05-06-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This bingie beef Jerky podcast of theLeach Report is also presented by Boons Butcher
Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield Pikein Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location
daily and they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six days.
So we're gonna speed through this openingsegment, get you to an interview
that I taped last night with KennyMcPeak and who he'd be busy with his

(00:22):
horses today. That's the way itis in that world, So rather than
try to jump in to his schedule, we just taped him last night.
So got the trainer who won theOaks and Derby. Jeff Pikoro, who
was went to Tate's Creek with Kenny, will join us. And then Kenny

(00:43):
Rice, who was part of theNBC broadcast, always joins us the Monday
after Derby each year, so that'sthe lineup. Wildcat news of the day
always the service of Giuseppes of Lexingtonand it was a UK grad, Kenny
McPeak who won the Oaks and Derby, first trainer to do that since in
the same year, since nineteen fiftytwo, so quite quite an accomplishment.

(01:07):
Quite a weekend for number eight.Kentucky Baseball took down numbers two Arkansas yesterday
seven to four. Sole possession offirst place now belongs to Kentucky with a
one game lead over Arkansas Tennessee withsix games in the league to play a
couple other midweek games that Kentucky hasactually have eight overall, but six league
games twenty one runs over three games. That's the most in a series versus

(01:29):
Arkansas pitching this season Million p TrayNick Lopez each had home runs in the
game. Mason Moore allowed two runsover his five innings of work. Combined
with the way Nineman pitched on Saturday, that was I would think one of
the most positive developments of the weekendis those two guys kind of got back
on the beams as pitchers. Theyhad been struggling a bit of late,

(01:52):
So quite a weekend for coach NickBenjion and company. We congratulate them.
Links to the stories that we talkabout each day you can find them on
the bud Light Lee trip whort Ageat Tom leach ky dot com. Our
opening segment always presented by Giuseppes ofLexington, and you go to Giuseppes Lexington
dot com or open table to makea reservation and plan for a really just

(02:14):
unique special dining experience, live jazzmusic from Dave Hall and the lounge.
And it's an expanded area now sothere's more lounge seating because folks love that
part of the Giuseppes experience so much. So you can make your reservation there
or somewhere else in the restaurant,but you're gonna have fantastic food, great
treats from the bar, and justa wonderful experience at Giuseppes. We'll be

(02:36):
right back with Kenny McPeak. Soulthis or say he's got a great mind
and that's the kind of need togo over there. I mean nothing phases
in. He's smart as a whipand he's fast and we all dream and
win in Oaks Derby double right,yeah, yeah, I'm dreaming it right
now. That's trainer Kenny McPeak talkingabout Mystic Dan. It was part of

(02:57):
an interview I taped with Kenny andthe last week of the Keelan Meet.
We were talking about Torpedo Anna forthe Oaks and then Mystic Dan for the
Derby and he kind of called ashot first Traders. It's nineteen fifty two
to win the Oaks and the Derbyback to back. Now we play that
clip at the end of the Fridayshow and new Canny be busy with his
horses this morning. So I caughtup to him last night, taped a

(03:21):
short interview and asked him where allthe that confidence came from. Well,
when you're training horses, we dealwith a lot of different things. You've
got to worry about how the horseis eating, and how they're moving,
and fitness level. You know,we have the foot issues. Horses need
a lot of attention. It's noteasy. And both of these horses were

(03:46):
just spot on. I mean,we had I have doctor all day,
Steve all Day, friend and greatveterinarian, and I said, Steve,
come over and look at these twohorses and let's just let's poke on them
a little bit. You know,we'll check their occupy uncture points, see
if there's any soreness anywhere, tryto get ahead of any problems. And

(04:08):
I had him look at five orsix sources, and I had him look
at Mystic Dan Frpedo and he cameback to Kenny. There was absolutely nothing
on either one of those sources thatgive you any any worry, he said
to They moving good, They're movinggreat. That's just you know, I'm
just my jobs to hit the detailsright so that every day, you know,
we kept watching them and they keptgetting better, and they were already

