Longacres Mile this Sunday! - Episode #130

Make plans to be at Emerald Downs Sunday for the 89th running of the Longacres Mile! This year’s race features the past two winners – Five Star General (2023) and Slew’s Tiz Whiz (2022) among the full gate of 12 middle distance specialists. The Mile goes as race nine at approximately 6 pm. The Mile is the final leg in an all-stakes Pick-4 wager. John Lindley of Parker’s joins Joe and Vince to go over Mile field. The 2024 class of the Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame has their induction ceremony on Saturday at 1 pm. Be here to witness stories on local history. Racing starts afterward at 2:10. Saturday morning is the final “Breakfast At the Wire” show of the season, free to attend between 8-10 am. And, Mile morning it’s the “Railbird Rally” in the park area beginning at 11 am. There’s $1 hot dogs and several $5 beverage specials at the Rally. See you Mile week at Emerald Downs!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Come in muchos.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack machines or
dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines. It
doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming from
mucous What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy
drive from wherever you are, all roads lead to Muckleshoe, mucosuit.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
They run down of the final furlong and it's five
star General on top by three Illpellaturus in seconds lows
tis whiz down the center of the chords, but with
a sixteenth it's five star general with Joe Bravo Leboard
taking the Long Acres Mile.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Horse Racing Northwest Long Acres Mile. Addition, as we just heard,
five star general take the twenty twenty three running of
the mile, and he is back for the fifth consecutive year.
Those of you that remember the Long Acres era, no,

(01:26):
that's not a record. Kent Green ran in six consecutive
Long Acres miles, but vince five star generals mark is
pretty darn impressive. Four straight runnings, being in the top
three and of course defending champ. Defending champ and he
drew the number nine post and is the five to

(01:46):
two morning line favorite. Joe Bravo back in for Grant
Forrester and ken El Hatiff, and he's going to take
some beating. He's he's a fast horse and a little
bit drew a little bit outside that might be a
mile concern for them, but he's a handy enough horse
that he probably will be able to get position around
the first turn. Yes, and at age eight he's having

(02:09):
another sensational year. Came in last year in good form,
took the race impressively and easily, and at age eight
five Star General fifth straight Mile trained by Grant Forrester,
who's shooting for his third long acres mile score. Of course,
the sixty to one winner no giveaway when we used
to call him young. Grant Forster still looks pretty young,

(02:32):
but there's a few years on all of us since
two thousand and five, and just a lot of drama
in this year's race. Blain Wright has a great hand
with Clovis Connection and Prince Abu Dhabi and how about
Justin Evans. Four starters in the mile vents.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Including two of the top older horses here this year.
Nieman drew the number one post that will be interesting.
I imagine he's going to come firing out of there.
And Armadoro, one of the top horses at the meat
Dead heated with sluiced his whiz in the Governors at
six and a half, already shown he can get a
mile at the meet and fourth last year, so he's
a handful and then giant game. You know, if he

(03:10):
somehow reverts to his twenty twenty three form, he's an
instant factor in the race. He's he's definitely a big
wildcard this year and then surprisingly perfect one of the
stories of the meet here with with four wins.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
At age ten. Yeah, you bet. Justin Evans, boy, he's
got a runaway lead right now in the training standings
here at Emerald Downs, and especially over the last four
weeks he's just been red hot and behind him Blain
right Frank Lo Corelli having good seasons as well.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, and you know, the depth is tremendous in this
year's race. You've got a horse like il Villator kind
of getting overlooks second in this race last year, and
you know he's he's fired some big shots in his
career on turf, synthetic and dirt.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Go ahead and run down the field.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, we'll take it from the top here real quick.
We got Niemen at ten to one. This is from
the rail out Clovid Connection nine to two, sles Tiz
Whiz twenty twenty two winner at four, Deshambeau twenty, Phantom
Ride twenty Illbilitor twelve, Armador eight Giant Game is post
eight twelve to one, five Star General we mentioned five
to two, surprisingly perfect fifteen Prince Abu Dhabi drew the

(04:21):
eleven at twelve to one and then Monthsey on the
outside at thirty to one.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Okay, A full field of twelve eighty ninth long acres
mile set for race number nine on Sunday, and we
have an all Steaks Pick four with forty total runners.
So some interest there in multi race exotics for sure.
And we're in the Our past performances are in every
edition of the Daily Racing Form this Sunday.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
They are in All Snakes Pick four races six through nine,
beginning with the Muckleshoot Derby race six. That's forty horses
and still got morning lines of do on the other three.
I'm telling you this has the possibility. Remember was it
two years ago we had a sixty seven thousand dollars payout.
I don't know if we'll get that, but you could

(05:08):
put together, spend some money on that tick and still
be pretty exposed on Sunday. So it's a great handicap
and puzzle.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
We'll be talking about the card with John Lindley of
Parker's John, of course does a lot of TV for
us as well. He'll be joining us in segment number three.
In the second segment, Aaron Halterman. He is the guy
behind the Racing Dudes podcast, which is available in podcast
form or on YouTube. And Aaron Halterman also blinkers Off

(05:39):
is their segment name for their podcast, and he is
one of the Racing Dudes. He's coming up to support
John White as the Washington Hall of Fame class of
twenty twenty four is inducted this Saturday at one pm
out by the Winner Circle on the stage. We'll have
a video presentation for each inductee, and once again John

(06:00):
White coming up, the Spokane native with one great career.
He just retired recently. And I don't know if we've
ever talked to a Hall of Fame inductee or even
a nominee prior to the voting that was more excited
about the possibility, Vince.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh, that's for sure. And then when he was over
the moon when it was official that he was in
John getting in town here either today or tomorrow. So yeah,
that's another highlight of the weekend for sure.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
Okay, John White. In the media category, Basil Fraser is
the jockey for the Hall of Fame and flag to
loon the horse, Filly or Mayor Grade one winner and
Junior Coffee goes in as a lifetime Achievement winner. Junior
just really a beloved member of the Washington thoroughbred community

(06:54):
and just a unique life, a unique person and really beloved.
So that Hall of Fame ceremony starts at one pm
out by the Winter Circle on Saturday. Racing is going
to be a little later than one thirty. Of course,
first race about two to ten on Saturday, Long Acres
Mile Eve, and we'll have dancing at the Downs after
the races on Saturday. Rebel Sun country music band up

(07:17):
on the fifth floor. That is free to attend for everybody.
So dancing at the Downs Saturday after racing up on
the fifth floor, Breakfast at the Wire. I'm going to
backtrack to eight am on Saturday morning, Breakfast at the
Wire has its final show of the year and a
big long acres mile theme there. It's a free show

