucky Derby 152 Preview, Horse Draft & Picks to Win

Nick (00:03.63)
All right, y'all ready?

Nick (00:08.93)
We back, this is the height differential. I'm the 410 neck, we got the 660 and we also have the.

Matt (00:17.539)
Five, six, Matt.

Nick (00:18.882)
five six batteries right in the middle we got a residential horse racing expert for our derby episode hey I figure if we put three of us all together maybe we can get something right

Neil (00:21.573)
and lucky luck.

for.

Neil (00:29.679)
Well, it didn't work out very well for us three yesterday at the 5.0 Tuesday. Because we were texting back and forth, we were like, all right, I'm on the six, I'm on the 10. And the six, the 10, and whatever other numbers we decided to come up with are still running.

Nick (00:34.103)
I did not.

Nick (00:42.604)
Yeah, my confidence right now at the track is maybe at all time low. Along with my putting, we're just in shambles right now. But yeah, you're right. We were all three at 502's day yesterday. I hit one race. Matt, you said you hit three, two yesterday? Just one? And do you remember what you hit yesterday, Two? And then we're playing them all day again today. I hit another, was another one for...

Matt (01:00.783)
Three was today, one was yesterday.

Neil (01:06.287)
to.

Nick (01:11.98)
I told Matt I'm losing $50 a day. This ain't sustainable at this point.

Matt (01:19.373)
Yeah, today was better, but again, we're talking four to five, six to five, maybe a two to one. You know, it's really, really bankrolling here during the week.

Nick (01:29.472)
Yeah, we got the betbacks, but they're not even working for me half the time. but we'll go through the whole Derby field. We'll do a little Derby draft. Matt is a Patriots fan. We'll get in a little Mike Vrabel before we get him out of here. And then we'll, and I will talk a little Bengals draft. We'll some other crazy stories going on in the world of sports and not in the world of sports. But before we get started, if you're

Neil (01:47.033)
Hmm.

Nick (01:58.178)
Catching this later, make sure you subscribe to the Height Differential however you look to the pods. If you like it, rate and leave review. It helps more people find the show and follow us on at Height Differential on all social platforms. It's hard to believe that it's what tomorrow or it's almost May and the Derby is already on Saturday. It's just it's kind of crazy.

Neil (02:22.181)
It's usually how the calendar works, Nick, when it's almost May. May happens, it's the first day of May. It's usually how this works every year.

Nick (02:24.704)
It doesn't seem like it should already be derby day.

Matt (02:27.087)
You

I'll give him credit. It's not going to be derby like temperatures this weekend. It's going to be chilly. It's going to be chilly. Yeah.

Nick (02:33.72)
That is not in the fifties.

Neil (02:37.157)
Did he get down in the 50s?

Matt (02:40.975)
I think at, I think the high, alright 62, you got 62 for Oaks Day and then your high for Derby Day is 60 on the nose.

Neil (02:52.389)
If there's a little sunshine peeking through, I think fans will be alright.

Nick (02:55.502)
Well, it wasn't very warm yesterday, but our high like the temperature wasn't very very high yesterday, but it got warm in the Sun They get warm. So All right. We're go through the field. We'll go one through well now through 21 as we did get a scratch today and The great white gets in but uh, I guess we'll just start with Who is the favorite?

Neil (03:01.413)
to dig it.

Nick (03:24.588)
and drew the rail. What's y'all's opinions on Renegade, trained by Todd Pletcher, written by Irad. He was off at four to one. He's now, he's, what is this? He's now five to one.

Matt (03:38.511)
Five to one.

Neil (03:39.269)
He was 5 to 1 this afternoon. Yeah.

Matt (03:42.575)
I've got him up. He is currently the favorite at 5 to 1.

Neil (03:46.969)
Yeah, tough break being the favorite coming from the rail. The dreaded first post position that hasn't produced a winner since 1986. I mean, is it a big deal? Yes. Can they overcome it? Absolutely. They've got one of the best jockeys in the game, an Ired Ortiz and two-time derby-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. So if anybody's gonna be able to overcome being in the rail, it's gonna be those two guys.

Matt (04:13.099)
It's funny that Neil actually brings up iRat because iRat is one of my negatives with Renegade. Did you know iRat has never finished in the money in his nine derby starts?

Neil (04:17.515)
Nick (04:23.831)
which is wild because you're actually here, he's, yeah.

Neil (04:24.005)
interesting.

Matt (04:25.795)
He is one of the best, one of the best jockeys in the game, but he has never finished in the money at the Kentucky Derby, if you can think about that. So, but I think Renegade's probably the most talented horse. If you put them all up against each other, it's probably the most talented horse and his running style as a closer helps being at post one. It's just how far can he get around? Is he gonna be too far back? How far is the pace? But I-Rad is not necessarily a good thing and.

Neil (04:32.229)
That's crazy. That is crazy.

Matt (04:53.975)
Might be some Twitter trolls, but there are some people talking about that renegade might be a little hurt, little hind leg injury potentially.

Nick (05:01.453)
Yeah, I mean, you just never know with that stuff. I mean, somebody else is probably going to scratch out of this race before Saturday. they talk about the Puma potentially having an injury too. We'll get into him a little bit later. Another thing with I-Rad, I think, which is a positive for Renegade, is he chose Renegade over Commandment, over Further Ado, and over Full Effort.

Matt (05:09.487)
Mm.

Neil (05:26.341)
He did.

Nick (05:28.973)
I when you got the top jockey picking this horse over four really horses, I think could be contenders. I think that's a pretty big positive. We talked about the rail. The rail is now different. Now that they've changed the gate after COVID, they're not as smashed up against it as they used to be. And then Matt, you mentioned it. I think his running style doesn't, it's going to be not as disadvantageous as it could be for other people or other horses because he doesn't want to get out front. So.

He's gonna be chilling there in the back trying to make a run late and our ad's decision will be do I want to try to stay on the rail and make the run or do I go really wide and try to make the run that way. So we said we're gonna do win contender, super try contender or no chance toss. Where are you all on Renegade?

Neil (06:22.613)
put him in that win contender category. I think obviously he's a favorite for a reason. So put him in that win contender.

Matt (06:29.859)
I would concur. He is my final horse in my win contender bracket.

Nick (06:36.961)
The here's I like we said that the rail doesn't matter as much, but I still think it's a negative. And he's probably going to be the favorite or he's going to be close. So and I don't necessarily love closers in the derby. I think things got to go. Everything's got to go right for it to work. I am not putting him in no chance toss, but I've got renegade more in my second tier for super for tri supers.

Then we get to the horse in the two hole Albus, trained by Riley Mott in his first derby. Manny Franco's aboard. Your all starts on Albus.

Neil (07:16.837)
Dummy's coming off the Wood Memorial. He came from eighth to win the Wood. But his final time wasn't exactly impressive. He was pretty slow in that race, one minute, 51 seconds. Like you said, it's Riley Motts' first derby as a trainer. Manuel Franco's 0-6 in the derby. mean, the jockey, Jaime Torres, that rode him in the Wood isn't even going to ride him. I mean, he's riding incredible. So new jockey, inexperienced trainer.

slower horror. mean he did what he won. He said he won the wood, but not very impressive. I'm throwing him out.

Matt (07:54.317)
Yeah, I'm also throwing him out or whatever our farthest category is. The only thing you need to take from the Wood Memorial was that the whatever their Phillies race is, their Oaks equivalent, the final time in the Oaks race was faster than the Wood Memorial. So the girls ran faster than the boys in that one. So I don't know if that's going to help our boy Albus here on the first Saturday in May.

Nick (08:18.797)
Well, and I think his speed figures are, he's as slow as anybody in this race. And since 2004, there have been 58 horses that have run in the Derby that have had at least one prep race in New York. And of those 58, only one has finished in the top three.

Matt (08:36.269)
What's the one?

Nick (08:36.589)
So Revolutionary 2013. Yeah, this is a pure no chance toss on Albus. Sorry for all you Albus supporters. In the three-hole, Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, ridden by Hector Barrios. What y'all got?

Neil (09:01.061)
This was an interesting one. He's kinda inconsistent. He's posted some fast times, but he finished fourth in Santa Anita. He's posted four solid speed figures in April. He had the fastest five furlong workout at Churchill since any derby contenders since 2012. So he's got some speed there. He's got potential, but he just hasn't had the results that come with winning.

Matt (09:28.525)
Yeah, I think Intrepid-O is going to factor more into how fast this race starts rather than how it's actually going to finish. If it gets up, mean, cause him and Litmus tests are right next to each other. They're both going to go. And I think if they really both get going, I think it's going to make more of a bigger impact on how quickly the speed falls apart or if it doesn't get out to a fast pace. But I don't think it's got enough to make it all the way around to factor into any of the

you know, super effective, et cetera.

Nick (10:00.939)
I think distance is a major concern for this horse also as well. So even if he gets out top, I don't see how he can hang in for that mile and a quarter. And I have in trap pedo as a no chance.

Bob Baffert in the Derby with Lipmus Test in the 4-hole ridden by Martin Garcia. Matt, we'll let you start on this one.

Matt (10:26.455)
as you're going to find out, I'm kind of down on California racing this year. Now lit, now litmus litmus test of the super fast early speed figure guys. He's probably the one that I think has the best chance at potentially making it into your trifecta super effect is if he can hold the pace, he's going to be, if not first in the top two or three for majority of this race.

Nick (10:32.375)
I think a lot of people are.

Matt (10:53.421)
I just don't know if he's got the stamina to hold onto it the whole time. And they're, you know, adding blinkers, which again, can be a pro, could be a con, you know, depends on how you shake it. But I would say litmus test of the California ones is probably the semi highest one I'm on, but still, I don't think it's going to affect the exactus or superfectus.

Nick (11:16.557)
Yeah. I hadn't heard that they're adding blinkers.

Matt (11:21.391)
According to Twin Spires, says, may improve with blinkers added today. So this might've been a today news dump as of Wednesday at whatever time we're recording this.

Nick (11:31.435)
Normally I would say equipment changes leading up into the derby, not a positive.

Neil (11:35.043)
Not a good sign, not a good sign. Yeah, I'm throwing him in the no chance category. I he finished seventh in the Arkansas Derby. He's lost five of his last six since winning his debut. Just, we're talking equipment changes three days before the Derby. Get him out. I mean, only positive he is, he is the offspring of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. So he does have a decent pedigree, but no, this horse has no chance. He's out.

Matt (11:36.141)
Nug.