(04:28):
good before that. And it's justone of those things where the stars aligned
perfectly, and that's what you've gotto have happened to win these kind of
races. It's very humbling sport.How many friends have you heard from and
family members over the time since thishappened? Over two thousand text messages?
Wow? Yeah, phone calls.You know, there's so many different on

(04:54):
these iPhones. There's so many devices, whether it's WhatsApp or Messenger. I
mean, I haven't even I don'topen Facebook, I don't do that Twitter,
all that stuff. I mean,I'm a little bit overwhelmed with all
that. I think I need tohire a personal assistant or something to get
caught up. But I'll chip awayat that one at a time, and
I try to respond as best aking, because there's a lot of really

(05:15):
good friends out there, but justa real just I feel like I'm walking
through a dream and I just don'tknow if I want to wake up I
can get that you're jockey. Youguys, you and Brian Hernandez have a
strong bond and something I think it'sinteresting. I want to ask you about

(05:36):
this. Two of the best ridesin maybe the history of the Triple Crown
races have come on two of yourhorses. It was Robbie Albarado and Swiss
Skolly Diver in the Preakness in twentytwenty. If he doesn't make the move
he makes on the backside going intothe far turn, I don't think she

(05:56):
beats authentic. And if Brian Hernandezdoesn't, you know, ride that Calvin
Bull rail type of ride. Andyou know, I told a friend of
mine has said, it's kind oflike, you know, trying to merge
on the Interstate at sixty miles seventymiles an hour in between two cars and
he hit the spot and the horseresponded and Brian, you know, was

(06:19):
as bold as one can be.So where do those guys get that confidence
to do that? Is there somethingabout how that relationship between you and in
the jockey Well, I've I've alwayshad an vicinity for riding the Cajun riders.
I don't know what it is aboutthe Louisiana jockeys, but they just
seem to be just ultra talented.I don't know whether it's in the water

(06:46):
in Louisiana or what it is,but you can go through a whole list
of them. You know, oneraces with the Sormo chain Seller's fantastic jockey,
Robbie. You already mentioned Brian andyou know Calvin Burrell Delahuse. There's
something about those guys that they horseback. And these are guys that you just

(07:11):
don't have to give instructions to reallyand and you know they come back with
feedback and there's just naturally natural horsemen. I think it's just an it's bred
into the the you know, thecommunity down there in Louisiana, and they
they know how to get it done. And I love Rodmen Tates Creek High
School, Product, University, Kentuckygrad and uh, you know, growing

(07:34):
up in you know, around thisindustry. Uh do you remember when you
maybe dreamed the dream of something likethis past weekend happening. I think you've
got to visualize everything in life.I've I'm a prolific reader. I've actually
got on my desk here in myoffice a book called the magic of believing.

(07:55):
And I think that anything that youchannel your energy towards and if you
focus in on it, it canhappen. Yes, I've been a bit
horse obsessed since I was a boy. I can remember going to the races
with my grandfather of Keenland and holdingonto his tweet jacket when well he made
a wager. And I can remembergoing to the Kentucky Derby with CD Collins

(08:16):
in nineteen eighty when I think itwas those seventy nine Pleasant colony? Is
that right? Eighty one? Actually? Pleasant comedy one. I'm sorry I
saw I was nineteen, you know, Uh, just I've been around it
a lot, and you know,look, we worked hard. You know.

(08:37):
I always wondered, you know,does one of those have my name
on it? I don't know.I just you know, kept kept grinding
away and doing the best we could, and and we found magic. You
talked a lot about the team andinterviews. It is a massive team that
it takes to run an operation likethis. Were you running horses in different
states and things and always getting thenext group, et cetera. It's a

(09:01):
massive team effort. You absolutely cannotdo this alone. There are so many
interconnected parts. Whether it's Alan Shallthere in Lexington who runs Magdalena Farm for
me. I've got Greg Geyer whoruns a stable at Churchill. I've got
Dominic Brennan who's in o'callo, whohandles the preparation or the development of the

(09:22):
young horses. You know, I'vegot Ray Bryner who want a stake for
me in Arkansas today. He stayeddown there in Arkansas and took a bullet
for the team. He was dyingto come up and he could. You
know, got Kevin Gladowski at Keenlandand handles kind of the next level of
bringing the young horses around Dermot Magne. I mean, it's a whole list
of people and I haven't even hardly. I can't even begin to get into