(07:37):
eight to ten am hosted by Dean Mazuka. He's had
a bunch of great guests so far, really varied and
Dean does a good job with his enthusiasm and his
knowledge of the game as well, and he has served
as a track announcer for many races this year. Also,
Tom Harris will be back this weekend. He'll be calling

(07:57):
the action for the rest of the meet. But Breakfast
at the Wire and you know there's some really real
inexpensive breakfast items there at Breakfast at the Wire and
free coffee as well, so join us there. It's on
track level. Enter through the paddock gate eight to ten
am for Breakfast at the Wire at this Saturday. The
rail Bird Rally is Sunday morning, Long Acres Mile Morning

(08:21):
that starts at eleven am and Dean Mazooka is going
to host that as well. And you'll have a lot
of guests out in the park. I know you and
I usually stop by. John Lindley will be stopping by,
Justin Evans and Kevin Krieger and other mile Principles will
be involved in the rail Bird Rally, dollar dogs and

(08:42):
some great five dollars drink specials, a few trivia questions
with some prizes there. So if you want to come
out early a little bit early. First race goes at
one thirty on mile Day eleven am. The rail Bird
Rally out in the park area, so there is a
little lead in. How about let's go over some weekly

(09:03):
honors from last week. Vince okay, yeah, this was August
second through fourth. Our jockey, this our apprentice here at
this meet is Manuel Americano. So he got a win
on decimate last weekend wire to wire, So time to
for Manuel and Mario Mconnago to get jockey of the week.

(09:24):
The most marketer is trainer. How about this Luciano Medina
Gabriel three for three last week, including Nan Elizabeth in
the Friday night feature Ace. She's got what five wins
here now the last two years, and she does it
the hard way, coming from far back. And Carlos Montalvo
can't say enough good things about him. Boy, he can
get a horse from off the pace like no one

(09:45):
else around here right now, and he got her into
high gear and she got the win. Our owners Michaele
Sheet Casino owners John Jannine, Marianski Gerald and Gail Schneider.
They're six for fifteen at the meet. They got a
nice prospect.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
And see that tiger who won the Wtboa lad Steaks
the WTBO Washington Bread. This one's out of Krem named
Krem Dement. Well she got her third winn of the
meet to go with a second last Sunday for Frank Lucarelli,
the owner there, Mike Hill, bred by the Hagens, So
Kream of Dement really having a fine season. And then

(10:20):
our quarter shoot Cafe Groom from the Blaine Wright barn
Edgar Castro he Grooms. See that tiger, those of you
do two year old buyers, He got a seventy for
that win last week, which is pretty high around here
for a two year old. And I knew it was
going to be pretty good because they went down in
sixteen and change. And you know, precise timing is a
pretty good tar Old Philly won the Lassies the previous

(10:42):
day in nineteen and change. So see that tiger, younger
brother of slews to his whis He looks like he
has a pretty bright future and he is a cowbread. Correct, Yeah,
correct by smiling tiger right out of Ross's Girl.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Yeah, both of the stakes winner, precise timing, and see
that tiger. Both purchased from the Wtboa Sale which is Tuesday,
August twentieth this year at of course the Wtboa pavilion
just up the street from Emerald Downs. So yeah, that
is a feather in their cap as they have their
catalog out and getting ready for the August twentieth yearling sale.

(11:22):
There's one mayor available as well. And you mentioned Carlos Montalvo.
Paul Beatty mentioned to me that he won his first
four mounts last week. He won two on Friday and
two on Saturdays.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Well, we could have easily given him Jockey of the
Week again, but he's won it. We like to spread
around a little bit. But Carlos, Yeah, you know, he's impressive.
He can win on any kind of a horse and
any kind of odds, and he's sharp.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
And he doesn't have a mountain the mile, which kind
of surprises me a little bit is winning at such
a high percentage. And his stakes prowess has been good too.
Each the e cheer he's been.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Here, you know that it's kind of surprising, but every
year you kind of something falls through the cracks, right,
it doesn't work out or whatever, But I believe he's
live in the other races though.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Okay, so there's last Week's Honors and the Arlington Million
is this weekend at Colonial Downs. That's one of the
big races of the weekend. Ellis Park has a lot
of stakes on Sunday, but you know, the mile has
fit in. We mentioned this before, but it's fitting pretty
well and huge weekends at Delmart Saratoga. We got a

(12:33):
pretty good niche here.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
I do. I think it's worked out really well and
with the field size we get and like you mentioned,
being in the forum. In all additions, I think we're
looking at a pretty good handle on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Knock on Wood very good. Yeah, weather's going to be
great and long acres mile Sunday and racing course Friday
night at seven pm and Saturday just a little later
start to ten. First race on Saturday. The Hall of
Fame ceremony at one pm. Encourage you to come out
for that. You'll learn a lot about Washington racing history

(13:06):
and see the new class of the Hall of Fame inducted. Okay,
we'll be right back with segment two. Aaron Halterman's gonna
join us. He's going to be at Emerald Downs this weekend.
This is horse racing Northwest.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
It doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack machines or
dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines. It
doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming from.
What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an easy drive
from wherever you are. All roads lead to Muckleshoot, mucosuit.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Paul ready, all right, here we go three two one
horse racing nor West Long Acres mile week at Emerald
Downs and corresponding with the mile. The past many years
has been the Washington Hall of Fame, and John White

(14:13):
is one of the inductees this year. Vince and I,
you know, personally happy to see John go in. Vince,
I think you would agree with that.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
It is, yeah, because he's not only a great historian,
but he's you know, a contemporary and colleagues of you
and I, and he beat a real, like we said,
a grade one field, going in with guys like Mark
Kaufman and Dennis Dodge and just knowing what it means
to John two. It's been fun to watch that his
response to winning the award, and it'll be great to

(14:47):
see him and it's very deserving.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Yeah, and once again, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony
begins at one pm on Saturday, and another friend of
John White's is going to be in the house and
that's quite an honor to travel and not knowing John Well,
we'll find out. Aaron Halterman, one of the racing dudes,

(15:09):
is joining us on Horse Racing Northwest. Aaron, good to
have you on.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
Yeah, guys, and thank you for having me on. I'm
definitely super excited. This will be my first time coming
to Emerald Downs and we've been a lot of places,
but this will be at first and listen to do
it with John White going into Washington Hall of Fame there,
it's amazing and like you mentioned, it's just fantastic. He
just means the world too, event so it's going to

(15:36):
be a special weekend, you.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
Know, it really does. He's just been so promotional of
all things Washington thoroughbred racing since he left this state
in the early eighties and all those years on HRTV
and any television he would do He always made a
mention to Washington breads and references to the past. Other