Nick (11:59.918)
I mean, and he's coming off the Los Alamitos of futurity. So it's not like he's coming off one of the bigger races. You talked about California. Since Baffert's was disqualified, since that race, only one California horse has hit the board on Derby Day. And that was journalism last year. He could get out front, but I just don't see him being a factor at the end. Just like you guys, I went no chance with Lipman's test.

Into the five hole, right to party, Kenny McPeak back in the derby, Chris Elliott aboard. Finished second to Albus in the wood. What y'all got?

Matt (12:42.317)
I mean, I didn't like Albus because of how it finished in this wood and it finished farther behind Albus in the wood. everything that I said about the wood translates to this horse as well. I'm throwing it out.

Neil (12:53.113)
Yeah, I love, I love Kenny McPeak as a trainer, but this horse is duty. Like he's, he, I mean, we talked about how bad the wood was and like you said, he came in second in the wood to Albus. He's never raced anywhere outside of aqueduct. He's also a closing horse, which we talked about, you know, it's not, they didn't really ever win the Derby very often. Like you said, it has to be a perfect thing and this course has no chance. He's out. No chance.

Nick (13:20.013)
Speed figures are not good. He's never won a stake race. One of the cool things is that Chris Elliott, 19 year old, first time derby jockey, pretty cool. I don't think they'll be celebrating it afterwards. They're not going to be put the roses on. Look, look, Kenny McPink, he's proven that he can do it with longer shots. He did it with Mystic Dan a couple of years ago. This horse does not have the talent that Mystic Dan did.

Nick (13:48.418)
We get to the 6-0 Commandment, training one of Brad Cox's three horses, ridden by Luis Sias. He has won four of his five starts. Neil, your thoughts on Commandment?

Neil (14:03.225)
Yeah, and when I looked earlier, he was the co-fourth choice, the seven to one, so decent odds. Coming off the win at the Florida Derby, one issue is Luis Saez has never ridden him. This is first mount as the jockey on that horse. Flavian Pratt rode him in the Florida Derby, and we talked about Ired Ortiz, who'd been on him before, is on a different horse. He's on Renegade, and Pratt's riding Emerging Market. So, new jockey, Saez is 0-12 in the Derby. Brad Cox, 1-12 is the trainer, and the Derby is only win with

with Mandeloon, I like him. I put him in my win contenders category because he is coming off that Florida Derby, which is the big prep race and beating other contenders like the Puma and Chief Wallaby. So he's beaten quality competition in these prep races. So there's no reason to doubt him. I'll put him in that win contender category.

Matt (14:57.315)
would agree. I think of the big, if you want to call it the big three of your, your favorites or co-favorites, Commandment has done exactly what you've asked it of this year. Three of three this year and has competed in the Florida prep races, which I would argue is probably the toughest of all the prep races that we've had. So it's beat, he's beaten chief Wallaby, he's beaten the Puma. So I mean, if you're talking about, I think Commandment of your higher end forces has the lowest floor.

Neil (15:14.597)
I would agree with that, yes.

Matt (15:27.415)
I think he's been very consistent in each all of his works. So you have a good idea of what you're going to get with him. The only negative in my opinion is what you brought up. I read chose to not mount him. He was a jockey before chose not to go with him. I don't know if there's anything reading between the lines there, but. That would be my.

Neil (15:39.237)
Mm-hmm.

Neil (15:46.757)
Did they give Flavian Pratt the option to ride him and did he turn it down too? That's interesting.

Nick (15:50.295)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt (15:55.693)
Yeah. So that would be my only negative is two of the best jockeys in the world decided, actively chose not to ride him after they've won on him in stakes races.

Nick (16:05.151)
And look, I read in Flavian both ride for Brad Cox quite a bit. All right. Right. And then Flavian picks emerging market who's he's riding for Chad Brown. I think that is a negative, but there's a lot of positives here too. You talked about winning the Florida Derby. Florida Derby has produced seven in the last 20 winners, 20 Derby winners. He mirrored sovereignty's exact path from last year. It's just.

Luis Sias has not had a ton of success in the Derby, fourth is his best ever finish. But the consistency of this horse makes me put him in my win contenders category and he's competing for my top pick.

Nick (16:56.289)
Danan Burman, the Japanese horse was actually... Danan Burman?

Neil (17:00.453)
What did you just call him?

bourbon okay yeah I don't think you said bourbon I don't know what word came out of your mouth yeah I don't know what word came out of your mouth but it

Matt (17:07.503)
I think there was a, I think there was a burning. I think there was more burning than burning.

Nick (17:07.703)
What?

Well, I think I was looking at the trainer and the jockey like already seeing if I'm gonna pronounce those correctly or incorrectly and it might have screwed up my bourbon

Neil (17:19.235)
Yeah, don't even try though. I wouldn't even go there. Just leave those alone. Leave those alone.

Matt (17:20.633)
Just say you can find the jockey name and the trainer name on twinspires.com.

Nick (17:28.201)
Right. I do not have a pronunciation guide here, so we're going to leave that alone. Japanese horse butt Kentucky bread with Churchill bloodlines. Could this be the first Japanese horse to win the derby?

Neil (17:43.129)
I mean he's undefeated. He's undefeated in his life. He's three for three and he's won all three of his races by combined over 18 lengths. I did read an interesting, he's never run on a left-handed track. He's been running right his whole life. So he might get confused when the gates open on Saturday, but hopefully he runs the right direction. But I kind of like this horse. He's not quite in my win contenders category, but I've got him in the second tier in my tri super picks. I think this horse...

is quality. think he's very quality. you know there's Japanese horses of not, I they're 0 for 20 in like the last 20, since 2000, 0 for, I mean they're 0 for a lot, 0 for 20 I think since Group H. They are getting closer. Who was it last year that came in top 4 wasn't it?

Nick (18:25.943)
We keep getting closer though.

Matt (18:32.333)
Was it a Luxor Cafe? No, Forever Young? Forever Young? Forever Young, Forever Young.

Neil (18:34.597)
Somebody else. Forever Young, Forever Young, yes, yeah, yeah. So they are getting closer. I don't think this is the horse that's gonna break the root, but I've got him in some super and tri picks.

Nick (18:35.703)
Bye for now.

Matt (18:45.943)
Yeah, Forever Young is probably my benchmark of how close can a Japanese horse get. And I don't think Forever Young, I don't think Denon Bourbon is up to Forever Young's category. And my biggest thing is obviously we can't read into too much of the Japanese races, but of his three races, he gets the perfect trip every time, doesn't get challenged, doesn't get, he just goes. Which means he could be a really good horse or he just hasn't been challenged. And when you're going up against 160s.

thousand fans and 19 other horses, probably not a good time to be pressed for the first time. So I'm out on Denon Bourbon.

Nick (19:23.681)
Yeah, and you're right. Like we just don't know that much about his competition and like they don't have speed figures for him. Like they try to put them together like the equivalent of what they would be. But how true to form are those numbers? Like we had so much hype with Forever Young last year. I just don't feel like we have that same hype with with De'non Bourbon. Him going left for the first time, I think is a huge issue. I think being in a gate with 19 other horses is a huge issue.

His max he's from maxfield who wasn't really a distance runner only ran a mile and a quarter once and finished third as a short price favorite in that race So, I don't know if he can go the distance At I mean he's going to be less than 21 20 to 1 I think and at that point i'm this is he's a toss for me

Matt (20:13.581)
mean, right now he's 14 to 1. And I know that they said that don't look into the market too much until you hit Friday. But the fact that it's getting back down to 14 to 1 right now is a little concern.

Nick (20:24.576)
And at that number, I really don't want anything to do with it, to be honest with you.

Neil (20:24.581)
If he gets out front, he's a front runner. If he can get out front and get in front of these horses and just run, I think he's got a chance.

Matt (20:29.647)
Yeah.

Nick (20:33.878)
But if he gets out front, is he gonna go the wrong way?

Neil (20:36.165)
I think he's been training. I think he's trained enough to go left in the last couple of weeks that maybe he's got to figure it out by now. But if he can get out front, think he can potentially pull an upset.

Matt (20:37.807)
The fact that he's never...

Nick (20:50.494)
So we get so happy, trained by Mark Latt, written by the almost 60 year old Mike Smith.

Mike Glatt, this is his first ever derby. As a trainer, just lost his wife really recently. So there's gonna be a lot of people betting on him because of that story, pulling on the heartstrings. Just a really tragic story. Y'all's thoughts on So Happy.

Matt (21:20.249)
Go ahead, Neil.

Neil (21:22.085)
I mean, he's, of this afternoon, he was the co-fourth choice at seven to one, same odds as Commandment. I don't think he's nearly quite as good as Commandment. What did he do? He won the Santa Anita Derby as an upset pick at seven to one. Like you mentioned, it's Mike Smith on the mount, who's two for 28 in Derby. He does have wins with Giacomo and Justify. So he's a seasoned jockey, which is a plus. Like you said, first Derby for Mike Glatt or Mark Glatt. I don't know, I'm not sold on this horse.

I've got him in my toss category even at seven to one. I just don't think he's the quality of some of these others.

Nick (21:56.769)
Well, I think that 701 makes you put him in the toss category.

Matt (22:02.169)
yeah, I feel for Mark for what he has, what he went through, but I'm happy that he finally has his Derby horse. I am also out on the horse and it's the one that I'm completely avoiding. So if you're asked me, what's the one horse that can screw up everything that I'm planning on Saturday, it's so happy. So I hope Mark Glad has a wonderful time. I just hope so happy goes nowhere near the top four.

Neil (22:28.389)
I would agree with that.

Nick (22:28.534)
Well, but I do look at this horse, he's one three of four. His speed figures are not that bad. He has 200 brisnets, which I mean, it shows that you can be consistently fast. My concern with him is if he's seven to one, I just think that number is way too high. And he's a run happy, so which was a, he was a pure sprinter.

Matt (22:32.814)
Mm-hmm.

Neil (22:50.735)
way to us.

Nick (22:56.15)
So you also question if he can get the mile and a quarter. at 15 to one, at 20 to one, I may be considering him as a win try or like a show try candidate. But if he's already being bent down seven to one and he's gonna continually be bet because of the story behind this horse, I think if he's a seven to one, I think I've got to toss him. And if he beats me, he beats me.

Neil (22:56.313)
Yes. Stamina, yep.

Matt (23:22.679)
right. If looking at it right now, he is six to one in commandments, seven to one. I guarantee you if you ask 10 people, commandment or so happy, everyone's going to say commandment.