(09:45):
the grooms and the hollwalkers and theriders, Danny Ramsay just a you know,
they're all what I would call spokesin the wheel. And it won't
roll without without Malby and the rightspot. I have seen where you say
the Preakness's decision to be made alittle down the road right, Well,

(10:05):
I ran I ran him back intwo weeks one time and it really backfired
on him. And not that hecouldn't handle it this time, but having
won a Preakness already, I don'tknow that that that I'm that motivated to
go, especially if I think i'myou know, forcing the issue with the
horse. You know, he he'dhave to bounce out of this race and

(10:28):
let me watch him train Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, something like that,
and then we'll talk about it.He's it seems to be in good order.
We were worried a little bit abouthow he is eating habits and but
for the most way, he's eatinggreat going into this race, and he
needed to be. But it mightbe more prudent to wait the five weeks
for the Belmont at Saratoga. Ilike that mile in a quarter of Belmont,

(10:52):
and I think this year, youknow, I'm probably leaning towards if
I had to say right now,maybe you know the Kentucky Derby and a
mile in the corner of the Velmantand a male and the corps and the
travers at a mile and a corner, and it's a very consistent run there.
So so we shall we shall see. Nothing set in stone yet.
We're just gonna kind of take itas it comes. But I've been contemplating

(11:15):
a little bit today. Could ThorpedoAnna show up in one of these races?
More than likely she'll just go tothe Acorn. You know, we'll
just stick the conservative approach with her. She's she's ultra fast, and she
goes up there and Wednesday a cornand she probably punches her ticket to be
champion three year old Philly and youknow, with a good you know,

(11:35):
summer and second half. I'd liketo win the Alabama with her. I
mean, I think that's an ultimatespot for if she's doing well. And
the Alabama, you know, suchan awesome race. I won a couple
of times, but you know,right now, probably leaning forwards Acorn,
Katie. I appreciate you jumping onwith us. I know it's crazy time,
but uh yeah, I know therewere obviously tons of people in uh

(11:58):
in this area rooting for you andcouldn't happened to a nicer guy. My
pleasure, Tom, go cats.That's the way to finish an interview.
Kenny McPeak, trainer of the Oaksand Derby winner, appreciate him jumping on
with us last night to take thatinterview. Coming up, we'll talk to
one of his longtime friends and myUK football broadcast partner Jeff Piccarel Kenny Rice.

(12:22):
A little later too, it isthe Leach Report, presented by Bobcat
Enterprises. All of our Triple Crowncoverage this spring, again presented by Clayborne
Farm doing the usual unusually well formore than a century. Jeff Pacarel joins
us on the Club Blue Nil hotlineto talk about his good friend having the

(12:46):
weekend of all weekends. How longhave you and Kenny McPeak been buddies?
We went the first grade together,soh my goodness, six years old,
all the way through elementary, junior, high, high school, college.
That's that's pretty cool. So youknow what you know as a having that
relationship. What was what was itlike for you watching those two races this

(13:09):
weekend? Well, it was itwas unbelievable to be there and be a
part of it. And it's justit's just amazing because I remember when we
were in college and he said hewas, uh, he was going to
go work at the track, andwe're like, what are you talking about?
Because he loved the horses and hewent he he worked for Charlie Wintingham
and he worked for Shug and heworked for Jack van Berg and the next

(13:31):
thing you know he's doing it washis own stuff. And uh, that's
pretty cool because it's been a lifelongpassion of his. You know. The
thing is Tommy he's one over twothousand races now, he's you know,
he's won a ton of stakes atKeeenland. I think he's a leading trainer
and stakes wins in the history atKeenland. And I think with that,
it's got to be in the Hallof fame now that he gets a different

(13:52):
oaks, you know. Yeah,pretty cool. Yeah, and and just
you know, very humble guy.Yeah, you know, people that have
been worked for him have been withhim a long time, very loyal guy.
You know, with his work,his team, his workers is the
guys who ride for him. Andso it's nice to see that rewarded.