(16:00):
people caught on or not. Mostly they did. He knew
how to slip that in. But where's your history? Go
to John White eron.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, So we started racing dueds dot com on my
business partner and I. That would have been about twenty
eleven or twelve. I think we started this thing and
we just kind of wanted to talk about the racing,
you know, we do a podcast and stuff. And so
I met a friend of mine who's still a great
friend of mine now. I met him at sam Anita
and he kept talking about I have this friend that

(16:30):
works in horse racing. And finally one day I said, well,
who is the friend you know? And he goes, well,
it's Sean White. And my jaw drops because you mentioned
John on HRTV. And so when I got into racing,
that's what I watched. I watched HRTV and John White
was my favorite person on it. That's before I met him.
I just thought he's incredible. This guy so much can

(16:52):
you mentioned it? He's got so much knowledge of everything,
and he's never forgotten the state of Washington, that's for sure.
As all tell the stories just the second to here.
So I said, I would love to meet him, but
it was Breeders Cup weekend, but I said, hey, he's
making the morning line for the Breeders' Cup. Please SALE
would love to just shake his hand basically, but I

(17:13):
know he's very busy. So he TechEd John, and John
text back and said, come meet at at a place
called Matt Denny's at in Arcadia, California. And he said,
just just I've got like thirty minutes, but we'll go
have dinner. I was like, oh, that's that's great, and
you know, double check make sure it's okay. So anyway, guys,
eight hours later we're leaving that NYO who he sat

(17:35):
there and gave me eight hours of his time. And
if you guys have ever talked to John, you know
the story is probably that he told me. It's because
that's just what he does. He's such a great storytelling guys.
So anyway, you've mentioned we were talking off there mentioning turbulators, right,
and probably within thirty minutes of our conversation he started

(17:59):
talking about turbulator. He loved that horse. Of course, you
know locally, you know, they're in Washington, so anyway, long
story is short there, guys, I knew that day this
is a special, special individual because for it to be
the Breeders Cup week and he gives you that much time,
and I certainly didn't ask for it. I just was
this there for the ride. That's when I kind of

(18:21):
knew he was a great guy. And then just over
the over the years we've just become such good friends.
Our interests are almost the same. It seems like so
very very lucky. But listen, John's on one of the
kind and that I'll never forget that day that helped
me so much in my career because that we were
just starting out at the time. And you know, if
without John White, I wouldn't be talking to you, guys,

(18:42):
I can promise you that.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
Well, that's that's a prodigious eight hours, Vince. I've heard
a lot of stories about meeting John in an hour
and ten minutes later I got in my car, But
eight hours now that that's that might be right up
there among the records. Well, we you know, we were
both Sanny.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
There were some late nights in the press box just
after the races where you settle down and rehash things
and we'd get started on some of that Washington racing
before you knew it. It was, it was pretty late in
the night. And but what but you know, the point
is well taken with John. The enthusiasm is so real
and and as I think I wrote in some of

(19:20):
the copy, it if he was at the eighty five
Big Cap and there was eighty five thousand people there,
or if he was at a claiming race at Yakama
Meadows in nineteen seventy six, he was all in. He
was into it, and you know, he just absolutely was.
He found something young in life that he enjoyed and

(19:41):
it you know, what's the natural thing, the symbiotically, Well,
it'll work for horse racing, and it worked for John White.
And it's been quite a ride, quite a fifty years.

Speaker 5 (19:50):
But the the.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
The flame is still burning in John White's gut for
horse racing.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
Oh no kidding, Aaron's coming up. Aaron, that is so
cool that you're coming up to support his Hall of
Fame induction.

Speaker 5 (20:04):
Oh yeah, I just wouldn't miss it. I heard about it,
and I knew what it meant to him, guys, and
and honestly, he was so touched that he was going
in and so I got on the phone with my
buddy Ryan, who's also coming, and you know, actually think
Ryan called me and he's like, hey, we got to
go to this. I was like, I would take it
the exact thing thing because it's great. You know, the
whole thing with John is just fantastic. But we're also

(20:26):
going to go see the Mariners and the Mets play
Friday night. That's a ton of fun. John is it
loves sports, so that'll be good. And to see Embo
Downs is gonna be awesome as well. And you guys said, listen,
it doesn't matter and that was perfectly said. It doesn't
matter if we're talking about the Kentucky Derby or claiming
race Saturday night at Emerald Downs. John loves racing. He

(20:47):
loves the handicap, he loves to talk to people about racing.
So yeah, it's it's going to be fantastic. I cannot
wait to be there.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
No, Aaron, you've embraced your friendship with the you know,
love and knowledge of thoroughbred racing and you can just
keep going and going. And John does, and he's been
a guest and a promoter of Washington Racing. He'll, of
course he's probably told you one hundred times his favorite
race is the Long Acres Mile. He's going to be

(21:16):
here for that. He was honorary Stewart in two thousand
and eleven when Awesome Jem beat Noose of Beach. So
we selected him. We brought him up from California that year.
And for him to be in the first elected class
of media members for the Hall of Fame, well, he
just his resume is so long and deep. It's fantastic.

(21:39):
So and your Guys' podcast, you're going to talk a
little Long Acres Mile this week on Blinkers Off.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Yeah, absolutely, we'll cover it. And we've got we just
got the entries out now and we were kind of
talking off the air, guys, what I mean, what a field.
This looks to be a very competitive race. You've got
for more winners in the race as well. You know,
to mentioned five Star General right off the bat. This
is a horse that has been around for a while
and just seems to show up in races like this

(22:08):
and run very well. So it's a very contentious field.
You could go a lot of different ways. I think
it's a great betting race. I know that the card's
only been out about fifteen to twenty minutes before we
got on the air here, but I have already looked
through it going you know, of course we're going to
be there, and this looks like a tremendous car. Ima
Downs is one of the best, you know, I call

(22:29):
it one of the best smaller tracks out there. And
I think you guys have put together a really good card,
so it should be a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yeah, Vince, Vince made the morning line, and boy to
see some of these horses, these live horses at their odds.
Nieman at ten to one, Ilbellatore at twelve to one,
Prince Abu Dhabi, Blaine writes to entrance in here, Vince,
are solid horses.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
They're really solid. I think Prince Abu Dhabi wasn't helped
by the draw. You know, it's it's tough, it's gonna
you know, things need to work out. You're outside, you know,
the nine or ten going a mile because that first
turn comes up fast. But yeah, they're both very live
and Clovis connection it's kind of a personal favorite of mine.
I've watched him and he's one of those horses that
can do anything. He can sprint, he can route, he

(23:15):
can run on turf, he can run on synthetic, he
can run on the pace, he can run off the pace.
And I've always been a little parcel of the Vronskys
in California. I just thought that was underrated stallion. But
he is a hard knocking swort and it looks like
Blaine has him right where he wants them going into
this race and from the two hole he could get
a good trip.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yeah, Aaron'll be handicapping the race on the racing dudes
will be doing it on blinkers off and Justin Evans
up here, Aaron has just been fantastic. His first season
at Emerald Downs was last year he was leading trainer.
In his first year up here, he didn't win a
steak last year. He's already got two stakes wins and
they happened to be in the older horse division with

(23:57):
Arma de Orro who dead heated three weeks ago and
the Governor's with sles his Wiz for the win, and
then also Nieman who drew the number one post. He
won our Budweiser Steaks oversle his Wiz pop as golden
boy in a big field. So Justin Evans also has
surprisingly perfect who Drew Post ten. He's a ten year old.

