It's time for Coffee and Company, Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are get
off our show, idiots. The kids are crying or trail off and your
countries are screwing it off. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play
Inner Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Now? Here's Nick coffee? Well it's not exactly Nick Coffee. Happy Oaks
day. Everybody's got fitstir with you. Uh my man, Nick getting some
well deserved time off. We are live in the grandstand here at Churchill Downs,
section three twenty two. What a beautiful day. The rain it fell,
but boy it's not ready now and the crowd is starting to swell,
not Galadia. It's sticky out here. It's humid, but the party is
on. There is so much pink. The fascinators look beautiful, the hats
they are beautiful. The gentlemen are dressed to the nine and we're up here
looking over it. We're getting ready to come up on the sixty seventh running
of the modesty that is a grade three for four hundred thousand dollars that will
be occurring at a mile and an eighth on the turf. I am liking
heavenly Sunday here. Look for Surprisingly and pat Leo to show up in this
pat Leo the Irish bread as well. All these European horses run well on
the turf. So it is such a beautiful day up here. I can't
tell you how privileged I am to be able to do this job. And
of course we welcome in back at the studio when mister John Alden John,
Good afternoon to you, buddy. Good to talk to you, Scott.
I'm jealous of where you're at right now. Oh man, dude, I'm
telling you first, it started with Thunder, right. I got to work
Thunder. I got to sit atop the Allie Center and watch the sunset.
I was at the NFL Draft last weekend, and here I am up in
section three twenty two where we will be not only just today but tomorrow.
You can smell the cigar smoke, you can smell the food. The people
look absolutely wonderful. Dude, you can't. There's not a better place to
be on this planet right now than right here at Churchill Downs. Yeah,
I can't imagine. Know you mentioned the humidity. This has to be,
in my opinion so far, one of the most humid days so far of
the calendar era. I feel like it's definitely sticky, like you mentioned it
is. In fact, when I look across the track at the grand stands,
I can see people, you know, waving the fans over there,
trying to cool off because it's a muggy one. And again we are awaiting
the start of race eight. John's gonna flip to the race. They're still
yet to load into the gate that coming around the back turn. Very easy
to get here today, Big kudos to Churchill Downs. I parked over at
the Fairnex Post center. Brother parked my car nearest to the sixty five,
so I remember where I was, and I walked over, didn't have to
wait, jumped right on a luxury motor coach, came over here, walked
right in in. The security personnel here at Churchill Downs couldn't have been more
friendlier. I mean, greated you with a smile. Welcome to church Chill
Down's Happy Oaks day and this place is impressive. Bro. I'm looking down
off to my right now down to turn one in the new area down there,
the new seating area just decked out in pink, and it looks beautiful.
You can tell John, this place is built for one thing and one
thing only, and that's these two days, absolutely, you know, and
Churchill down Much like I said about the NFL draft last weekend. You don't
notice it on TV, but when you come out and experience it this place,
you feel the entertainment. You get the sense that these people know what
they're doing. Not a whole I mean, the bourbon lines and the food
lines great, not a whole lot of complaints there. And for us quote
unquote health conscious people, they got some chocolate covered strawberries and bananas out there
too, man. So I mean now now they getting ready to love these
horses into the gate again. This is the sixty seventh running of the Modesty,
the Grade three, four hundred thousand dollars. I'm taking the four here
Heavenly Sunday last year here in the Grade two Edgewood Steaks, and then I'm
gonna throw in pap Leo, the Irish bread running well on the turf as
many European horses do We've got a lot of races coming up for you,
of course, all working up to the one hundred and fiftieth running of the
Kentucky Oaks have had a chance to mill around the crowd and dance around the
crowd. Looks like John, they're getting there. Got one more horse to
go here, okay, and I'll let you flip over to the race turfact
as we wait for them. Last horse going in now and they're in the
gate. Well, there you go in. They're rough, pretty even,
starch and Heavenly Sunday breaks out. Okay, join the dance with some speed.
Moofy is there, Papilio from the outside, ind tighten behind. We're
both forever after all. Aspen Grove was squeezed back towards the back of the
pack, so they moved by us for the first time. And it's Heavenly
Sunday out there, showing the way. Uncontested on the front end, leads
by a length, joined the dance, prompting second fastest fight tucked away inside
third Caroline Street, three wide. Fourth, Moofy in to nurses racing.