(14:18):
It really is. And I thinkwhat really up their game is you know,
Kenny Easter to ride Robbie Alvarado andwhen Robbie retired, he kicked around
a little bit, didn't know whathe was gonna do. Now Robbie kind
of runs breaks all his yearlings forhim. He runs you know, he
runs his what do you wanna callit? The exercise program. I guess
for all the different writers that hehas, so I think that's really helped

(14:39):
him a lot because he's another soundingboard or somebody that's you know, a
great, great jockey too. Greg, his assistant, has done a fantastic
job here. He's the guy's atChurchill. But yeah, I mean,
you know, when you've got astring like that, I'm just amazed at
guys like Pletcher and you know,Bob Baffert and him that you know,
have one hundred and fifty two sayyou're like, how do you keep this

(15:01):
all? But you know they doit, and they do it well,
it's amazing. Uh. Talking withJeff Bikoro here on the Leach Report presented
by Bob Kat enterprises as the KentuckyDerby and Oaks played out this weekend with
the same trainer and same jockey winningboth with Thorpedo Anna and Mystic Dan.

(15:26):
And I remember you telling me afew weeks ago about Thorpedo Anna and how
high they were on her and obviouslyquite justified. Well, yeah, I
mean, you know he said beforehe'll never tell me, Jeff bet on
my horse is gonna win. He'snever said that to me. Ever,
now he'll say, my horse isreally going well. I think he's got
a chance. But he's you know, ed, tom you are so entrenched

(15:48):
in this business, you know anythingcould happen on horse race. So Kenny's
always like hey betted to win andto show or whatever. He's never been
as if you want to call itboswool. As he was in the press
about Peto Anna. You know,I mean he came out and said,
you better bring Grizzy. You knowI got it Grizzly, you better bring
him. I've never heard anybody talklike that. That's really out of his
realm. But he was so highon it, and we he was,

(16:11):
and we all bet the heck outof it because you know he was.
He was just so high on thathorse. And and when he told me
she was better in Swiss Guy ever, I said, there's no way,
and he goes, oh, sheis the fastest Philly I've ever seen in
my life. And I was like, okay, and it came out.
Now. The tough thing with Philliesis though, Tommy, and you know

(16:32):
this, you know, where doyou go? Now? Do you know?
The black eyed Susan's okay? Buthe's I think he's going to point
her towards like the uh, theAcorn and probably the Alabama and yeah,
you know, yeah, and thenwith Mystic Dan, he's only run one
time on a short stand like thisand didn't do well. So I don't
know if he's gonna run into Pignisand now it's gonna be a tough decision

(16:53):
for him to make. Yeah,you know, sometimes this game is uh,
you know, it's like a littlebit like an open book test.
I mean, all the infos therein the racing for there were two horses
that had run triple digit buyer speedfigures. Fierce Has had two of them,
and Misstic Dan had won, anduh, and I guess I saw

(17:14):
Steve Kornaki a NBC. They dida kind of a buyer projection of what
had over in the UE Derby,and he would have actually been a been
a third. So you know,you had the just been the three horses
that all had triple digit buyers oneof them, you would have had the
winner. Taylor. Uh, hangon, We'll keep Jeff around for just
a couple more minutes. Can getto the bottom of the hour break.

(17:36):
It is the Leads report, andwe're presented by Bob Kat. Enterprises come
to you from the Clark's Popping Shopstudio each day, return, refresh and
refuel at Clark's. Jeff Correl onthe line. He's part of our UK
football broadcast team with Dick Gabriel andmyself and he's also the sports director Channel
thirty six wtvq TV here in Lexington. So let's talk just a little bit

(17:59):
about going beyond the derby. Ithink we hadge on after spring football ended
and touched those bases. What aboutwhat's your take on what Mark Pope is
doing with Kentucky men's basketball and KennyBrooks with the women's team. So far,
boy, I tell you what justI think home run HighRes by Mitch.
Both of these guys to me havehit it out of the ballpark.