Neil (23:27.663)
God, you got that done even further. Good lord.

Neil (23:35.461)
thousand times. Not even close. Yes. 100%.

Nick (23:35.808)
Yes. And I would like, give me that. Give me that.

Matt (23:38.887)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, keep, keep betting so happy folks. You put your money in, do what you need to do. Keep doing that. We appreciate you.

Nick (23:49.163)
We move on to the Puma, trained by Gustavo Delgado, written by Javier Castellano. Neil, your thoughts on the Puma?

Neil (24:00.653)
I love the Puma. I'm putting him in my win contenders category. This afternoon he was co-second choice at 6-1 with Javier Castellano, seasoned jockey on him. Who with the trainer Gustavo Delgado, they were the combo that won on mage. So those two were back together to try to win another derby. He finished second in the Florida Derby by a nose, the commandment, who we just talked about being one of the best horses in the field.

One problem, it's his fifth race in the last four months, so he's been run a lot. So I don't know if that's gonna wear on him or not in a horse race like this with the Derby and all that it takes. But big on the Puma, think he's a great horse. I'm putting him in my win contenders category.

Matt (24:51.526)
So I have the Puma in my underlays. I have him in the next year over. I mean, if you look at his stats, he's four starts, he's been in the money every single time, only one win, but again, impressive Tampa Bay downs. I just think that with him, he's done really well. It's a lot of talk. You're gonna hear this a lot. I've been telling you guys this. There's a wise guy horse in this field. There might be two.

It's the Puma or Chief Wallaby. It could be both of them. I feel like when betting opened yesterday and the Puma went to the immediate favorite, I think that shows you a lot of people are talking about them. A lot of people putting money on them, which could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. I'm choosing to take it the other way. I think it's still gonna finish within the top four, top five, top six, because it's been there until career, but I am having it in my second category.

Nick (25:45.719)
You know, one issue with me then I've tried as I've, you know, got more into betting is not attaching yourself to a horse that you bet previously, right? Just because of that. And I bet the Puma in the Florida Derby and he just got snapped with the wire. I mean, he ran a really good race. So I'm trying to talk myself out of that, just betting him just because I've bet him previously. But two of last three Derby winners have finished second in the Florida Derby.

And the last five Kentucky Derby winners did not win their final prep race. So if you're looking for somebody who didn't win, became maybe second or third, I think he's probably at the top of that list. Mage and Sovereignty both finished second in the Florida Derby before winning. I don't know, I do like this horse and I think I've got to keep him as a win contender.

And I'm just wondering if it's because I'm being loyal to him or do I really like him? If that makes sense.

Matt (26:50.361)
He is first in my second tier. He's like the top of my second tier category. There'll be some plays that I have where I have him in the win, but I am trending him to be in that place show category.

Nick (27:06.324)
And Neil talked about how he's raced, what, four times since January. He's one of the few horses that didn't race as a two-year-old. So still relatively new to racing because he didn't race as a two-year-old. We move on to, I'm also not going to pronounce this trainer or this jockey. Wonderdine. Wonderdine.

Matt (27:27.631)
You can find him on twinsfires.com.

Nick (27:33.662)
Matt, what do you have?

Matt (27:35.961)
Same thing I said about Danan Burbin. This is probably the less talented of the two, so my thoughts are the same. am tossing Wondredine out. Hopefully he enjoyed his trip to the States.

Neil (27:49.027)
Yeah, I would agree. I've got Wunderdien in the no chance category. He did win the UAE Derby, but that doesn't really mean much since the UAE Derby winners are 0 for 21 since 2000. as Matt said, enjoy the States. He's been here since April 1st, so he's been here a while to get accustomed to Churchill. But no, he's the lesser of the two Japanese horses. No chance, no chance.

Nick (28:16.448)
Yeah, for 20 and the only one to crack the Superfecta is Forever Young. So not only have they not won, but they have not finished in the money very often. It's a clear no chance for me. Just pretty simple. Incredible Raleigh Mott's second horse, ridden by Jaime Torres. Of the two Raleigh Mott's, do you think this is the better horse than Albus? I do, but do y'all think he has a chance?

Matt (28:48.983)
I am higher than most on Incredible. I think that, I know that the Virginia Derby wasn't the best field in the world, I get that, don't get me wrong. But it looked really impressive, really kind of pushed in, ran away with it. I really liked what I saw there. And he is two for two at Churchill. There are only a couple of horses that have actually won at Churchill. He's the only horse that won two races at Churchill, so he's comfortable with the track. Now...

Are those races with 160,000 people in the stands? No. But at least he's comfortable, familiar with it. You're going to get a really good price on him right now. He's 37 to one. I think I locked him in at 25 to one at one of the future wagers back in April. I think of the long, this is my longer shot that I will play in the end of the bottoms of your superfectus trifectus. And I've got a little stake to win.

Neil (29:42.341)
What are the odds now? I saw them at 37 to 1 earlier today. that still?

Matt (29:46.543)
37 to 1 right now, so you can say I got a bad deal on the 25 to 1, but it'll you know, it'll work itself out

Neil (29:53.093)
I'm not sold on him. I've got him in not in my worst, you not in the no chance category But he's in the toss category for me. I know he did win the Virginia Derby But I mean what's the field of the Virginia Derby, you know? Like just looking at who came in the morning that and there's no Derby horses in that one prior to that He lost by 25 links in the Holy Bowl. He is two for two at Churchill As Matt mentioned and he did win the Street Sent Stakes, which is the race that sovereignty won the year before he won the Derby so

Nick (30:06.389)
it's.

Neil (30:21.667)
He does have that going for him, the familiarity in the winning at Churchill, but when you lose by 25 lengths right before you win the Virginia Derby, that's an alarm for me. Plus, he's coming off a seven week layoff, so he hasn't raced in a long time, probably longer than anybody in the field. So he's got to get it ramped back up. I don't see it. I've got him in the toss category.

Nick (30:43.052)
Like the Holy Bull, like, is just unexplainable how bad he was that day. Like, and to me that's a giant red flag. If he's not two for two at Churchill, there's no way I'm even looking at the sword. And I just, I think Matt's kind of dealing with his little loyalty thing that I'm dealing with, with the Puma a little bit on incredible. But I...

Neil (30:47.865)
Yeah.

Neil (30:55.395)
Yes. Considering. Correct.

Nick (31:12.935)
I just, I can't get over the holy bull.

Matt (31:16.611)
I mean, the bad part is I didn't.

Neil (31:16.837)
25 links is incredible.

Nick (31:20.076)
And he had no excuses for it.

Matt (31:20.303)
I didn't even bet him in the Virginia Derby. I forgot who I bet. didn't bet him, but I was like, man, this horse is good. So I don't know. It's the long shot that I believe in the most. Is it gonna do anything? Probably not, but you never know.

Nick (31:35.594)
But if you like him a little bit, then the 37 to one price is worth taking a shot on.

Matt (31:40.55)
yeah. yeah. I'll, I'll.

Nick (31:45.452)
I'm tossing it.

Nick (31:49.773)
We move on to Chief Wallaby. You got Bill Mott and Junior Alvarado trying to win back to back derbies. It's only happened once, I think, in the history of derby where a jockey trainer combo has won in back to back years. Neil, your thoughts on Chief Wallaby.

Neil (32:09.957)
When I looked earlier, he's a 13 to one. I love that absolute value right there. Cause I have him as one of my final win, probably he's the final horse that we've talked about in my win contenders category. Like I know he finished third in the Florida Derby behind the Pumlin Commandment and he finished second to commandment in the Fountain of Youth as well. So he has not overcome some of these other top horses yet. But Bill Mott talked about in the Florida Derby how he thought his horse lost focus.

He is also going with blinders and in his workouts, they seem to have affected him in a positive way. He's running some good workouts with these blinders on. Maybe that's what he needs to get over that hump. We'll see. But at 13 to one, absolute value, book it, put him in the win category.

Matt (32:57.977)
I could not agree more. If we can get Chief Wallaby in double digit odds at post time at seven o'clock on Saturday, that'll be fantastic. I think I will get with the negatives first. Has not won a stakes race, as Neil mentioned, lost Fountain Youth, lost the Florida Derby. The positive about the Florida Derby is I think he had the route, worst race of the three of them. He really had to battle, got stuck inside, had to come out and still finish third in a really

slower paced race. So I think that was positive and adding the blinkers because if you watch the end of, I think it was the end of the fountain youth, he's kind of looking off, looking off and it might've been the reason why commandment got him. So hopefully the blinkers will help. And like Neil said, the value. mean, if you're going to get, even if you get him eight, nine to one, I think it's got the same amount of potential as commandment and renegade. So he is in my winner category as well.

Nick (33:57.9)
So there's two red flags with this horse that knock him down for me. And you mentioned the fact he hasn't won a stakes race. How are you going win the Derby if you haven't proven that you can win a stakes race? And the blinker. Do what? Yeah, he won the Jeff. He finished only no horse. What were the numbers that I saw?

Neil (34:11.567)
Did Red Strike win a snakes race?

Matt (34:15.055)
Mm-mm.

Neil (34:15.309)
risk for

Matt (34:21.903)
Nick (34:25.715)
Rich Wright didn't win the Ruby, right?

Neil (34:27.909)
I don't think wrist strike won anything, he might have, but I mean that horse was... It went no damn way, hell no.

Matt (34:31.577)
There's no way Richstrike won a steak race.

Nick (34:35.616)
But nobody was picking Rich Track to win. Well, I will give you another one. And the equipment change, I think, is a big red flag. And no horse in 25 years has added blinkers and hit the track. So you add those two things together.

Neil (34:37.303)
I'm just saying, it is possible, Nicholas. It is possible.

Matt (34:40.783)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (34:54.572)
And I don't think he's gonna go off, would you all say he's 13 to 1 now? I think he's gonna go off to closer to what he was in the opening line around that 8 to 1 number.

Neil (34:57.935)
Yes.

Matt (34:58.255)
13 to one.

Matt (35:04.751)
Still a good number.

Nick (35:06.934)
But also you have to toss some horses that a lot of people are going to pick to win. And I just look at, yep.

Neil (35:13.157)
Toss him? You're tossing him completely. well, yikes. No wonder you've only won one race in two days.

Nick (35:20.886)
Well, I'm not very good at this, but... Dude, I just think those two things stand out.

Neil (35:25.327)
Okay. But what the blinders help?