Fifth Papilio is now sixth forever after all, covered up down inside, running
along in seventh, Queen's Command on the outside moves up into eighth. Surprisingly,
toward the inside is ninth, Sparko Blues in tenth by two and Aspen
Groves the trailer to the backstretch run. Heavenly Sundays opening quarter mile was twenty
four in two fifth seconds and moves down the backstretch, walking through the half
in fifty seconds flat. Heavenly Sunday cruising along up top unopposed on the front
end, joined the dance in no hurry to go by so far fastest flight
continues on with a covered up and ground saving trip. Caroline Street sets up
three wide for the run of the far turn. Moofy is right there in
the thick of things down inside, only two and a half lengths off the
lead. As they hit the fire turn run, Queen's Command is also right
there, three wide on that turn. Forever after all continues on. Buried
Papilio starting to pick it up from the back, surprisingly is at the back
of the pack. It is still eight lengths behind and needs to find a
way through tons of traffic before her. They're off to turn. Heavenly Sunday,
still the one to catch, kicks away by two. Fastest fight is
coming on. Moofi is there down the center, Sparkle Blue farther out to
Aspen Grove, surprisingly still far behind. Heavenly Sunday is getting desperate. Here's
fastest flight surging to the front, fastest flight to the front, and the
winner and no one upset. And just like that, there is my Derby
week all summed up there. He doesn't matter every time. Every time John,
I find a horse, I like they'll lead the whole way. And
as you saw their fastest, fastest flight coming through in the race twenty to
one, he goes off at I really thought Heavenly Sunday would have him.
He had him most of the race, and then right at the end as
he came around, he faded fast. And I hope that's not a sign
of things to come, brother, Otherwise I'm gonna have to find a new
way to pay my kids toition. It's just but boy, you know,
I don't think John, anything can beat the roar of the crowd when those
horses come around that final turn, and it's something you just have to experience
in person. Yeah, I've gotta say in my young life, I'm only
twenty six years old, Scott. My favorite derby call of all time is
rich Strike, and it's not a popular derby horse obviously, with somebody who
had eighty to one odds. He came into the field after a scratch,
I believe, but that being one of the most intense upsets in Kentucky derby
history, and the reaction that happened as the race was going on and heading
down the stretch, he wasn't in the front the entire time. He made
a late surge to the front to beat epistenter I believe, in the final
stretch of the race, But the reaction at the end of that and post
race is one of the craziest things I've ever seen. And also I remember
too specifically with the horse he was and this is just kind of a silly
little tidbit. He was biting his I don't even know what you called.
But the horse that's there to calm them down after the race is over,
Rich Strike was there trying to like It's like he was trying to just take
everyone out of the field in front of even though the race was already over.
He was still into it right exactly. And I will tell you,
John, when you talk about Rich Strike, story on that one is Will
Clark, who used to work with us at right. If there's if there's
a place that he can get into in this Churchill Downs that he's not supposed
to be, he'll find it. And he said to me we were sitting
up here about the same spot where and now he says, come on,
you're going with me? I go, where are we going? And he
goes, just go with me. So he said, we're gonna watch the
race on the track. He starts walking on the track on the dirt part.
We're not down on the rail, we're on the dirt part. He
goes, here, sit out, We're gonna watch the race start. I
said, dude, we're on the track. He goes, no, you
can watch it here, watch it right here. And that was rich Strike.
And I will never forget just being mystified, the fact that I was
on the Churchill Downs track as though, you know, just to watch a
race. But then I just I couldn't see anything. I mean I couldn't
even see the big board. There were so many people in front of me.
So what happened was all I saw was rich Strike's handler just jumping up
and down, going crazy. And then little I know the horse was coming
down, so perhaps the I was on the track for the biggest upset,
one of the biggest upsets in Derby history. And I didn't really see anything
but his trainer jumping up and down. So that's it's one of those things
that happened. But it's every You know what I love when you tell a
story like that, John, is that is everybody has a Derby story.
Every everybody has an Oak story. Everybody has a Derby story. In fact,
sitting here in in this grand stand, I you're all, you're all.