(18:22):
Kenny has really changed the way youlook at UK women's basketball. They the
one problem they've always had time assize and size across the board, and
he has brought everybody he's brought init seems, is well over six feet
tall. And then the two smallerguards that he has are both ones all
in all American and the others allconfert. So he's really put together a

(18:45):
really nice team and a really nicedefensive team. You flip it over to
Mark Pope and I think it's thesame thing. You'll look at what happened
last year with Kentucky. They wereall offense, no defense, and Pope's
brought in some really, really bigtime defense. So both of them I
think have just done a fantastic joband gone at different directions than the coaches

(19:06):
before them. Interesting point there too, on coach Brooks and the look of
his women's basketball team, because whenMark Stoops came here with Kentucky football,
one of the big things they hadto do was was change the rosters so
that the Kentucky players, even beforethe game started at least looked like they
would be a fair fight with theguys they were going up against. And

(19:30):
you know, with you know Kentuckywomen's basketball, you know, watch South
Carolina LSU this season and it's likethat's on a different level than you know
what Kentucky's going to battle with.And so now he's closing that gap.
Yeah, I think when you lookedat what Matthew did and and kind of
what Kyri's followed up on was kindof trenetic taste and a lot of trapping

(19:55):
and you know you just try torun them out of the court because you
didn't have that size the battle inside. But you know, you make the
great point there, and they they'vechanged it around, and I think that
it's it's really going to be beneficialto both teams. And I think that
they're still going to play a funfront offense, both of them. They're
still going to score a lot ofpoints. It's going to be fun to
go out there and watch. You'vebeen around the chances, Yeah, you've

(20:18):
been around this a long time,play football Kentucky, but just you know,
growing up here thinking too. Youknow, Mark Pope getting the Kentucky
men's basketball job. I don't knowif I've told you this story. The
day the news was coming out aboutMark getting the job, at a listener
posts something to me, this isa disaster Firebarnheart, and then four hours

(20:40):
later, same guy, I'm onboard. Let's roll And I said both
of them to Mitch, and itwas quite a quite a transformation for a
third percentage of Big Blue Nation inthose few hours. And everywhere you go,
that's what people are talking about.Yeah, you know the thing that

(21:00):
they got, And I think thereason that was such a great hire is
because look, if you're not goingto get another John Caliperry type, you've
got to get somebody that understands theexpectations and understands what he's stepping into.
Because if you're not really thick skin, and if you're not used to dealing
with the media, this is ajob that can absolutely crush you. We

(21:22):
saw what it did to Billy giLesbie. Two weeks into him being here.
He was like, what have Igot myself into? Mark knows everything
about that, you know. Plushe's got all those guys that are still
around here. You know, westill see Todd Ziegler, you still see
Jeff Shephard, you still see allthese guys that he play with, Shawn
Woods and stuff are still part ofthe fabric of you know, Kentucky.

(21:45):
So he's got all those guys thesounding board that he can use too.
So I think he's I think itwas a really good hire. I really
do. Jeff appreciate the time ofthe Kenny mcpeok stories all of that.
Thank you, Thanks buddy. Thatis a Jeff Bicour Sports director at WTVQ
here in Lexington, part of ourUK network team. Speaking of Coach Pope,
he has talked a lot about howimportant INIL is going to be,

(22:10):
and you know it just is inthe college game right now. Club Blue
is working with all of the athletesat UK trying to galvanize the fan base
and get the Big Blue Nation behindINIL and Club Blue is partnering with Men's
basketball for a VIP event that's onlygoing to be open to Club Blue subscribers.

(22:30):
Now, you have to be asubscriber by May fifteenth to be eligible
to attend this event with Coach Popeand Men's basketball. The event will be
on June the fifteenth. But visitClub BLUEINIL dot com and click join Club
Blue for your chance to be apart of the new era in UK basketball
again. Go to Club blueinil dotcom. You can see the membership tiers

(22:55):
and it's a chance to meet andinteract with the team and the coaching staff.
That will be on June the fifteenth. But stress this enough. May
fifteenth is the deadline to be asubscriber and be eligible to get to this
event in mid June Club BLUEINIL dotcom. We'll be right back with Kenny
Rice from NBC Sports. The report'spresented by Bob Kat Enterprises. The grand