Nick (35:29.088)
Well, it's a unknown and like you don't see this happening very often where you get equipment changes going to the Derby. And to me, you're trying to find something. The fact that he hasn't won a stakes range previously. I just don't see the Derby being his first stakes win.

Matt (35:45.475)
Yeah, well, to be fair, it's only race four for him. He did not get raced as a two-year-old. So you can take that on the positive end. You can take that on the negative end. He's lightly raced, but he seems to be getting better each and every time he's out there. So that's how I'm going to take it with him. But again, that could be a negative, not winning a stakes race and not really getting raced much.

Nick (36:04.051)
Yeah. Solid tactic scratched earlier today. Then we move in to Bob Baffert's second horse Potente, written by Juan Hernandez. Matt, your thoughts on Potente.

Matt (36:18.543)
I am, I'm tossing him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets slot four, you know, he can finish fourth. It's got speed. Baffert's probably going to send him. He'll be up there with litmus test with Intrepido and they're going to be setting the pace. It's just how long can he hold on for? And again, all my comments, California racing just continue. So toss, but I could see him finishing third.

Neil (36:48.101)
Yeah, he's in my toss category as well. He might be worth a long shot sprinkle on there if you want to throw little money at him. had the odds I saw this afternoon were 28 to one. As Matt mentioned, he's a speed pace setter, so he's going to get out there. He's just going to try to run and run fast. He probably will run out of gas. He's got really weak late pace figures, but he probably will run out of gas. But in case he doesn't, it's worth maybe a $2 bet on him just to see if

Maybe he doesn't, he finds that extra gear late and somehow miraculously wins the thing. I mean, he did win the San Felipe Stakes. He has beaten So Happy in the past and then So Happy came and got him back again in the San Anita Derby as Potente reigns second. He's in the toss category, but he's worth maybe a sprinkle of some money on him.

Nick (37:39.709)
look at like, are we really just gonna ignore both of Baffert's horses?

Neil (37:43.994)
Yes.

Matt (37:45.039)
Yeah, this year,

Nick (37:45.962)
And.

Neil (37:46.693)
I mean I'm not totally ignoring Potente. I'm not ignoring him. As I said, at 28 to 1 he's probably worth a 2 to 5 dollar bet, just in case.

Nick (37:55.276)
If you did a head to head of Baffert's two horses, would you pick Potente over Lippmann's test? Yeah. I mean, I just have a hard time ignoring both of Baffert's horses with his just what he does. And if you're going to get this horse, like you said, around 30 to one, it could be worth including in a try or a super. mean, he's finished first or second in every race. Like you said, I know this is only his fourth race.

Neil (37:59.833)
Yes. Absolutely.

Neil (38:18.213)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (38:24.339)
in his career, but he's finished first or second. And it was a heavy favorite in the Santa Anita. So people were expecting him to win that race. Obviously it didn't happen. I'm putting him in my tri super contenders.

Nick (38:41.163)
Now we're onto a horse that's only raced twice. Emerging Market, trained by Chad Brown, driven by Flavian Pratt. Neil, your thoughts on Emerging Market.

Neil (38:51.269)
He's got really good speed numbers. He won the Louisiana Derby. He beat Pavlovian and Golden Tempo, two other derby horses in that race. But he said he's only made two starts. Only one other horse has won the Derby with just two starts and that came back in 1883 with Leonidas, I think was the horse's name.

Yeah, mean Chad Brown, the trainer's looking for his first Derby. He's 0-9. And then Flavian Pratt, who decided to not ride Commandment, chose this horse for unknown reasons. maybe he's just got some confidence in Emerging Market. But I don't know. He, for me, Emerging Market, I've got him in my toss category because there's a lot of unknowns. But.

He's just a white, he's an unknown, he's just an unknown horse to me with only the two starts. So for me, he's out, but I would not be surprised if he does make it into the Tri-Super category at the end.

Matt (39:57.231)
So I've got emerging in my other winners in the try Superfecta Exacta spot for one reason and one reason only. And thanks to the bear from college game day had a tweet earlier this week. Flavien Prat has had 16 mounts in Triple Crown races. Only once has he finished worse than fourth. And that was with the second Triple Crown Mount Solomini. His 16 mounts have resulted in two wins, two seconds, seven thirds.

and four fourths. I mean, again, that doesn't mean the horse is going to win, but Flavien chose him for a reason. And I'm including him on tickets because I don't want to that be the reason why these tickets don't come home.

Nick (40:41.483)
Yeah, I think the fact that Flavion chose this horse over Commandment, I can't ignore him. like we're two starts in, this horse could end up being maybe the best horse in the field at some point, but can he win on Saturday? Neil talked about no three year old has won the derby with his third start since 1883. Only six have tried since 1937.

And I T O passwords finished fifth. That was the best result in 2024. But I think I have to include the source strictly because of Flavio and because of the numbers he's put up in his two races. He's undefeated. Is it a little concerning that his third race is going to be the Derby where he's in a gate with 19 other horses? Yeah, of course. Um, but I've, I've got to put this horse in. I I'm thinking I've got him in my tri super, but he's close to a win candidate for me.

Neil (41:41.157)
Alright.

Nick (41:43.113)
We move on to Pavlovian, Doug O'Neill and Edwin Maldonado. Matt, where you got on Pavlovian?

Matt (41:52.441)
I've got him in the no chance. I know some people have talked about maybe he can get up in there. I'm not seeing it. just, I mean with a 20 horse field, you gotta knock some horses off before you start figuring out what you want. And Pavlovian did not make it through that cut. So I am pass, throw out whatever you wanna call

Neil (42:17.189)
Yeah, I've got him in the no chance as well at 52 to 1 He finished second in Louisiana Derby to that emerging market that we just talked about I mean unlike emerging market with he was only made two starts This horse is one of the more experienced with 10 10 starts already So he's the seasoned veteran. I guess you could say He switched up his styles He used to be slow running out of the gate and then now they put blink blinders on him and he's kind of a front runner If you will so he gets out quick

Matt (42:32.623)
So.

Neil (42:47.343)
But no, there's no chance with this one.

Matt (42:50.797)
This guy is the, sorry to cut you off Nick, this guy is the nine year old tight end from Miami in college athletics. That's this guy. He's on his ninth year playing college football.

Nick (42:50.889)
Yeah. You're good. You're good.

Neil (43:01.305)
Basically.

Nick (43:01.715)
No, like the fact that you've got a merging market with two and him with 10 and they're right next to each other is just, I mean, it's just such a big gap. Like it's crazy. O'Neill has won the Derby twice with I'll Have Another and Nyquist. I just, don't know if he can get the distance. I think it's such a big jump in class for this horse. I just, it's a toss for me.

We move on to six speed. Brian Hernandez aboard. Matt, what you got?

Matt (43:39.695)
Six speed, he's gonna get up. He's gonna be one of those horses that's gonna be out front, but you can probably forget him after the sixth furlong, because he's just not gonna be able to compete. Again, jumping class, international horse that just doesn't have the pedigree. So he is a cannot win for me.

Neil (43:57.325)
Yeah, no chance for this one either. He finished second in the UAE Derby to Wonderdean and we talked about how Wonderdean has no chance. So if you're coming behind a horse that we've already said has no chance, you also have no chance. He hasn't won a race over a mile, so I don't see him running it, winning a race that's a mile and a quarter. Yeah, no, no chance for this one.

Nick (44:20.649)
Yeah, the only chance is if the pace just completely collapse and he's able to just go unchallenged. But that is not going to happen. he is a no chance. We move on to Brad Cox's second horse, Further Ado, written by John Velasquez. Neil, what you got?

Neil (44:42.127)
Yeah, as of this afternoon, odds were 6-1, which makes him the Co's second choice. Won the Bluegrass Stakes by 11 lengths, so an absolute dominant win down the road at Keeneland. He did win a Grade 2 race at Churchill last fall, so he has won on this track before. Won Red Flag, as we mentioned, Ired Ortiz. He's ridden further ado in all three of his wins, but has chosen to not keep that up, and he went to Renegade. So, obviously the confidence...

with Ira there is not quite what it is with Renegade. He does have a pretty good jockey that took over though, John Velasquez who's won three derbies already. I've got him in my tri super picks because I think he's a really good horse. I just think he's one level below the Renegade Commandments Pumas of the world.

Matt (45:36.473)
So, Dew is my least favorite of my top six, the best way to put it. I am very bullish on this horse. I think its best races have been at Keeneland and they've been very impressive, but just because your best races have only come at Keeneland doesn't mean it doesn't come over to Churchill. Doesn't translate well. And the fact that just the last horse in the complete in the bluegrass to even win the Derby with Street Sounds back in 2007,

The last one to win the bluegrass and win the Derby, you to go back to 1991. I just don't think the odds are on its side. I am going to have him on my underlays because I don't want to get beat by him and I think he can get in that second, third or fourth. I am just choosing to think that he is not going to win, but I could see him winning. I'm just choosing him not to.

Nick (46:26.187)
high-speed figure in the field. I mean and he just dominated in the bluegrass. You do wonder like how much does him love in Keeneland? Like is he really a horse for course? is you know like I don't know like it's a dirt course it's what's an hour away like does it really make that big a difference? I don't know like the

Bluegrass has not had a winner since 91 but they're finishing in the tri quite a bit recently. Good Magic was second, Essential Quality was third, Zandon was third, Sierra Leone was second. So they have been competitive recently. IRAD passing is a concern for me but like you said you're still getting John Velasquez who has proven that he can win this race. I got this horse as a win candidate.

Nick (47:20.711)
I it's just, I have a hard time not putting the highest speed fig in the field as one of my top wins.

Neil (47:26.757)
still love them at 6 to 1 though.

Matt (47:30.315)
If he was in like the chief wallaby number and that third 10 to 13, that'd be great I just think if you're in that number you're six seven to one I'm Personally choosing renegade over him. I'm choosing commandment over him. I'm even probably choosing the Puma over him

Neil (47:34.457)
Yeah, yeah, yes.

Neil (47:48.25)
Yes.

Nick (47:48.874)
Okay. And here's another thing too. He's a gun runner and those horses have not really been at their best at Derby, but have been really good post Derby. Like with Tyba and Sierra Leone and Cyberknife, you know, they've had a lot of success afterwards, but none of them have won the Derby. Like you did a 1v1 versus Renegade, I'm taking further ado over Renegade.

with the one rail, with him being a closer, I like further do better than Renegade.

We move on to Golden Tempo, Sherry DeVoe, Jose Ortiz, Matt, your thoughts.