(24:21):
He's having, you know, arguably his best year ever. He's
leading our meet in wins with four and just goes
to the front and doesn't stop so far at his level.
We'll see how he does on Sunday, and let's see Vince.
Who's his giant game.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, who's a new horseed Emerald downs But people around
the country is certainly a bit familiar with him. He
just ran against the horse called the Josen shows spreaking
of Vronskys. He just ran against the Chosen Bron in California.
So the fact he didn't win there on you couldn't
hold that against anybody. But on his best day, you know,
he certainly would fit in this race. That race he

(24:59):
ran in the Cornhusker last year, very good. We see
PEPs like White a Barrio, horses like White a Barrio
showing up in the PPS. You know, you've been knocking
horns with some of the best in the nation. So
he's certainly a wildcard. Off his current form, he needs
to step it up quite a bit. He certainly has
back class.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
Aaron, you're picking the best day to come up here, well,
the best weekend you know, we've got an all Steaks
Pick four on Sunday, Races five through eight all steaks
and good field sides. We're going to have a lively
pick four sequence and you guys, so your podcast is
available to pick up Thursday afternoon.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
Then, yeah, we'll usually do a live YouTube show on
Thursday afternoon and then that goes into a podcast as well,
so you can find out on all the different platforms.
And yeah, that's usually every Thursday. We'll do one for
Blinkers Off and then we'll also do another show that
kind of covers a pick four or pick five sequence,
a big one on the weekend as well, so we
got a couple of them to do it. It's so

(25:58):
funny you mentioned giant game in the Cornhusker guys. I
was actually there at Prendos that night that corn Wow,
it's kind of funny.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 5 (26:06):
He hasn't one sister been close, but I was there
the last once. That'd be crazy if.

Speaker 6 (26:11):
You want this.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Yeah, he's got new ownership. But yeah, you saw a
big win, a grated stakes win from him, and he
certainly adds to the interest of the field. So Aaron
Halterman of the racing dudes. That is a good stuff.
Supporting John White. We just love to hear that. And

(26:33):
you know, we're we're trying to figure out how long
John's acceptance speech is going to be. You know, some
of them are less than forty five seconds. Really, Some
people get up there and just say thank you. My
dad would really appreciate this, and he had a great career.
We love following him, thank you, you know, and then others,
you know, go three, four or five minutes. We're just

(26:55):
wondering on John, he is open ended. I did mention
a few months ago. John, if you get up there
toward ten minutes, we probably should start slowing down a
little bit. But anyway, it'll be great. The stories will
be interesting, and they'll be Washington related.

Speaker 5 (27:10):
We know that erin Yep, yep, for sure. I'm gonna
say he goes over to I think that's that's one
to nine that's gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
Well, your first meeting with him was eight hours, so
I could see why you would take the over on that.
But hey, it's just super that you're supporting him. Somebody
from California, you know, we know him so well. Vince
Vince wrote the video story, and there was just so
much material. His resume was huge before nineteen eighty two

(27:41):
when he went to California and it's been huge after.
And it says so many career highlights for him. But
I guess Vince pointed out in the enthusiasm of any
type of horse racing for him has never waned and
it has shown. So it'll be good to see you
up here, Aaron, and we'll turn people on to the

(28:04):
blinkers off and the racing dudes as well. So more
long acres mile talk. It's a heck of a race.
You know, we just one added thing.

Speaker 7 (28:12):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
You know, it's a lot like a little mini breeders
Cup race because you've got horses coming in from so
many areas that maybe you haven't met each other, and
it's a big field, and you know, not to compare
it to a Breeders' Cup race that closely, but it
just is a great handicapping test every year, it really is.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
I mean, this year, like I said, it's I'm kind
of as you were talking, just kind of diving in
a little bit more of this. And you mentioned that Arma,
the oil horse, what that is a very intriguing horse
was running for a cleaning tag. And you know that
Evan gets gets his hands on the horse and then
man two straight. Really good racist Kevin Krigger riding that horse.
I mean even something like that, it's like, that's interesting

(28:53):
that horse can jump up and win a race like this.
Definitely it's going to be a puzzle. I got to
get to work on that, There's no doubt. Try to
find that one. Try to find a winter in that one.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
And as Vince and I know, Armadoro was fourth in
the mile last year at a big price, so and
he's even better this year. Another story in this race.
Aaron Halterman, thank you so much for joining us. We'll
see at Emerald Downs this weekend.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Okay, sounds good, guys, Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Erin macOS, it doesn't matter if you love craps, blackjack
machines or dining on the finest Asian, American and Salish cuisines.
It doesn't matter what you do or where you're coming
from Mucos. What you do is all at Muckleshoe, an

(29:40):
easy drive from wherever you are, all roads lead to Muckleshoe.

Speaker 7 (29:47):
Mucosuit armade Ro is still right there now a haunting presence,
and they're sent down for the drive and armad' orro
is rising to the occasion. Here armadae Ro gets to
the front, Naymon bites back, Sluice tis Whiz flying at

(30:07):
the rail. Those two to the wire.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
Stretch of the July twenty first Governors right there and
traumatic race at Emerald Downs, a dead heat between armad'orro
and Sles his Wiz, both coming back in Sunday's Long
Acres Mile. Loosed his Wiz third consecutive win in the
Governor's He's the second choice on Vince's morning line, and

(30:35):
of course rightly so, a win and a third the
last two years in the mile. He's outrun a ton
of horses at Emerald Downs over the last three years.
Lose his Whiz and then armad'ro Vince, he's got the
fastest mile at the meeting so far, doesn't he? He
does one thirty four point zero three. We mentioned he
finished fourth last year.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Real really coming to hand right now, and you know
that just shows the depth uh betting. Why is in
a race like that, if you got a horse in
that sharp a form that you can make eight to
one on a morning line and probably get something reasonably
close to that.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
All right, Well, we're going to bring in John Lindley
from Parker's. John, our good friend and tremendous Northwest handicapper,
puts out Parker's every day at Emerald Downs, every live
race day, available at program stands, customer service centers. John'll
be working hard on the mile. Well, a few more
horses to look at than an average day at Emerald Downs. John.