(23:17):
opening for their new Walton, Kentuckylocations coming up this Friday. If you're
in the area, stop by tenam to two pm this Friday, one
three three five Ozho Service Road justoff I seventy five and Walton. Check
out the new state of the artfacility there. Meet the team and they
will take great care of you atBobcat Enterprises if you need to rent or

(23:37):
buy heavy equipment. Kenny Rice joinsus from NBC Sports. We always do
this the day after or the Mondayafter the Kentucky Derby. Hey, let
me congratulate you guys on the greataddition to your broadcast team adding Kenny McPeak.
How about that he was on bothdays? Joe, What a what
a weekend for a Kentucky boy likeKenny McPeak to pull this off? And

(24:04):
I mean, yeah, nineteen fiftytwo is the last time a trainer did
it. And it was you know, a legendary Calumme at Farm that did
it. Then, What was it? What was it like for you watching
this play out? Well? Iwas actually going to be with Brad Cox
as it was unfolding, and BrittanyI think was going to be with Chad

(24:26):
Brown and Nick was going to bewith Todd Pletcher, you know, and
then whatever happened happened as it happened. And so I'm standing there and I
know where Kenny is because I interviewedhim the day before at the Oaks and
Tom. When I saw Mystic Danon the rail, I thought, hey,
he looked pretty good. So Istart easing in that direction, and

(24:47):
you know, just the whole excitement, you know, and everybody's screaming.
And to be there talking with Kennyas it was officially announced that he won
the derby, that was a moment. I'll never forget it, Like you
say, I mean, I've knownthis guy forty years. I think most
of us have, you know,Jeff and Greg moorehead and all these guys.
I met them when I first cameto Lexington. I met Kenny before

(25:07):
Kenny was a trainer, and soyou know, it was really you know
that home that the home boys,you know, it was it was nice
to be there. All the guysin the truck were talless. Afterwards at
the NBC, you know, heylike celebrating Lexington. I said, yeah,
it's like Lexington Day comes to Louisvilletwo days in a row. Yeah,
and you know, I was talkingwith Pick earlier that you know,
Kenny's the guy that uh, youknow, loves the industry. You know,

(25:32):
just kind of fell in love withthis and had you know, paid
all the dues that you're supposed topay, but there's no never, any
guarantee that you're going to get thiskind of return on that investment. So
it's kind of cool when it happens. Yeah, it really is. And
you know, he he helped withthe breeding of this, helped as far
as the mating of it. Youknow, he really is a good horseman

(25:53):
in the sense that he can train, he knows about the breeding side of
it. He obviously knows how topick out great horses. You know,
he's an all around guy. AndI'm really happy for him. And I
got to be honest, I wasfortunate enough to interview to Triple Crown,
well, one guy that won theTriple Crown twice and now to you know,
be part of history again with thefirst Oaks Derby winner double in fifty

(26:18):
since fifty two. You know,that was just really something else I never
thought I'd live to see it.It was a tremendous ride from Brian Hernandez
scraping the rail as he did.And I was thinking back to maybe the
most honest moment in the history oflive sports television with Tom Hammond and Gary

(26:41):
Stevens. This would have been intwo thousand and ten in the lead up
to the derby. That day onthe broadcast, Tom's hosting, Gary's working
with him there at the desk andthey're doing a feature on Calvin Burrell the
previous year winning on mine. Thatbird for his second Derby in three years,

(27:02):
would win it again that year wassuper safer too, And you know
he's always talking about Calvin bull railand coming up the rail, and they
showed this clip on NBC where hewas so close to the rail and mind
that bird going up looked like onehundred miles an hour and his boot,
his left boot, scrapes the rails, the horses that close to the rail,

(27:22):
the Calvin's boot hits it, andyou know he never blinks, obviously,
And so they show this and theycome out of the feature and Tom
turns to Gary and says, Gary, Calvin has had such great success doing
this, why don't more riders dothis At Churchill down's and Gary blurts out
in a moment of pure honesty becauseit's dangerous as hell and it is.