Matt (48:34.51)
mean, coming in third at both of his stakes, the last two stakes races at the fairgrounds, and the fairgrounds don't have the best crop of talent. So I am no chance on golden tempo.

Neil (48:48.569)
I'm not putting him in the no chance category. I think he's a deep closer. So you always have that horse in the Derby that just comes out of nowhere and somehow gets up for third or fourth. I think he has that potential. He's got no chance at winning, but I think he could come, like I said, like off the screen and like, holy hell, how did this horse get fourth? You know, he's got that kind of potential. As you said, he finished third in Louisiana Derby, but behind two other Derby horses in emerging market in Pavlovian.

He's like you said, never run anywhere other than the fairgrounds. He does have the familiarity of Jose Ortiz, who's the only jockey to ever ride him, unlike some of these other horses that are switching around like it's, you know, like it's a game of poker. So he does have that. He's sired by two time horse of the year in Curlin. So he's got some good bloodlines in him. No chance of winning, but I would not be surprised if we look up at the end result and it's like, he's fourth.

Nick (49:45.035)
Curlin has never won the derby as a sire.

But yeah, he needs pace. Not gonna get it. I could see where you I agree with you, Neil. I think he could potentially finish in the try, but I'm I'm tossing.

Neil (50:05.797)
48 to 1. It's a good one to have in there if he does finish the try.

Nick (50:07.499)
Yeah, I mean I can see a bet where you concluding like third and fourth in your tri or super. Which makes some sense. Yeah, I can see that. You might have talked me into changing that one. Full effort, Brad Cox's third horse, ridden by Tyler Gaffleon. Neil, what you got here?

Neil (50:17.444)
I I'll them in the box. Put them in the box.

Neil (50:33.881)
I have him in my toss category. I'm not giving him no chance. I've got him in my toss category. He's 19 to one this afternoon. He might be worth about a two to five dollar bet just in case. He won the Jeff Ruby stakes. However, he's never raced on actual dirt. This will be the first time he's ever done that. I don't know. He does have Brad Cox. I like Brad, but I don't see him winning or coming in the money. But for 19 to one, it might be worth a two dollar bet.

Matt (51:06.858)
Brad Cox is doing a wonderful PR job with him because he talks him up of probably he talks him up more than he talks up further ado and I think further ado is the better the horse. I think full effort is one of those that we're going to look down later this year and come breeders cup or whatever full effort is going to be a lot better than he is right now. I think it's just really tough. I know other horses have done it but it's tough to have your first dirt race in the Kentucky Derby from post 20 or 19. I guess it's 19 right now post 19.

So I'm tossing him, I'm not saying no chance, he's in my toss cap.

Nick (51:42.708)
You just look at the PPs and the four starts on turf, three on synthetic, just really stick out. And it's not like he hasn't, you've raced seven times. So he's had opportunities to race on dirt. But I watch FanDuel TV and I'm watching all these previews and so many people are on full effort as their wind horse.

And look, the Jeff Ruby Stakes have had some success in the Derby the last couple years. Three of the last four Derby Superfectures, including a horse that ran in the Jeff Ruby Stakes. Final Gamut finished fourth last year, two fields came in second in 23, Rich Strike won in 22. And then I think the only other Derby winner that won the Jeff Ruby Stakes was Animal Kingdom back in 2011.

His speed figures aren't that great either. But like, what does everybody know that I don't like, why are so many people on this horse? And it makes me want to put him in the fact that Brad Cox is all like, you're right. I do think he's pumping him up more than his other two horses. So what's the, he was, what's his odds now? He's about,

Neil (52:59.557)
19 to 1. I don't think he's a 19 to 1 quality horse but...

Matt (53:01.711)
19 to 1.

Nick (53:07.731)
I'm putting him in my tries, my supers.

Matt (53:11.705)
Huh?

Nick (53:14.387)
And then getting in after the scratches is great white trained by John Ennis, written by Alice Ashard. Matt, what do you got on? This is the biggest horse in the field. It's giant.

Neil (53:27.129)
Yeah, he's a monster.

Matt (53:28.493)
Yeah, giant horse. That's probably all I got on him. I was, I bet on him at Keeneland. Did not win with him at Keeneland, but very visually impressive horse. But he is in my, no chance.

Neil (53:47.235)
I he's got to in everybody's no chance category. mean, it's gonna, like the only chance he has is like that rich strike type of luck that just lightning in a bottle for one race and somehow it all comes together for him. I mean, he's a monster horse. He's over 1300 pounds. He lost by, to further ado, by 22 lengths in the bluegrass. If you're doing that, I don't know how you're gonna win the Kentucky Derby. So put him in that no chance. I Johnny Ennis is just happy to have a horse in the Derby.

That's about it.

Nick (54:19.215)
I he faded badly in the bluegrass. And I think this could be the longest shot on the board. mean, obviously you're getting in after a scratch. You're going to be close to that. is a, I just, no chance. We don't need to go into it too much. mean, nobody even talked about, Rich Drake wasn't even mentioned on most of these shows before the Derby. And then he goes and wins the thing. But all right, let's do a little draft. We'll each pick three horses. We'll do Snake. We'll go Matt, Neil, me.

So Matt, you get the honors. Who's your first pick?

Matt (54:52.919)
taking commandment I'm going the low floor.

Neil (54:58.021)
Alright, my first pick is gonna be my actual derby pick that I think is gonna win it and that's gonna be the Puma. Give me the Puma.

Nick (55:09.109)
So Commandment would have been my first pick but giving me further ado.

And then with my second pick.

Nick (55:28.437)
Guess give me Renegade.

Matt (55:33.239)
inside to serve that second pick there.

Nick (55:35.307)
Yeah, I'm not. I thought I thought I was going to get commandment.

Neil (55:36.037)
mean, favor wasn't gonna go in the first five picks and we really don't know what we're All right, so then my second pick, me the Chief, give me the Chief Wallaby.

Matt (55:49.039)
So Chief is actually my favorite to win, but I didn't think Chief was, I knew Commandment wasn't gonna make it around. I was hoping Chief might. So my second pick I am gonna go with, I will trust Flavio and I'll take Emerging Market.

Nick (56:07.819)
Okay, and you get another one.

Matt (56:10.031)
I get one more. I am going to go with...

Matt (56:18.937)
I'm gonna take my guy and credit bolt. Let's ride.

Nick (56:25.547)
All right, Neil, you got one more.

Neil (56:31.257)
Let me get the Kentucky horse that runs backwards. Give me Denon Bourbon. Hopefully he runs the right way and can get me some money. But I'm going Denon Bourbon with my last pick.

Nick (56:38.493)
You

Nick (56:45.339)
Alright, and I'll close it out.

was really hoping emerging market would get to me. But I'll go full effort.

Nick (56:59.285)
So our order was commandment, the puma.

further ado Renegade then what was yours Chief Wallaby and then Matt went and

Neil (57:11.599)
Chief.

Matt (57:16.601)
emerging market and then Incredibolt.

Neil (57:19.213)
You write these down so we can come back and talk about this?

Matt (57:23.274)
I wrote my three down.

Nick (57:26.239)
So that went pretty quick. It would have been really hard to go deeper than that. Like if we did four horses.

Matt (57:32.323)
Yeah, yeah. The only other, again, I probably could have gone, I should have gone on potente, but I was like, I'm gonna stick to incredible as being my third horse.

Neil (57:33.509)
They're all just, yeah.

Nick (57:45.077)
So is the Puma is your pick since that was your first pick Neil? Is he your pick to win?

Neil (57:50.489)
The Puma is my pick to win. It was close. I went back and forth between him and the Chief Wallaby today, but the Puma outdid Chief in the Florida Derby, so I'm going Puma.

Nick (58:03.275)
Okay, and the mat, I do not think commandment is your pick to win though, right?

Matt (58:06.745)
Nope, Chief Wallaby. I'm either gonna be right in that the Puma's the wise guy horse or my horse is gonna be the wise guy horse. It's one of those two. It could be both of them. I just think the value that you're gonna get, and since we've been talking, he's now down to 12 to one, but still, the value you're gonna get on Wallaby and he might not be the like, know, commandment's got your better, commandment renegade ado, it's one A. Those horses are one, Wallaby's one A. You could argue that it's up there and it's worth it.

and he's got a good post. He just needs to stay in the middle of the pack and make it through.

Nick (58:41.203)
And my win pick is going to be Commandment. I just, he's the most consistent horse in this field. And I mean, I just, I just look at all the numbers and I there's, I don't think he has any real negatives. And I can find a negative on almost every horse in this field. And I have a hard time finding one for Commandment. And that's why I'm going that way.

Matt (59:06.061)
Yeah, the only negative about Commandment is that I-Rad didn't choose him, that's not Commandment's fault. It's nothing that the horse did. It's a human choice and humans can be wrong.

Nick (59:09.567)
Yeah, no, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right.

Are we gonna start winning some races tomorrow?

Matt (59:20.111)
I so. I hope we do. it's like the odds are going to get better as more people are betting. The cause aren't going to affect it as much, but let's just hope that, I mean, heck today it was all about early speed. No matter what the heck, the early speed on your sprints and then your closers on your routes. I feel like that's been the key and don't try to stray too far away from the board. know a 26 to one won the last one and there was a five to one, but outside of that.

in these early races, have not been many big shots to win.

Nick (59:51.115)
Well, and that's the problem. Like favorites are winning and I'm still not hitting.

Matt (59:56.641)
Yeah

Nick (59:58.944)
You know, and like the problem, even if you're hitting it, you got to hit them so consistently, I think to make a profit. just makes it, it's hard.

Matt (01:00:04.943)
I know, if you hit a longer shot, you can go one for four. If you're hitting favorites, you have to go like three for four or at least two for four. And you're breaking even if it's, and that's the tough part is like, oh, you got a horse that's nine to five goes into the gate. And then all of a sudden, you know, it starts, it's blacked out and then all of a sudden it's four to five. And you're like, well, what the heck happened?

Nick (01:00:25.545)
Yeah, no and the Caw's man it's just yeah Like there was the one race you were talking about today He went off at two to one then was seven to five and by the time he was finishing he was four to five Like it's just so front like you actually hit one and then you're like, about his mate eight bucks? On it's a dog head But before we get you out of here You you are Patriots fan? so

Matt (01:00:28.995)
The calls.

Matt (01:00:45.037)
Yep. Woohoo!

Matt (01:00:50.415)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Nick (01:00:55.499)
Feel like we gotta talk Mike Raible and what's going on there. You got takes on it?