Speaker 6 (31:30):
Yeah, I just started looking at Sunday's card and by
the way, thanks for inviting me on a mile week.
You've interesting day. On mile day, the top four finishers
from last year are coming back. Has that ever been done?

Speaker 4 (31:42):
That's a good one. We might have to use that
as a trivia question.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, off the top of my head. Not sure it's possible,
but I can't think of it off the top of
my head. But yeah, that's you know, that is a
great stat right off the bat, and shows again the
depth in this year's field and the other eight in
the race too. There's some interesting horses and when.

Speaker 6 (32:03):
You look through the four stakes races, a number of
horses that we've seen run last year and year before
are all coming back, which is great because we know
the horses. We kind of know the backstories of a
lot of the horses and the owners and of course
the trainers and jockeys. So it's a fun day to
look forward to Sunday. In addition to the four stakes races,
we have Friday and Saturday racing two.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
And let's just start with the one hole in the mile.
Nieman Justin Evans trainee, who is two wins and a
third at the Emerald Downs meeting. He won the Budweiser.
He beats loose to his Whiz and Papa's Golden Boy
going six furlongs and a good effort in the Governors
and he's not the type to just come out running

(32:47):
full speed. John, as you well know, John does our
trip notes as well for Emeraldowns dot com.

Speaker 6 (32:54):
Yeah, in two of the three races at Emerald he
costs himself pretty good position, especially the Governor's handicap. He
had drawn down inside at six and a half. I
had him breaking about two lengths slow, and of course
he only got beat up by length and three quarters
the race before that in the Budweiser he broke a
little better. It's maybe just a half step slow and
he was right up on the lead with Papa's Golden
Boy and was able to draw away from that horse

(33:17):
and hold off salutes his whiz. So obviously the break
is kind of a little bit issue with him, but
drawing that one hole out a mile is a huge
positive for him. Joe and I talk all the time
on the TV show, in the house show during the
races that so many horses benefit from that one hole
just because going into the first turn with all the

(33:38):
other horses trying to get positioned, they already have it.
They don't have to exert as much energy. They can
hold the rail, they can save ground, and I'm sure
the rider is well aware that this horse doesn't break
well and if he can get out cleanly, he's probably
the one to lead into that first turn, which is
always a positive.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
And he is a well bred, fast, fast horse. Yeah,
we talked about the Bud that was the fastest six
of them meet one oh seven point nine to eight
when he went off at eighteen to one that day.
And he's a serious contender. You know he's going to
be up close and traditionally in the mile, you know,
if you're in contention in the stretch, you're going to
be somewhere to finish.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
Yeah, and you would think a mile will be well
within his grasp. And again that one hole, big, big
positive for a horse with his style.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
Nieman at ten to one on the morning line. Boy,
if he's around ten to one, I'm going to have to,
you know, look at maybe making a little play there
for sure, because yeah, his record here and his projection
to run a mile the post, So that's an intriguing
ten to one right there. And then John blain Wright
has a couple of good horses, both of one stakes

(34:44):
at Emerald Downs last year as three year olds and
Clovis connection. I think you just pointed out Vince his
his career winning percentage and his production again this year.
And his versatility is tremendous.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Versatility is great. He's fast, first of all, all but
he's carried his speed rout of ground in a stakes
win at Santa Rosa on turf, and he's one on dirt.
He's one spreading, he's one routing. You know, he has
a great record over the track here and he seems
to be coming into the race in.

Speaker 6 (35:17):
Top form and he's going to be positioned perfectly also
assuming Naman breaks well. But even if he doesn't. Either way,
Clovis Connection has enough tactical speed to do whatever the
writer wants him to do. And you look at his
record and when he has a lead into the stretch,
you're not going to get him. He has not been
caught into the stretch at all when he's one time
maybe he got third of sant Anita Downhill Race, but

(35:40):
as you mentioned, nothing no knocks against him at all.
Goes for connections that have done well in the mile
in the past, and that you know, two holes also
a big positive form. And the rider comes up to
write him here.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
Yeah, Anton Georgie for Blaine Wright's loosed his whiz number three.
Jose Zanino aboard the three post is good for him
because he'll just be able to get right over to
the rail on the first turn. And that's where he
won from in twenty twenty two.

Speaker 6 (36:06):
Yeah, last year, he was pretty wide throughout. He had
drawn the nine hole in the second turn he was wide,
and as you mentioned, with Clovis Connection and Emon inside
of him, those two are going to be in front
of him, so he's going to be able to save
ground on the first turn. The rider will be able
to see I'm guessing the field to be pretty spread
out the time they get to the back stretch, so
maybe he'll be able to pick a spot and decide
where to put him. And if it's up the inside again,
he's got a big chance.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
I like him a lot.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
He doesn't have to be dead last necessarily, no.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
And his you know, we showed at the draw breakfast
again yesterday. His race last year was not bad. He
was at the three ace pol his task looked impossible.
He was so far back of five star general who
was just idling to the lead at that point. The
fact that he made it respectable was a pretty good showing.
And you know he's coming off another win in the

(36:52):
Governor's or a dead heat, and boy, he just looks
like he's going to be double tough. If he gets
you know, you can't make any mistakes and win this race.
But if he gets racing room the whole way and
saves ground, I don't see any reason why you can't win.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
I've you know, I've got all good thoughts on him
as well. Just he's just a beast around here, and
he is a competitor. He's late late speed is tremendous
and you know, let's face it, we could have a
real hot pace in there. John isn't in love with closers,
but I know your respects lose to his wiz, oh
of course.

Speaker 6 (37:26):
And you know he was super game last time because
you know, amode Oro kind of got to jump on
him going into the stretch, but his Wiz was able
to catch him, and that photo was, you know, not
really able to call it, but give credit to him.
Because how many horses win three governors a row. I
think we've only had one that's won four, and that's
pretty impressive.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Yeah, he didn't win three steaks the same steaks is
very very rare. And I think Tom Wenzel has this
horse right where he wants him for Sleu's Crew racing.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
Yeah, just one tremendous horse. No slowing down out in
twenty twenty four either as a six year old Force
lost his whiz all right. Well d Chambeau from Frank Lucarelli.
His tactical Phantom Ride is a shipper that has won
twice at Oaklawn going two turns this year, and once

(38:17):
at Houston, so he does have three wins.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Do you see any case for either of those?

Speaker 6 (38:21):
John, Well, definitely Dave Schambeau. You know last year he
ran second in the Michael Shoot Derby, and you know
that was a big effort by him, coming off a
big route win one before and last race in the
Governor's he did have a little bit of trouble and
it looked like a nice prep race. And he's also
one of these horses has got enough speed to kind of,
you know, pick where he wants to be going into
the turn.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
There.