(27:48):
Oh, it was classic. Andyou know you watch Brian Hernandez make that
move, and I mean track phantom. Joel Rosario's trying to close the hole
off there before his horse is fadingand Brian kind of hits this hole at
one hundred miles an hour seemingly.Yeah. I mean, first off,
it's just guts to be out thereright. Oh my god. I don't

(28:08):
know people ever appreciate these horses,how fast they go, how close these
guys are. And like you say, you know, I heard others say
about They said, how come Calvin, you know, always gets that rail.
He said, because he's the onlyone that will take it, you
know, kind of like what Garysaid to Tom. And I think it
was true with Brian. You know, he stayed right with it. Had
he not gone on the rail,He's not the Derby winner. Kenny doesn't

(28:30):
have his Oaks Derby double. Itwas a great ride. Uh, he
gets the recognition that well, youknow, we always say it's overdue,
but let's face it. Sometimes yougot to be in that moment to get
the recognition and now he is soso now he's getting let's say his due,
because he's always been a solid jockey. But as we talked about many

(28:51):
times, Tom, you know onthese post Derby mondays, you know,
the Derby means everything. Once youwin the Derby, you're established it like
an Oscar winner. It'll be puton your tombstone if you want it.
You won the Kentucky Derby as atrainer, jockey, breeder, owner,
and there's no other race that canclaim that that kind of power and recognition.

(29:11):
At the peak, over twenty millionpeople were watching NBC's coverage on Saturday,
best numbers since nineteen eighty nine.So congrats to you and all of
your team. I was not workingfor anybody down there this year, so
I stayed home and just watched allthe coverage and it was fantastic. Well,
well, thank you. I didmiss you, by the way,
I mean I really did. There'ssome people you know you look for.

(29:32):
I always look for you, andI always looked for Lenny Schulman, you
know who's oh yeah, tired nowfrom flood Horse. Although I did see
him, he was with George grecoryanon Oaks day, so I did get
to talk to him and Evan Hammond'sand you know that's to me, that's
a great part of the Derby too. It's like a reunion every year,
so the people we get so that'sthe great part. But yeah, thanks,
I mean, you know, itseemed to go okay. I haven't

(29:53):
looked back at it yet. It'llprobably be today sometime, maybe tomorrow.
I'll look back at it because,as you know, when you're in the
moment, walking about six miles overthe course of the day, you don't
really have a whole lot of timeto stop and think about it, but
you try to listen to everything.Yeah, you definitely get your steps in
when you're doing the job that youdo. And for several years in a

(30:14):
road seemed like Kenny and I wouldrun into each other track side at the
end of the race like drowned ratsbecause it was raining every year. It
seemed like, uh, this wasa horse that made a you know,
a bold move. Horse got toget credit to you. As they talk,
I've heard jockeys say this, sometimesthe hole's moving faster than the horse

(30:36):
and so you've got to have thehorse to be able to hit that spot
we were talking about with Brian Hernandezand uh, you know, Mystic Dan
surged through there, and uh it'sa it's a courageous move by the horse,
it really is. That's a youknow, that's a great point.
Nobody ever really makes that point.They talk about the bravery of the jockey,
and certainly you've got to celebrate that. But uh, yeah, you

(30:57):
think about it that no hesitation.That horse is going skimming right along that
rail too. And you know,I know that I talked to Kenny earlier
in the week because I did areport on him and as we try to
cover all the horses, so itwasn't like I predicted Mystic Dan, but
he did say that he was overthere with his best chance. And you

(31:19):
know part of the story was inninety five, Yeah, ninety five,
his first year he was runner upwith Tehn o'ron and then so you know,
you think to being alexing Tonian allhe'd be trying to get back every
year, but he's really made judicioususe of when to show up. There's
only only his tenth Derby starter andhe only wanted Joe when there was a

(31:41):
chance to have that kind of horse. And I guess what it all means
is that's the kind of horse thatwill go on the rail or go out
to the three path or wherever youneed him to try to win a race.
Talk with Kenny Rice from NBC Sports. Let me shift away from the
derby for a minute. And youknow you you live here, so you
know, and covered Kentucky men's basketballfor a long time. So what that's

(32:05):
all about. What's your take onMark Pope and his first month on the
job. Well, you know,I was a really interesting hire, I
thought. And I remember I didcover Mark when I was still working at
Channel thirty six. I covered theninety six team like you and a lot
of us did. And you know, I was always very articulate, always
a great interview to get. Andyou know, I really wish him well.