Matt (01:01:00.353)
Yeah, I mean, I was luckily on vacation last week, so it was the perfect time because it was probably the most ridiculous week and I've been on this earth for 34 years. It was the most ridiculous week as a Boston sports fan you ever could have. You have the variable stuff happening midweek, the Red Sox red wedding that they had over the weekend. I mean, it was just absolute chaos. The variable things is somebody, you know, someone's holding a grudge.

Neil (01:01:19.333)
Yeah.

Matt (01:01:27.449)
Cause you're having stuff that came out from six years ago. Who's holding onto that stuff for this long?

Neil (01:01:31.929)
Who is he? I was wondering that. These pictures are that old from when he got fired from the Titans. Like what is...

Matt (01:01:37.805)
Yeah. And then even before that, like the 2020 picture in the bar, like, why are you holding onto that? Like he's on his second or third job at this point. My hot takes are the, top choice for whoever hired this PI or had all this stuff was Rossini's husband. My second choice is Bill Belichick because he's, he is so spiteful. is so spiteful. Patriots are good again. release the pictures.

Neil (01:01:58.371)
I was gonna say, build Belichick. Screams, build Belichick to me. It screams, build Belichick.

Nick (01:02:06.837)
I mean, there almost has to be some kind of P.I. to get these pictures, right? Yeah.

Matt (01:02:10.732)
yeah, there is. I think one was hired to get the stuff in Sedona. I think that's how it kind of all broke.

Neil (01:02:16.111)
But if it's Rossini's husband and these pictures have been around for six years, now are we coming out with it? Like, you just wait till Vraibhul became successful again just to try to tear him down?

Matt (01:02:27.555)
I think the most ridiculous part of it all is just the breadcrumbs that were left all over the place. And it's like, my God. Like again, maybe they were on purpose, maybe they weren't, you just didn't know. But I'm like, there's just stuff everywhere.

Neil (01:02:39.685)
Well, now we've got the conspiracy theory out there that Rousini's son might be Vrabel's kid. After the tweet that she said, she named him Michael and then tweeted, looking at my four year old son and thinking about all the great players and coaches in the NFL named Michael.

Nick (01:02:44.383)
Yeah. When did you name me Mike or Michael?

Nick (01:02:56.139)
Like... Like-

Neil (01:02:56.816)
What?

Matt (01:02:57.935)
She was clearly thinking of Michael Orr from the blind side. Come on, Neil.

Neil (01:03:00.599)
Yeah, Michael Erd.

Nick (01:03:04.181)
Well, she's lost her job, right? And then he set out the third day of the draft.

Neil (01:03:06.532)
Yes.

Matt (01:03:06.935)
Yeah, yeah, she, I believe she resigned.

Neil (01:03:12.729)
Wasn't he supposed to go to counseling but then somebody spotted him buying a gift for his wife in Salt Lake City or something?

Matt (01:03:19.235)
Maybe the counseling was in Utah.

Nick (01:03:20.159)
That's how they know it's for his wife!

Neil (01:03:21.903)
going on. I don't know.

Matt (01:03:25.283)
Yeah, that was crazy. I mean, I hope he gets whatever he needs figured out. Obviously not a good look on the personal side, but luckily, hopefully it doesn't affect him from the professional side. And if something, I hate to say it, if something like this is gonna happen right now is probably a better time than in training camp during the season, playoff run, et cetera.

But yeah, those are.

Nick (01:03:53.803)
Is that gonna be the only, not really suspension, but him missing the third day of the draft? Is that gonna be the only punishment that he gets for this?

Matt (01:04:03.191)
Yeah, mean, they, I think day one of the draft, asked Adele if this falls under like the personal conduct thing or whatever the league covers. And he said that it's an internal team matter. It doesn't rise to that level. So he's not going to get any punishment from the NFL, whether the Patriots decide to do something. I don't know. mean, he's, he's crafts boy and

Neil (01:04:21.925)
Well, say luckily his owner's dabbled in a little something something in his time, you know, in the last couple years. So doubtful that anything comes out of that.

Nick (01:04:30.249)
Luckily.

I just kind of messed up. She loses job and he doesn't get any punishment at

Matt (01:04:33.527)
Yeah, you know, it's...

Matt (01:04:40.909)
Yeah, it's a tough double standard, but unfortunately for what their roles are, it's of the one that's going to lose the job, it's going to be the person in the reporter role.

Nick (01:04:51.915)
Yeah. No, you're right. It's just the whole thing is just and you're right. I completely wild the week in Boston sports. I mean and then the Red Sox should hire everybody.

Matt (01:05:00.533)
yeah, the red.

My two things about the Red Sox before I go. The one, somebody said it, it was a tweet, the Red Sox problems are when you shit your, it's like shitting your pants but changing your shirt.

Nick (01:05:15.815)
Right?

Matt (01:05:17.847)
not going to change anything. The roster management so bad, they have a talent issue, they have no power, they're bad, my their hitters are terrible. And Craig, Craig Bresla was the one that put the team together. Alex Kaur didn't do it. Now could have Alex Kaur magnified it and not really helped out as much maybe but I just couldn't get over. Did you guys see the name of the limo company that picked the coaches up from?

So there was a Boston beat reporter that was outside the hotel because this happened in Baltimore. It was Saturday of a three game series. played at noon. They won 17 to one. The game got moved up from four to four to noon. They win. The players are out having dinner and that, you know, the ownership group goes tells them and they hire a limo service and it's a limo service called coaches for hire LLC and no

It is not AI, it is not fake, that is exactly what the limo company was called.

Neil (01:06:15.685)
Nice.

Nick (01:06:18.654)
Well, any chance they hire Alex Corey again here in two years, like they did before.

Matt (01:06:24.577)
I don't think the Red Sox will. I'm kind of surprised he didn't. I mean, I thought he was going to get hired by the Phillies or the Mets and the Phillies apparently offered him the job and he said no. Now if the Mets come calling in a couple of months, maybe he'll take that. He's the perfect coach for if you have a loaded roster and you just got professionals and you just go out there and play. He's perfect for that. I don't think he wants to teach guys and bring people up and kind of learn them the game of baseball. I think he's past that point of his

Nick (01:06:27.152)
I'm sorry, they're red socks.

Nick (01:06:36.575)
Not really.

Nick (01:06:55.668)
Bra's and the Reds are off to a good start, so Neil and I are happy.

Neil (01:07:00.281)
Red's got house tonight though.

Nick (01:07:02.474)
Sorry.

Matt (01:07:04.827)
It's 162, there are a lot of games.

Nick (01:07:06.762)
Yep. Well, Bryce meets Google tonight.

Matt (01:07:10.153)
Ooh. Crochet went on the IL, so someone tweeted out, thank you Red Sox Nation, season's over. Season's done, crochet's on the IL. See you later.

Nick (01:07:11.966)
best record in baseball.

Nick (01:07:24.616)
Well, Matt, thanks for coming on and talking the Derby with us. We needed somebody else to come on here that could add a little bit. with three brains, maybe we can get something right.

Matt (01:07:36.419)
Hey man, I'm happy to be, am I the first official guest of a height differential?

Nick (01:07:42.947)
We had Carl on like episode two. It did not go well.

Neil (01:07:47.363)
He couldn't figure out his technology.

Nick (01:07:49.234)
He couldn't figure out his technology. His wife said he was being too loud, even though he was talking. You could barely hear him. It was, it was a whole other deal. I, that's the only other person we've had on in it.

Matt (01:07:50.415)
you

Matt (01:07:55.503)
you

Matt (01:08:01.423)
All right, well, it a blast. Can't wait to fire up the text chain tomorrow to hopefully get some winners on Thirby. And let's just keep this momentum going, hopefully into Saturday and get some winners.

Nick (01:08:11.72)
And then maybe come on next week and we'll actually talk the race.

Matt (01:08:17.069)
Yeah, love it. Thanks for having me guys.

Neil (01:08:19.087)
Yeah, we could have... We've got a couple more Triple Crown races down the pipe. We'll get Matt back on here.

Nick (01:08:19.709)
I'm in.

Nick (01:08:23.914)
Yup, he's our horse racing expert. Yeah. I have it on my Twitter profile, future horse racing handicapper. But we're not there yet. We are not to the future.

Neil (01:08:25.581)
our Triple Crown expert.

Matt (01:08:27.407)
There we go. I love it.

Matt (01:08:37.967)
I mean, we handicap races all the time. We're just not good at it.

Nick (01:08:40.904)
Right. It just is so hard. like you think, you think one day you're hot. You're like, I'm figuring this out and you get humbled really quick.

Matt (01:08:49.263)
All right,

Nick (01:08:49.682)
I am not. We appreciate you.

And new already over an hour in here, so we'll move pretty quickly. But just we'll talk the Bengals draft. And as a whole, other than linebackers where they did nothing in free agency, they did nothing in the draft. I think with free agency and the draft, you have to be pretty happy with the Bengals have done to improve their defense and to put them in position to win next year.

Neil (01:09:17.935)
Yeah, I we talked about, I it all started with the trade. And Dexter Lawrence is probably the greatest number first round 10 overall pick that has ever played the game at this stage in his career. So, no, great drafts. I would have liked them to address the linebacker issue. I think they still will at some point. I don't know who they're gonna get if they're gonna be inequality. It's probably gonna be somebody that's still a free agent or somebody that gets cut off a roster.

Like a veteran that gets cut down the road here. But all in all, not bad. mean, clearly the message was we want to beef up the defensive line and have depth there. And that's what they did. mean, you know, with Cassius Howell coming in as a second round pick, he's the SEC defensive player of the year. So, you know, an edge rusher that hopefully will get some production there.

And then you go to Cario Davis at corner out of Washington in the third round. Secondary was kind of an issue in the last couple seasons with the Bengals. So, spending a draft pick there in the third round should help. But all in all, not bad, not bad.

Nick (01:10:33.97)
No, and Cash is how Ken moved outside linebacker at times. So he could help them, but he's not going to play linebacker all the time. Like his job is going to be to rush the quarterback in passing situations. T'Kario Davis did 6-4 as a corner. Like he's going to be one of the longer corners in the league. I think they made some really good picks with getting those two centers. Brian Parker played all three positions at Duke.

Neil (01:10:42.789)
Yes.

Neil (01:10:50.083)
long. Yeah, long.