Speaker 6 (38:42):
The horse from Churchill just looks a little slower than
some others in this race and it would be an upset.
But at the same time, he has run some big
races there, just not against this type of horse.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
Yeah, he has not been competing in stakes. Fantom Ride.
Ian Jewell's going to saddle him for the Win Racing Corporation,
who are really jumping into the game based out of
Vancouver BC il Beella Tour. What about the runner up
from last year? He's gonna sneak away at probably a
pretty decent price. Last year, I see he was four

(39:15):
to one in there.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
Yeah, definitely ran a big second last year. I watched
his race in the race the Pleasanton Mile, and I
didn't really see any excuse for kind of a flat effort.
Last year. He came into this race off a nice third.
You know, it's hard to say his other two races
were great this year. His last race was a little
flat for me. But the connection shipping up here. He
also gets a little bit of a weight break too,

(39:36):
which you know always helps. It's interesting the weights here.
You know, one hundred and twenty four pounds is the
top weight and the winner of last year's mile doesn't
have to carry that.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Yeah, that that is interesting. Based on money won five
Star General at one twenty two this year so il
Bella Tour, trained by Jose Bautista. He had a great experience.
He was shaking his head a little bit, you know,
knew that they had a big chance. As his horse
fired so well. Five Star General beat him a length

(40:06):
and a half officially, and his rider is going to
be Alberto Jimenez, who is sixteen percent for the year.
I see he hasn't been riding the horse, but it
sounds like a very capable jockey. Alberto Jimenez and Alexander
Chavez a couple of jockeys that we don't know too
much about. Prince Abu Dhabi will have Shavez. We saw

(40:29):
here last year he rode Prince Abu Dhabi. He's kind
of been the regular rider on that horse. He's one
of the top guys down in northern California. Okay, Yeah,
that's right. He did win our derby last year on
Prince Abu Dhabi. Okay. And then armad'oro is just having
an outstanding six year old season. As Vince mentioned, fastest

(40:49):
one mile at the meeting, and then his first stake
race the year was the Governor's and a dead heat victory.

Speaker 6 (40:58):
Yeah, in that route when it was just a turday
force on the second turn, he just started picking up
horses one at a time and just cruised to a
huge win and came back in the Governors and ran
just a great race back to back. You know last
year when he ran fourth, he did get a little
bit of trouble going into the second turn. There was
some crowding for him, and you know, I don't think
it would have changed where he finished. But the way

(41:19):
he's running now and the way the connections are going,
and he's got a nice style and probably dropped a
little bit further back than he was in the Governors
and see if he can make that big run. But man,
his last two races.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Have been great eight to one morning line. Kevin Kriger
is two for two aboard armad Oro for of course
trainer Justin Evans. Giant Game was really good last year
as a four year old, made three hundred and seventy
eight thousand, won the Grade three corn Husker over a
good field at Prairie Meadows. Just not having the same

(41:54):
success by anywhere close to that. You know, in twenty
twenty one he was third, and the Breaders come to
a Grade one and he has one of the better
resumes in the field, and then, you know, tell a
quick story. I remember nineteen eighty four of the long
Acre's Derby and Office Seeker for Jerry Fanny came up
and won at thirteen to one, and we're looking at

(42:15):
the PPS after the race and you're saying, boy, look
who is You see precisionists and horses like that in
his pps, and maybe we had the world turned upside down. Well,
this horse just ran against the chosen vron And if
Giant Game were to win on Sunday, people look back, tease, well,
look at this Look who he's been running it. Look
wh we beat and all that, and it's a serious
case of backclass with this horse. And he does move

(42:37):
into the leading barn here, he was a real wildcard
for me. He's one I might miss on. I could
see him going lower if anyone knows about his current forum.
That doesn't show what do you make of him?

Speaker 6 (42:49):
Well, I see as you talked about. You see that
Whitney where he run against White Arbows and on and
then Cody's Wish and obviously two of the top horses
in the country in two thousand three, and then something
went wrong. Like we've discussed, it's you know, he's not
the same horse this year. He's running average races. I
forgive his last race, you know, it's a sprint, is

(43:10):
probably just a good prep race for this spot. But
you know, cruises on him and we got the trainer
who's been dominating the meet since the beginning, and he's
gotten decent tactical speed. So in terms of looking at
him as a contender, maybe it would be a maybe
is as you mentioned, if he does run really well here,
a lot of people after the fact, we'll look back
at his twenty twenty three spring in summer and go yeah,

(43:33):
of course, But we got to do with what's what
you're doing lately, And for me, I'm gonna be like, well,
we'll see, there's some others that are running faster, that
are you know, also on the top of their game,
so he's gonna have to step it up a bunch.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
And he was competing in those graded races last year
and this year. He had not run in a stake
until the Crosby, which was first race for new owners
after they had purchased him in a in a disperse
or assail in Kentucky Giant Game with Alex Cruz twelve
to one, five Star General drew the nine hole. Joe

(44:09):
Bravo back to ride. This eight year old is just
a pretty special race horse, John.

Speaker 6 (44:16):
Yeah, he's gotten when you first run an Emerald. The
first few times he had some tendency to break a
little bad. It cost him some position in a couple
of races, but as everybody's known for the last two years,
he just the gates opening. He's in front. And last
year's Miley had a perfect scenario. He drawn outside the
main speed horse. He was able just to kind of
sit back and relax for the first little bit and

(44:37):
then made that powerful move on the second turn. I
think most of the people that are watching the race
could see that the race was over on the mid
second turn. Just a question of who's going to run
second and third, and drawing the nine hole for him,
I don't think changes anything for him because the horses
that are directly inside of him aren't fast enough to
prevent him from getting over, and of course the two

(44:59):
main speed horse as I believe, are the two inside horses,
So he's probably going to get a very similar trip
to last year's mile. Just sit maybe in this case
third on the outside and the rider gets to look
around and decide when he gets to attack the horses
up front, and if that's where he is, he's going
to be the horse to beat, clearly. I mean, he's
as sharp as he was last year. He comes into
this race with the same type of form.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
Yeah, And you know, looking at his mile races of
twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, both third place finishes,
he was just well back, kind of detached. He didn't
have a good first turn in twenty twenty one from
post position eight and still managed to edge out Papa's
Golden Boy for third. Then in twenty twenty two. He

(45:45):
was wide on the backstretch and I picked him up
and I thought, well, yeah, he's just not going to
make it today. But to his credit, he still ran
third in there slows to his wiz ended up winning
by two and three quarters. But he's just all race hours.
Look at all the tracks he's run at since say,
the last two years.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Fifteen in his career. And it was the race after
the mile in twenty twenty two. I think Leslie Mauing
wrote him where they kind of that was the first
time he powered to the lead and he got caught
at the wire. But it was a really sharp race,
and you know it was kind of a you know,
maybe that's partly responsible. The horse changed his running style

(46:24):
a little bit and has been up closer to the lead.
And it was always a good horse, but that's kind
of been uh what's kind of put him over the top.
And now you know, Grant forresters really they've been kennel health.
They've managed him very intelligently. They find these one mile,
one hundred thousand dollars races around the country that he
just fits in like a glove. Obviously, the horse handles
the shipping because that could be enough to be in

(46:46):
a point right there. Yeah, and he's just you know,
I use the word intelligently managed. They they and I
know he told you right after the race last year, Joe,
they're going to look at this again, and that was
a long ways off and a lot of things had
to go right. But here he is.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
Boy, a lot of things you are correct on an
eight year old horse twelve months into the future. Is
everything has gone right. I saw him Monday morning over
at Blainewright's barn. He just was his head and the
feed tub his coat was gleaming. You know. Shipping shipping
well is a big part of it when you're doing this.

