Well, Needless to say,
it's been pretty wild here on
the backside the past 24 hours.
So many changes, so many things
that have kind of come into play.
So we decided to bring in
America's Best Racing and Dan
Torgement to break it all down.
You guys have been here and I have
to say thank you for taking the
time and you got your hat on and on.
Well, I mean, of course, I mean it's
Derby week, Oaks Day, I got a little
bit of pink. Do it not all that much.
We've got a whole team out here.
I couldn't be more grateful that we
have such a strong team and a big
presence out here and appreciate you.
That's the opportunity
and I love to. I think if people,
especially our viewers,
have a chance to check
you all out on Instagram,
you have a very unconventional way,
I think I love it, of approaching
breaking down the Oaks races,
breaking down the Derby contenders.
That is so relatable.
I think that you all make
it very approachable and
fun to follow horse racing
well. Think that's the whole idea.
It can be an intimidating sport, right?
If you didn't grow up around it,
if you don't know too much about it. Even if
you did grow up around it, sometimes
there's so much to learn.
And so that's what America's best racing is.
Both on our social media channels,
we try to show the best of the lifestyle of
the sport and make it.
You know, this sort of thing
where you want to learn more.
And so we show,
we take people behind the scenes,
we take them into the lives of the horses,
of the trainers, of the jockeys,
and we kind of just show you the
full gamut of what's available.
And then on our website,
americasbestracing.net,
we have all this great information.
If you've
never made a bet before or you've
never been to the Derby before and
you want to know what to wear and how
to approach it, all that's there.
It's all there. All right.
What happened past 24 hours, Dan?
Mind blown. I was like,
texting our producer Grace like
yesterday I'm like, oh God,
another one's out. Oh, my gosh.
And then somebody suspended.
I mean, it was really,
it was wild. It's shocking.
But probably for you,
you're thinking in your mind, oh,
now who's coming into the Derby race?
Because I feel like that's the
most mysterious thing of how
that's going to shake up the race.
Yeah. I mean, I I do like,
I fell in love with racing through
like the the whole process of
figuring out the handicapping and
then the puzzle of picking a winner.
So for me, I'm always looking at
the pace and how a race might on.
Gold And so with three defections,
which is unconventional,
which is totally not the norm, right.
Occasionally we have one
scratch maybe or two,
But to have three horses come
out of the race and then three
horses come into the race this
big of a race, I mean,
it really, really shakes.
The biggest thing that you see
is what this really messes
with the pace. I think so.
So one of the horses that draws in
is Cyclone mischief for Dale Romans.
Obviously everyone's rooting for Dale, right?
Especially in Louisville.
How could you not. This will be his
12th runner he's had in the Derby.
He's excited and his plan is,
hey we're going to send the
horse out of the gate.
We we're at post 21.
We're actually it's post 18 because
he's drawn in but he's #21 like
Rich Strike last year so he's going
to be sending going to the front.
So unlike Rich Strike,
he won't be coming late.
He'll be right in the front.
And what he'll be doing is he'll
be pressing the freight pace
with horses like Reincarnate,
Derma Sotogake,
the Japanese horse that has had a lot
of buzz around him and that could set
up for horses sitting just off of them,
including horses like Disarm,
Angel of Empire,
Forte.
And so those horses now should have
a little bit more pace to run into.
They're already some hype around
those horses,
and I think now maybe they go
off as even bigger favorites.
You mentioned. Does this affect
you think the pace of Forte is?
It's like, I feel like right now,
you know, Forte is so unbeatable,
right? But does the pace?
Change up the game for Forte and
make him a little beatable. I don't
see it hurting him in any way.
At the end of the day,
he still has to make his move from
off the pace and I think he'll just
have it more on his pace to run into.
I do want to say Mandarin Hero is
one of the horses who drew in the
Japanese horse everyone's talking
about his Derma Soda Gauke was #17,
but Mandarin Hero will now be #22.
A lot of buzz around him.