Nick (01:11:02.312)
He could potentially be a swing tackle, play some guard, play some center. I think other than I'd like to see them go get somebody like Bobby Wagner, who's a veteran, who's available, who is still productive. You need some leadership in that room.

Neil (01:11:15.258)
Yeah.

Neil (01:11:19.149)
You need a veteran. You need to get a veteran in there. guy like you said, Bobby Wagner, I think would be perfect that can get in there and teach these young guy. I mean, he's one of the best linebackers to ever do it. He's won Super Bowls. He knows the game and he can probably teach these young guys a thing or two on how to play the position and get them better.

Nick (01:11:40.263)
And at the end of the draft, I thought they did a really good job. Their last pick, Landon Robinson, the defensive tackle from Navy. There've been a lot of positives talking about him. His dad was a Bengals fan, so they're doing the Hoot Day chant after he gets picked. And then the tight end they got from Texas, Jack Andrews, everybody's talked about him being really a steal there late in the draft. So their draft grades have been around mostly Bs and As from what I've saw.

And with all the additions they made in free agency, you hope that these picks pan out and you're looking like the franchise just looks like they're in such a better spot than they've been the last couple of years. And now it's up to Zach Taylor and the staff and the players to go get it done because the front office, other than linebacker has done everything they said they would do. And if they have one of the best defensive lines in the league, that's gonna that does improve your linebackers gives makes the job easier on them.

They just need to have a 15th rank defense in the NFL and win games when they score 30 points. You can't lose games when you score 30 points. And hopefully.

Neil (01:12:51.407)
Yeah.

I mean, Jacob Rodriguez was there for the taking and that's who I really wanted in the second round. It would fit the need at linebacker. But the more and more you read about Cassius Howell, the more I seem to like him. I just didn't think we needed to go back to drafts with our first pick being a defensive end, but.

Nick (01:13:13.93)
But when you're talking, look, we got to get to the passer. We got to get to the passer, right? That's what it's like.

Neil (01:13:19.705)
Then why did you draft Shamar Stewart last? That's what- Why would you draft you? Talk about getting to the pass again. You know who doesn't get to the pass? It's Shamar Stewart. Doesn't get to the pass.

Nick (01:13:27.432)
Well, but you also you can't compound a mistake by not picking somebody else. Like maybe and look, Shemar Stewart could have a better year this year. He's got the traits. Just he hasn't had the production at the college level or the NFL. Can he put it together? I don't know. But catch his house the opposite. Like he has the numbers.

Neil (01:13:31.525)
I don't know.

Neil (01:13:40.997)
Yeah, yeah.

We love South of the Number.

Nick (01:13:51.306)
Before we get out of here, we got a couple...

Crazy stories.

We've talked about what was her Phillies, Karen, stealing the ball from the little kid.

Neil (01:14:03.833)
Giants Juulie that took the gloves away, the Patrick Mahome gloves, yeah we had Phillies Caron. Phillies Caron is the most popular recognizable villain of stealing baseballs.

Nick (01:14:14.25)
But now we got little buddy in a plain white tee, just going down and taking a ball from old man at a Mets game. Yeah, big, big dude. Just straight takes it from him. Like, what are we doing?

Neil (01:14:21.541)
I this wasn't a little buddy. This was a grown man. This wasn't a little buddy. This was a big buddy.

Neil (01:14:31.973)
What is the value of these balls? What is the value to that guy who didn't give it to a kid, I don't think he was with a kid. He snatches it out of the old man's hand and celebrates. Nobody celebrates with them because they all saw what happened. They're all gonna be like, dude, you're a jackass. What is the value of this ball to this guy, this 40 year old guy? I don't get it.

Nick (01:14:41.716)
Not who's celebrating.

Nick (01:14:57.618)
It's a test to prove who's a jackass, who's an idiot. And you've failed.

Neil (01:15:01.675)
I mean, he won Jackass of the day. So maybe if that's his goal, then he won. I don't know.

Nick (01:15:07.486)
Like, an old dude just looks at him like, what the hell are you doing, bro?

Neil (01:15:11.105)
He was unbelievable. This guy, it's every year. It's gotta stop. It's gotta stop. Whoever gets the ball gets the ball and hopefully they give it to a kid that's, you know, under the age of 18. Because that's who really deserves the ball. Because those are the kind of, that's where the value lies in a home run ball or a foul ball. Is it's valuable to a kid because it's a memory. It's a lifelong memory that they're gonna have.

To a 40 year old man, a foul ball off the bat of John Rodriguez or whoever, I don't even know. Like what is it? It has zero value, zero value. Foul ball. Like a TJ Friedle foul ball, zero dollar value.

Nick (01:15:49.258)
Dude, it's not even a home run ball! Like, at least Philly's caravan's a home run ball!

Nick (01:15:59.199)
Yes. Yes, like.

Neil (01:16:02.309)
What's he gonna do, go home and take it to work, put it on his desk? Be like, hey look guys, I got a foul ball. Try to impress his office coworkers. Was he trying to show off in front of a lady or something? Like, I don't know.

Nick (01:16:07.25)
No, this is the ball I straight took from an 80 year old man.

Nick (01:16:14.216)
Bro, that's the opposite. That's the opposite.

Neil (01:16:16.133)
It's not what you should do. I mean, that's worse than feeding a girl week old salsa retus.

Nick (01:16:20.326)
We quit. Like even if he gave it to a kid, like you still don't just take a ball from a from an old man to give it to a kid. Like. Yeah, we quit this.

Neil (01:16:28.279)
No, you don't do that. You don't take a ball from anybody. Anybody. Gotta quit.

Nick (01:16:34.622)
And then we got a dude in California that buys $34,000 worth of Legos over time. Takes them home, opens them up, takes the Legos out, puts dry pasta, like I don't know what kind of noodles he's using, but makes it feel like there's Legos back in it, seals it back up, and then takes it to Target, gets his money back. And he did this.

over 70 occasions and returned over $34,000 worth of Legos. Well, it's a genius if you stop at maybe $5,000 and doing this 10 times. Like you're gonna get caught once you're

Neil (01:17:07.845)
It's actually kind of genius.

Neil (01:17:16.421)
Yeah, he did get a little greedy. He did get a little greedy. I didn't.

Nick (01:17:20.574)
But he could he could have got away with it if he wasn't so excessive with it.

Neil (01:17:23.141)
How did he get caught?

Nick (01:17:27.272)
I just, caught him, I think he was doing it at targets over and over. They caught wind, they saw him on the cameras and.

Neil (01:17:31.429)
Okay, I mean, it's pretty genius to be honest with you. Like if you're, I'm guessing did he complete the the setup of the Legos? Like did he buy a pirate ship and complete it and put the pasta in there and take it back? Like did he make a castle or something out of these things? Like does he have like a whole Lego land at his house that he's just got all these sculptures laying around? But kind of genius to be honest with you. Yeah, you're right. He got a little too greedy here. Got a little too greedy.

Nick (01:17:55.562)
Maybe his whole house is made out of Lego.

Nick (01:18:01.909)
Like at what number could he have got away with this?

Neil (01:18:06.659)
I think once you hit double digits you gotta stop, I think once you hit the 10 grand, I think that's enough sir.

Nick (01:18:12.796)
Or at least, like you see that this is working and then you're like, all right, let's go hit another state.

Neil (01:18:19.567)
Did he do it multiple states or was it just all the same area?

Nick (01:18:22.588)
I think it was mostly in California. Yeah. Yeah.

Neil (01:18:24.867)
like in the same region, because then that would be really stupid. Yeah, like you gotta go across state lines or a different county or different part of the state or something.

Nick (01:18:34.836)
They, the Orange County Police Department, this was their message, if your master plan involves swapping Legos for linguine, we can promise your plan will be cooked al dente.

Neil (01:18:48.997)
It's cute, but it took him too long. It took him a while to figure it out. I think this guy, this guy, he ended up losing in the long run, but he had the one up on him for a long time.

Nick (01:18:59.346)
Yeah, you do wonder what he was doing with all these Legos like once he had them like was he playing with them? Was he selling them on eBay? What was he doing?

Neil (01:19:07.045)
I'm curious, if they'd have a search warrant for his house and they go in, they gonna find the whole Lego land in there? Pirate ships and castles and what else can we make? Flower pots out of Lego? You can make anything out of Lego. Maybe a globe, Harry Potter world or some shit. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (01:19:16.25)
I ain't gonna find anything now because he's in Orange County jail.

Nick (01:19:27.764)
Yeah, pretty much you can make anything with Legos. think they've pretty much got the market covered. But dudes in jail and he's like, what'd you do to get in here? I a dry linguine in Lego boxes and took it back to Target.

Neil (01:19:38.306)
It's

Neil (01:19:41.829)
Go fuck this.

Nick (01:19:45.927)
And before we get out here, I did a little drinking yesterday at the track. I mean, it was all you can eat and drink. Did you know like if we got real hammered and like fell that we could sue Churchill Downs and get like $300,000 because this lady on a car Carnival Cruise line did 15 tequila shots and evidently fell sued Carnival Carnival Cruises for $300,000 and won. So

Neil (01:19:51.363)
Yeah. Good time.

Neil (01:19:59.439)
Good? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

goodness.

Nick (01:20:15.038)
She got hammered, had a great night, took it a little too far, and then made 300k.

Doesn't that set a precedent?

Neil (01:20:25.541)
Yeah, no it does, it does, cause now, yeah, a lot of people are gonna start falling on purpose, they're start getting hammered on purpose, which a lot of people do, cause it's fun. And then, they're gonna start falling. What?

Nick (01:20:35.838)
I don't always do it on purpose. You don't always do it on purpose. just happens.

Neil (01:20:41.597)
naturally. But yes, it does, it a bad precedent. It sets a bad precedent.

Nick (01:20:47.444)
Like I guarantee you somebody fell yesterday at the track because they had had too many men jell-oops. Luckily it wasn't any of our group, but I guarantee you somebody fell. And the what? Yeah. But now that they see that, like you could sue them for 300k.

Neil (01:20:51.941)
I can think of one verse.

I can think of one person that did. I know one person that did. It's not me.

Neil (01:21:12.985)
I mean, lawsuits have gotten out of hand. This is like the McDonald's coffee, the girl drank it because the coffee was hot and she sued McDonald's and won a million dollars or whatever it was. People sue for the most outrageous things these days and for some reason, somehow, they mostly win. People that do stupid things get paid money just because they sue and they think it's somebody else's fault. 13 tequila shots is excessive.

Nick (01:21:40.97)
15.