(47:21):
The schedule that he's maintained and John, you just Joe
bravo aboard doesn't hurt things either. He's coming back to
ride number twenty three all time in North American history.
Joe brab Will won for one at Emerald Downs. I
see he has a mount before the mile this year
as well. Yeah, he did pick one up. And he's

(47:41):
a very.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Professional writer and he had to have enjoyed last year
to come back again this year. And why not, you know,
And as we mentioned, I think last week team Forster
will be out in abundance. I know what's the group
Kenny el Haddaff has coming out was like ninety people.

Speaker 4 (47:58):
It's got a lot of his friends and and people
coming too.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah, and it's great to see, you know. It's kind
of what the miles all about. We bring in horses
and horsemen and fans from all over the country.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
Okay, Well, John Yeap, you talked about his tactical possible
trip and it's not bad at all. Surprisingly perfect is
tied for the meet win meet lead in wins. Luisgron
Nogron is going to ride for Justin Evans, who he
came up last year. Negron to Emerald Downs for the

(48:29):
first time, got off to a great start and that
horse is a good two turn horse. He's the first
ten year old to run in the race in Emerald
Downs history.

Speaker 6 (48:39):
Wow. Well, you know last race, even though he went
off four to five and won by only a nose,
he was probably much the best. He broke us steps slowly,
and then he was crowded early and then on the
first tourney's four wide, on the second tourney's four wide,
and the horse that was right with him, Jim Tong,
was able to save ground and kind of wait, wait, wait,
and yeah, you know this horse was determined to get
the win, was able to get another win off of

(49:01):
two big wins. As everybody can kind of see. Though,
this is a much tougher spot and he comes off
a really hard race, off a couple of weeks rest,
and so you know, he's probably up against it a
little bit. But man, he loves Emerald Downs, doesn't he.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
You know what else? He loves mile distance. He's got
twelve career wins at one mile, which is quite a
feather in his cap.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Yeah, he has joined that coveted twenty win club since
coming to Emerald Downs. Twenty one career wins, twenty of
them on dirt fast tracks. Yeah, you just don't see
twenty win horses too much anymore. Careers don't last as long,
their horses don't run as often. That's that's the main
reason for that. Prince Abu Dabi a chance to make

(49:45):
a dent in this race coming from off the pace.

Speaker 6 (49:48):
Yeah, if you go watch the last race of pleasanton mile,
he was a little white on the first turn, but
the second turn he was super wide. I mean he
entered that urn maybe four wide. He left that turn
six wide, and when when he got into the stretch,
I think losing all that grip ground cost him because
he started to lug in a little bit, he got
a little tired and that cost him a little moment.
And not that he was going to necessarily win the race,
but much better than looks race. Unfortunately, he draws eleven hole,

(50:11):
so the connections probably would be much happier if he
had drawn inside. But I think he comes off of
better than looks a race. And as everybody knows, last
year he was super impressive winning the Michael Shoot Derby.
Here he's only had this is only his fifth start
after layoff. A lot of positives going for him at
twelve to one, especially if there's some push up front,
I definitely would not ignore him.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yeah, and Blaine mentioned at the draw breakfast that they're
putting blinkers on because of the lugging in issue, so
he will be wearing those on Sunday. Eight thousand dollars
yearling for Lance kin Ross and Steve kin Ross. A
couple guys out of Utah have done extremely well with
Prince Abu Dhabi.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
Yeah, what a three year old year he had, and
again keeping really good company this year as well. In fact,
his only unplaced race is against the chosen Braun and
a Santa Anita sprint steak. Okay, Munsey completes the field
on the outside. Monsey ran in the mile in I
think it was twenty twenty two, got those charts right here, Yes, no,

(51:17):
twenty twenty one. Munsey was in the mile, and we've
got Monning's sired horses on the inside and outside gates.
Howard Belvoir, three time mile winner, is going to give
Munsey a chance to you know, run late under Hobby
or Mattias and maybe get into some of the minor
awards there. That would seem to be a good outcome

(51:41):
from him against this field. So John, you're going to
make a selection today. You don't have to, but.

Speaker 6 (51:49):
Oh for sure, five Star Generals is the defending champion.
We've seen horses repeat like simply Majestic and of course
Striker Striker p h.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
And John finally got on his bandwid Well. I think
you were on in both years he won you you
came around on that closer.

Speaker 6 (52:07):
It had took me about two races. I think when
he ran second to Herbie d I'm like, huh, yeah,
I think.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
We better see he was a front running closer though,
because his move happened so fast that he was in
front by the time they straightened out into the stretch.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
Yeah, you know, he had that ability on the backstretch
when he got to mid back stretch and the next thing,
you know, like Vince said, he's already out by three
and they haven't even hit the stretch yet. So but
five star general, he looks as good as he does
last year coming into this race. Last year he ran
one of the faster miles from a figure standpoint that

(52:40):
we've had in a while. He had to go back
several years in terms of figures to see a horse
as running as well as he is. And as you mentioned,
he's been pointed towards this race the whole time. Everything
about this horse screams that he's going to get a
great trip. If he breaks cleanly, he's gonna be sitting
perfect and the race definitely has to go through him,
and he's the horse to beat, and I'm not going
to try and him.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Yeah, he was the favorite last year at right at
two to one and came through. I mean I tried
to beat him last year. He came in very similar
and boy, that was an impressive win length in a half,
but it was a pretty darn easy length and a half.
I'll be putting him on top as well. I'll be
looking at those mutuals though in the dynamic morning line

(53:23):
to see who's drifting up, because there's some live horses
in here. Vince that I can.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
I like his wis last year, and full credit to
five star General, I think his Whiz has a big
chance to run him down this year. He's stretching out
on Sunday and he's got a great mile history himself,
and I think he's going to get a pretty lively
pace to run at. You know, last year was impossible, insurmountable.