He's a horse who almost won the
Santa Anita Derby just missed.
Now he gets a little
more Derby winners out scratch. So that's
so if you like that.
If you liked Practical Move now,
maybe like Mandarin Hero,
you mentioned the Japanese
contingent that's here.
Do you think this is the best shot this
year with the international horses
of making a big play in the Derby
of actually winning because Germans
took a Got day out earlier today?
Very intimidating horse.
I mean, it's something else.
Yeah. No, they're they're not messing around.
We've seen it at the Breeders Cup last year.
They pulled a couple of upsets.
We've seen them in Dubai
and and Saudi Arabia,
all these big international festivals.
The Japanese horses are showing
up and they're winning big races,
especially on the dirt.
It's just a matter of time before it happens.
And it seems like this is the
strongest hand that Japan has had ever.
And so, you know,
how did they train?
Like, I feel like there's just a mystery.
I wish I do. Have you figured?
I can't figure it out like.
And when they came out earlier,
I'm like, they're not training or
even like the workouts aren't like
the rest of the horses on the track.
And that's been like the
coolest thing to see this week,
that I'm like, hey, whoa, what?
Like, that's different. It
seems like it's more longer,
sustained conditioning, right?
I mean, they've got them. They're not
these big sort of, you know,
OK1 fast blowout work and then kind
of put them away. They're constantly out.
They're observing their surroundings.
Morning was a jaunt.
It was a leisurely jaunt.
That's it. And it intimidated me,
I guess. But there's something
to be said for all the.
People that are going to
be out here on Saturday,
the crowd, the noise, all of it,
the best you can do to try to
acclimate these horses and the
surroundings and bring them out.
You can't replicate that
setting and that atmosphere.
But I think that's part of
why that's happening.
But also, yeah, the training is,
is completely different.
It's it, it seems to be again more sort of,
you know, a little more laid back at time,
but it's more sustained
and whatever they're doing,
it's working because like I said,
they're just picking up,
you know, doves everywhere.
You mentioned the noise.
I always feel like for a lot of
trainers they mentioned that.
Once they leave here and go to the Preakness,
the noise of the Kentucky Derby,
the crowd, you know, my old Kentucky home,
they'll they'll say the ground will shake,
is the horses.
How in the world can you even prepare
for something like that, right?
Like how? What can you replicate
in a situation like that?
And which horses do you think are going
to be best suited for that much noise?
That's
a really good question.
You know, there, there have been
some Derby prep races leading up
to this in California, in New York,
obviously in Kentucky as well.
You think about Keeneland.
You had the Bluegrass Stakes
there at or tap it trice Win.
He's a horse who could be a little finicky.
He's a tap it all the tap it's are.
So just look for some of the
behavior in the paddock tomorrow.
I think that'll give you an
indication because it's gonna be
pretty loud and noisy out there.
So watch the TV coverage and and look
at how they're behaving before the race.
All
right. Grace is killing me.
One last question. Your picks for oaks.
Oh my God. My oaks pick.
So I I really I'm I'm stumped.
I, I I I think it's a real competitive race.
Wet paint looks really tough.
I I hate to go with the favorite.
I'm a big long shot today.
What about South Lawn? I
like South Lawn a lot.
We actually Speaking of we're
with Norm Cassie today.
We're embedded with him all day.
I should have said South Lawn
just to kind of be because that's
who we're following today.
That would be our best story.
I'm a big fan of of Reggie
Tierras and I just think you
know what a bright jockey that.
Somebody that can finagle through
all that. That's your guy.
Yeah. He's great. And he's great
ambassador for the sport as
well as he's phenomenal person.
Let's do the exact, let's do wet
paint in South Lawn 74. Let's do it.
OK, let's do it.
Lilies have already left the building
or we would have those who would have.
Cheers to it. Dan thank you so much.
Thank you so much for having me pushing
them over on americasbestracing.net.
For all the background on the oaks
contenders and the Derby contenders.
Stay with us. We're coming right
back from Churchill doubts.