(32:29):
I think that he's making he's makinghis moves. You know, you
can kind of see it all comingtogether now. He was perfect at the
press conference. He said all theright things. And I think it is
about building a program instead of havinga program that's on a revolving door.
You know, at least you haveto have some stability. And that's the
only thing I thought Kentucky always needed. In the last few years has have

(32:52):
just a shade of stability, andso I think he brings that to it.
I will say this, I wassurprised that Kentucky hired a coach who
had never wanted in C double Atournament game, you know, because I
was always hoping that they would havea guy that was a UK guy.
And if you'd asked me five sixyears ago, I thought that guy would
have been Travis Ford. The wayhis career was moving, you know,

(33:13):
I would have picked Travis as theguy that would come in and follow up.
But that didn't go. And youknow, I think Mark will do
a good job. He's gonna wintwenty games plus next year he's going to
go to the NC Double A Tournament. I don't know how far they'll go
from there, but I do thinkwhat we're going to talk about now is
Kentucky's going to have more of aprogram in line with a lot of the
programs that have some consistency and nothave to rely on hopefully every recruiting class.

(33:38):
You know, you'll have a recruitingclass that's good, You'll have one
maybe that's not quite up to thepark, but you're gonna have some veteran
players to fill in blanks two weeksfrom now or a little lesson that make
plans to watch Kenny Rice and allthe NBC team with the Preakness from Baltimore.
Don't know if we'll see Mystic Danthere sounds like it's a little iffy,

(33:59):
but you know the Bob Baffort anglecoming back in, so you guys
will have plenty to talk about.Kenny, Thank you much as always,
Hey, my friend, it's alwaysgreat. Tom always love catching up with
you. Thank you. That isKenny Rice from NBC Sports. And we
will get to a break it comesto us Kenny does on the Club Blue
Nil Hotline, and we'll be rightback to close out this Monday edition of

(34:22):
The Leach Report. Stay while catHistory always presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports Cards
and Memorabilia on Romedy Road in Lexingtonand at roadshowcards dot Com. This day
in nineteen ninety seven, Rick Bettinomade the announcement he was departing for the
Boston Celtics. Can you imagine now, you know the portal's already closed,

(34:42):
if you had a coaching change afterthe derby that happened mister birthday yesterday since
we weren't on the air UK formerUK star Larry Steele probably God deserves some
consideration for the UK Athletics Hall ofFame. Kind of got overshadow a little
bit by coming along at the sametime as isl Pratt and Casey, but

(35:04):
longtime career with the Portland Trailblazers,was on that great Portland championship team in
seventy seven. And our son Connorcelebrating a birthday today, so happy birthday
to Connor. Women's basketball picked upa new player, five eight guard Dejah
Lawrence Charlotte. Sheeveraged eighteen a gamelast season. Men's tennis took down Illinois
four to three yesterday, advancing tothe final sixteen for the third straight year.

(35:29):
They'll host a Super Regional against twelveseed Harvard this weekend. Women's golfs
in the NCAA Regional today through Wednesdayup in East Lansing, and former UK
white out Shammar Porter has found hisnew home. He will be heading to
play for yukon. If you'd liketo be part of the committee of one
oh one, the men and womenwho wear those blue jackets and do such

(35:49):
wonderful volunteer work for University Kentucky events. Go to or email and get an
application. UK one oh one membershipat gmail dot com. If you tell
them you're interested to that email,get yourself an application and join a fantastic
team. UK one oh one membershipat gmail dot com. We will see
you tomorrow on the Leach Report.Thanks for listening to the Lead Report.

(36:15):
Anytime you miss a show, youcan catch the Mingy Beep Tricky Podcast.
Find them at Tom Leachky dot comor on the iHeartRadio app. Interested in
advertising on the show, email LeachReports at gmail dot com. We'll see
you next time on The Leach Report