(53:52):
Five star General just had too big a jump. But
you know, and as Joe mentioned, he doesn't have to
be dead last if he can, if he doesn't have
too much work to do into the lane.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
I can.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I can see him tagging them all late.

Speaker 4 (54:04):
He will be coming. Uh. Let's see, he was sixth, fifth, fourth,
fourth and then winning when in twenty twenty two last
year he was a little farther back position.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
I'm saying of that twenty twenty two trip when he's
he's gonna hug inside on a good trip to get it,
and he's going to get the rail come rolling late. Yeah,
so we'll see.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
I'll see if he can get through, and if not,
he certainly knows how to go around as well and
finish fast. Okay uh a Looha Breeze with her just awesome,
nearly unbeatable sprint record at this track over three seasons. Now,
she's going to stretch it out in the Emerald Distaff.
I'm sure she'll be a heavy favorite. What about her

(54:44):
chances there, John, Yeah, I'm.

Speaker 6 (54:46):
A little leary. I thought last year I picked her.
She went on, she looked as dominant as a horse
could look as a three year old Philly going into
that race, and her and step Up dueled pretty hard,
really hard for the first quarter mile. Aloha Brees got
a brief breather and then of course pepper Mill went
after her mid mid second turn, and then she got

(55:07):
a little tired. I wish she'd kind of held in
longer last year. I mean, not that she ran poorly
at all. She you know, had every right to get
tired at the end. But I'm a little leary there,
and it's interesting justin Evans's two horses in here, one
of them Ruby Ray, who likes to be up on
the lead. So with just Evon having Tizzy Twister, who
likes to come from a little off, and possibly Ruby Ray,

(55:30):
who likes to be on the lead, I would expect
Ruby Ray to be kind of pushing a lohabbrees. And
even though she can't necessarily, you know, push her too much,
you can at least make a lot hobbres work for
the lead there. And I'd be a little leery about
playing her. She's a crack sprinder, for sure, no question
about it. I mean last year nobody even came close

(55:50):
to her. And then this year, of course, you know,
she had a legitimate excuse. In the Hastings and in
the Washington legislature, she had things her own way, and
she showed what she could do, and she's probably gonna
have things her own way in this staff. But at
mile sixteenth, Leaves made some questions based on what happened
last year.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
Okay, Well, she drew the two posts going a mile
in a sixteenth. That's the distance she was beaten in
the Oaks last year with Yeah, it was a hot
pace last year, and it was her first two turn race,
but this is just her second two turn race. So
what you have you done? The morning line?

Speaker 1 (56:23):
Oh my god? The other three steaks this afternoon?

Speaker 4 (56:26):
Yeah, okay, well that there's just so much to talk about.
It's an eleven race card, steaks all steaks picked four races, six, seven, eight,
and nine. The ninth race, the eighty ninth Long Acres
Mile figures to go about six pm on Sunday afternoon,
a field of twelve. Just we went over so many

(56:47):
storylines on top horses, and many of them have done
well here this year or last or going back to
twenty twenty in the case of five Star General. So John,
thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it, and we'll
be working with you this weekend.

Speaker 6 (57:04):
Yeah, looking forward to this weekend. Thanks again for having me.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
You bet, John White, John White will be here, but
John Lindley's here right now. And yeah that's right, John, Yeah, Okay.
Sports shorts, Uh, mine is a quick one. Justin Evans
has four entrants in the Long Acres Mile and that

(57:27):
has not been done in the Emerald Downs HERA plenty
of several trainers have started three horses in the mile
in one mile and Justin Evans has top that with
four this year, So there is a long acres mile
related sports short Vince.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Can you name the winningest team in NFL history to
never win a title? Winning his team in NFL his
most wins regular season? Uh, never win a title, ever.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Win a title. It wouldn't be San Diego, the LA Chargers, Uh,
give me a give me a hand, NFC or AFNFC, NFC. Okay, well, shoot,
the Detroit Lions go way back. But they had a

(58:17):
lot of bad years, didn't they. They they were good
in the fifties. So it's one of those teams that
go way back. But it's not, of course, Pittsburgh or
the Giants or Green Bay.

Speaker 1 (58:27):
Minnesota, Minnesota Bike.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
Hey there you go, good one, John, nineteen sixty they started,
but they were in the Super Bowl four times.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Yes, they were the NFC version of the Buffalo Bills. Yeah,
with four. They had some great teams, and I especially
remember the sixty nine the Purple People leaders and then
they just got wiped out by the.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
Chiefs and the so Callas quarterback.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
What was the line in that game? What was Minnesota fava?

Speaker 4 (58:55):
I think they were favored by a touchdown at least
a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Yeah, and that was never no contest, but they were
they Bud Grant, They had some great teams there they did.

Speaker 4 (59:03):
Yeah and yeah, four super Bowl losses starting with that one. Okay,
football season just around the corner. Selections, John and I
going with five star general for the mile. Vince is
tipping his hand towards Slew's Tiz Whiz, and we've just

(59:25):
got a lot of other work to do between now
and then. So that'll be it for selections for this show.
But of course our picks. John's picks you can get
those via Parkers every day and he'll be making race
to race picks with myself on our television coverage Saturday
and Sunday, and my picks will be on the website

(59:46):
for all three days. Friday's picks will be up later tonight.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
Our trivia question to complete the show. Last week's question
was who won and on which day was? Let's see,
I didn't write this down right, but the first million
dollar day in Long Acre's history. I guess I wrote

(01:00:14):
it better than I'm speaking right now, because I think
we who included the fact that it was a mile
day and I didn't get any right answers on this one.
It was nineteen seventy two. Red Wind was the only
Long Acres mile winning Washington bred in the nineteen seventies.
But that was the day of the first million dollar

(01:00:34):
handle at Long Acres nineteen seventy two mile day, Red
Wind was the winner.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
The first weekday million dollar handle was August eighteenth, seventy eight.

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
Were you there that day?

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
No? That was crafty eight of won the Governors. The
Governors was run on a Friday because they had the
wildcat strike and they had to make up the race.
They did it on a Friday. It was a tremendous
ten race card and it was like a million two
dollars is like that last five dollars exactly that someone
made put it over the.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
Top draft he needed won the Governor's huh over bucksaw? Okay,
all right? And our trivia question to cap it off,
which horse was Gary Bays's first mount in the Long
Acres Mile. Gary is the winningest mile jockey with five
victories in the Big race. What was his first mount

(01:01:26):
in the Long Acres Mile? Send your answers to trivia
at emerald doowns dot com. And again we've got dancing
at the Downs. We've got the Breakfast at the Wire
and got the real Bird Rally, and we've got Mile
Day which stands on its own, coming up this Sunday.
Thanks for listening to horse racing Northwest.