Neil (01:21:41.701)
15 is excessive and if she went to the same bartender over and over and over then yeah it might be that bartender's fault you shouldn't be serving somebody 15 tequila shots. But if she's going, mean the cruise ship's big. There's probably multiple bars in this cruise ship. If she's going bar hopping and she's getting a tequila shot here and a tequila shot there and a tequila shot there, I mean these bartenders don't know her from anything. Here you go, it's the first time I served ya. So it's not their fault.

Nick (01:21:49.944)
It's over serving, there's no doubt.

Nick (01:22:07.498)
They got all the surveillance cameras of her at the bar just ripping tequila shot after tequila shot I do think she moved around and did go to different bars

Neil (01:22:16.227)
Yeah. I can't blame the bartenders in this situation.

Nick (01:22:20.126)
But she's also like, it's, don't know if it was like TMZ or extra or one of these, but they actually interviewed her and like she's playing the victim. Like, like you are not the victim. Nobody forced you to do 15 shots.

Neil (01:22:30.437)
And also, how do we know that her friends didn't order? And I guarantee you, she didn't order all 15 herself. She probably was with a group of friends, and they're like, let's do shots. So some guy or girl goes up, gets to group around the shots. Then the next person gets around the shots. So no, she probably wasn't even the one that ordered all these shots. So there's nobody to blame but her. She's at fault. She needs to take responsibility for this. And what's going to end up happening is those people that booked Carnival Cruises are going to end up getting screwed now, because now they're going to probably start limiting your drink numbers. It's like,

your all-inclusive drink packages now includes five drink tickets. So then you're gonna be like, well dang, my five Bud Lights ran out in an hour, what am I gonna do the rest of the day?

Nick (01:23:10.058)
And some of us can handle our alcohol. Some of us can't.

Neil (01:23:12.335)
Some can, yeah. This woman clearly can't and now others have to suffer for her stupidity.

Nick (01:23:19.658)
300k there's no way that that's $300,000 in damages maybe if anything your ticket price back for carnival whatever it cost I think that's excessive

Neil (01:23:21.189)
That's two.

No.

Neil (01:23:31.469)
I hate it. I hate her. I hate her. I hate it. It's stupid.

Nick (01:23:37.172)
I mean, I wouldn't want to embarrass myself and go on that show and everybody just see my face that I'm crying because I did 15 tequila shots and I got so hammered that I fell and they needed to give me money.

Neil (01:23:45.605)
I had fun on a cruise ship and I fell and hurt my knee 300,000

Nick (01:23:55.978)
$300,000.

Neil (01:23:58.213)
I hate her. I haven't seen her, but I hate her. I can already tell you.

Nick (01:24:04.318)
So, I mean, there's gonna be a lot of drinking at Churchill this week. Multiple people are gonna fall. After seeing that, pretty good chance we might see a lawsuit against Churchill. It could happen.

Neil (01:24:19.151)
Can I cuss you out before we leave? So first of all, appreciate you having us over for the pre-502's day brunch slash pre-drinking activities before we went to the track yesterday. Always appreciate your hospitality. And thank you for not serving us week old salsaritas. We had fresh bagels from the Panera Bread and some chicken minis and some donuts, et cetera.

Nick (01:24:21.023)
Yeah, let's go.

Nick (01:24:37.962)
I mean, we did this last week. We're not going to do it again, but it wasn't a week ago.

Neil (01:24:46.681)
Two things I need to cuss you out on. First of all, I'll go to get a cup out of your cupboard that I think is clean and it is the most dusty, dirty cup I've ever seen. A, what are we doing with our cups in the house? And B, well we'll start there. What are we doing with these cups in the house?

Nick (01:24:59.667)
Okay, well.

Well, told you I very rarely go to the second or third level in my cabinets as a 410 human. I do have a little step stool. I try not to use it if I don't have to. The cups that I'm using are primarily going to be on that first level. second level on occasion, third level is like, bro, you're getting up there once every couple of years. It's this.

Neil (01:25:26.469)
This was second level cup though. This was second level cup. This is where your guests get their cups from. It was in the front. It was the first cup I grabbed.

Nick (01:25:31.338)
How back in the back was it?

Nick (01:25:36.106)
Okay, we'll get it clean. We'll get it clean.

Neil (01:25:38.615)
Okay, I appreciate that. And then we were talking last week about the who would eat the week old salsaritas and you know, we said we're not gonna get back into that. But I opened your refrigerator and you've got four day old frozen pizza that's just sitting there uncovered in the fridge.

Nick (01:25:52.783)
was once again not four days old. I made it on Sunday and it was Tuesday.

Neil (01:25:55.693)
He was four days old.

Today's Wednesday, so Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, is it there today?

Nick (01:26:04.658)
Yeah, I wasn't in the pizza mood today. I wasn't in the mood today.

Neil (01:26:05.381)
Four days. Yeah, so you got four day old pizza and not only do you have four day old frozen pizza Not just like take out Domino's pizza. I can understand maybe a four day old Domino's pizza But frozen DiGiorno pizza or whatever red Baron pizza, but I appreciate a good red Baron pizza You don't even have it covered. It's just sitting there bare out in the the fridge

Nick (01:26:11.882)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (01:26:19.742)
Bye bye. Bye bye.

Nick (01:26:25.546)
It's on a plate. I mean, it's on a plate. It's not just sitting there on the shelf. It's on a plate.

Neil (01:26:31.61)
My god, we gotta get your eating habits under control here.

Nick (01:26:37.546)
I guess like it's still in the fridge. Like it's not like it's on a plate in the fridge.

Neil (01:26:43.641)
Put some Saran wrap on it to keep it little more fresh or something. Put in a Tupperware.

Nick (01:26:48.953)
At this point, I ain't gonna lie, it's probably getting thrown away. I'm not gonna eat it at this point.

Neil (01:26:51.621)
I would so. would hope so. Yeah bro, and the only thing in your fridge was bare. only thing in your fridge, probiotic soda and four day old frozen pizza.

Nick (01:27:02.14)
Mainly drinks, some cheese, right, yeah.

Neil (01:27:05.903)
We gotta get you to get to the grocery store, my guy.

Nick (01:27:08.287)
There's apples in there. There's apple a day, keeps the doctor away.

Neil (01:27:10.062)
Okay.

Neil (01:27:14.403)
Like we talk about what's in Juices' lunch pail, we're gonna start playing what's in Nick's fridge.

Nick (01:27:19.124)
Da da da da da da what sin juices lunch pail That's one thing we got to do we guys start doing the jingles on the show. I Think we need a jingle for what what would Joe do we do not have what would Joe do this week? We you going to track one more day this week

Neil (01:27:27.247)
We do have category.

Neil (01:27:32.975)
We do have a catalog.

We'll be there Friday. Yeah, Friday for Oaks. I have not looked at the Oaks race yet to see who the favorites and all that are. Been studying on the Derby, but we'll dive into the Oaks here probably tomorrow or early Friday.

Nick (01:27:49.34)
It was kind of sexist on our part to only talk derby, not get into hugs. But we talked derby for a good hour. That's it.

Neil (01:27:57.061)
I gotta admit, I'm a little surprised that your Derby horse is not the Puma. Since you're big Puma guy, you got the Puma hat on today, you're Rickie Fowler. Rickie Fowler's number one fan.

Nick (01:28:07.604)
Well, not only is this a puma hat, it's a derby puma hat. See? We got the little horses, little mint jell-oops. Yeah. He's, he'll be in my supers and my tries. I just, the commandment, man.

Neil (01:28:11.085)
and you're still not on the Puma. I like that. Yeah, I like that. I see that. That's nice. But yet you're still not on the Puma.

Neil (01:28:30.404)
I get it.

Nick (01:28:32.596)
So we'll see who I need to write down our picks. We'll see who does better. And then I got Jonah's birthday party on derby day. We're doing that again. So.

Neil (01:28:45.677)
Yeah, I'm glad you're gonna make it to that to support your nephew since you didn't support him at the track meet that I was at yesterday. Saw your sister in Hartford and Jonah and Bellamy was running. Yeah, Bellamy was running. we had the JCPS championships at Eastern High School.

Nick (01:28:58.622)
Bellamy. Where were they?

Nick (01:29:06.346)
Okay. How'd everybody do?

Neil (01:29:10.629)
As a team we finished totally finished totally girl second and third grade girls finished fifth out of tenth Bennett won first place on the four by four hundred relay. So she's got a gold medal gold medal for that Harper finished 11th in the 100 meter read our 100 meter sprint So she said set a personal best time there and a personal best time in the 400 but did not medal So we get walked away with one gold medal and team did overall team did pretty good

Nick (01:29:19.729)
She's based in

Nick (01:29:39.092)
Glad to hear that. They're keeping you pretty busy right now.

had to leave the track early to get over there. Couldn't participate in post festivities.

Neil (01:29:52.249)
Post-track shenanigans are some of my favorite shenanigans.

Nick (01:29:55.626)
I mean, we went to Peaks and then we went to Hoops. It was a long day. It was long.

Neil (01:30:00.547)
Long day. Should make it to work on time this morning.

Nick (01:30:04.424)
I did. Yeah, we were good. I worked from home. Nobody, I don't think anybody went in the office this week.

Neil (01:30:10.831)
Get a real job.

Nick (01:30:12.682)
It's Derby week, You don't work Derby week in this city.

But excited for the races this week. Hopefully, I'll turn the corner and start winning. Are you betting all the betbacks or are only betting when you're there?

Neil (01:30:29.029)
I did not bet today. I might look at it tomorrow. love the betbacks. $10 betbacks.

Nick (01:30:35.454)
Yeah, mean, and if you're like, if you're listening, you're not doing that on we're not sponsored by Twin Spires, but your horse finishes second or third, you get your money back. It's one of the better deals in betting and I still can't win any money.

Nick (01:30:51.114)
But just a reminder, subscribe to the Height Differential, however you listen to pods, rate it, and please leave a review, whether you're listening on Amazon or iTunes or however you're listening. And then follow us on at Height Differential on all social platforms. Happy Derby Week to everybody. Thanks to Matt for coming on. For the, tall was he? Five, six, five, seven?

Neil (01:31:13.573)
Who's in the middle? Five, eight, seven, eight? I don't know.

Nick (01:31:16.569)
I can't even remember what he said an hour and a half ago, but for the 5-6 to 5-8 Matt for the 6-6 Neil, I'm the 4-10 Nick Everybody enjoyed every week. We will talk to you next week to wrap it up We'll see you then.