You're just mystified by how many stories are held within this part of Churchill
downs, within these walls, and you look at the the individual columns that
stand up, you look at the roof, and and Willie's taking me in
parts of the Twin Spires that I normally wouldn't get to see. And you
know, it's the old adage, if walls could talk, just an incredible
place to be. And John, now you grew up here in Louisville,
if I'm not mistaken, right, right? Yeah, So whenever I was
really young, a we lad as they say, I lived in Jeffersonville,
so basically right across the river, and that I've lived in the Kentuckyana area
pretty much my entire life. Now live in Bullet County, so I've grown
up around the Derby and the oaks. And when you're younger, at least
for a while, you don't realize how big of a deal it actually is
to everybody outside of this region, right, because I mean people travel far
and wide across the pond. Obviously, the Queen of England came here years
ago. Yeah, and it's one of those things that when you as you
get older, you start to fully understand how big of an impact these two
days really have on really the rest of the country. You're right, You
are absolutely right, John, This just now, let's see. My first
Derby I think was nineteen ninety eight, because I'll never forget it. My
mother in law had she always had great Derby parties at her house and the
family got together and they always did the thing where you cut out the little
silks out of the Courier journal and oh yeah, you throw him in a
hat and everybody draws, you know, everybody puts in five ten bucks and
then everybody draws, and so you your Derby horse is totally at random.
Well, my first Derby I was ever here. I drew real quiet and
at the time I was producing on this station, mind you, a horse
racing show. I think it was EJ. Clark was on there at the
time. And he goes, you're gonna call a couple of guys for me
and get him on the line. We're gonna talk to him there out in
California. I go, Okay, who are Then he goes, it's Mike
Pigrim and Bob Baffort, so not you know, not being aficionado, not
knowing. I'm like, okay, fine, So he goes, here's Bob
Baffort's number, and here's and I swear to god, Mike Ingram sounding like
he just rolled out of the rack and he was cooking up eggs while we
were talking to him, and they had real quiet, and we were talking
about that, and that was prior to the Derby, and so we were
just talking and and little lo and behold did I know that all of a
sudden, here I would be sitting in the grand stand in Churchill Downs anchoring
Derby coverage tomorrow, but Oaks coverage today on seven ninety And I want to
thank Nick for giving me the opportunity to kind of sit in here and really
just be a part of this because there's nothing like it. And again the
crowds are just continuing to grow out here. We've got a five point fifty
one post time coming up for the Oaks. But right now, the next
race on tap is the sixty ninth running of the Eight Bells. That is
a Grade two, six hundred thousand dollars run that's presented by Cisco, and
I think in the Eight Bells here, John, I'm gonna go with denim
and pearls. She just blew by all the competition at the Grade to Beaumont.
And if you want to throw in a couple there, you can throw
in Impel and the number twelve are Harper Rose. Shean will have to over
or he'll have to overcome the outside post position to do it. And if
you're looking for a long shot, Helena's forte, that would be the number
nine if you want to go there. This is short race, however,
this is just seven furlong's coming up, and we got appropimate post time of
around four to oh four. Now your Race eight results, if you came
across and you want it, you got four sixty four forty six on a
two dollars exacted with the one in ten the fifty cent tri effecta not bad.
With the one ten and two got you nine oh five ninety seven.
Your one dollar double got you fifty two to seventy five. And if you
played the superfecta of the one, ten, two and four, that got
you eight thousand, one hundred and six dollars and ninety nine cents, So
not bad if you decide to play the super fecta. We're gonna hear from
somebody, maybe later on the broadcast, I know, definitely tomorrow we're gonna
hear from my buddy, Todd Furman. He is a uh. He's lived
in Vegas all his life. He's a good friend of mine. If there's
anyone that knows betting, it's Todd. And his take is, listen,
everybody's running with a favorite fierceness in the derby. But this derby, this
year's edition, has a great shot for you to make some money with some
twenty to one long shots. And he'll unveil who his picks are as well.
Uh. And if we get to it later on today, maybe we'll
talk a little Bourbon had a chance to sit down and talk with Eric Gregory
with the Kentucky Distillers Association. John, are you a big bourbon officionado dealer?
No, So alcohol in general is not really my specialty. I'll dabble
here and there, but I've heard that you're the man when it comes to
all the unique stuff, and especially with bourbon as well. Well. Bourbon
I can I you know, Bourbon, I can take it lead. Now,
beer that's a different story. And I like all the craft beers or
something, don't you, dude. I love being a beer sw I talked
to my buddy Michael Mohler with the Louisville A l Trail He he and I
had a conversation Louisville's Louisville's beer scene is growing and growing tenfold, and it's
growing exponentially in places like Germantown over in newlu and they're trying to expand it
into the South End and those a couple of places over in Hike's Point.
But uh, it was just five oh two Beer Day this past week,
and I want a chance talk about it, but Tony was so busy on
the backside, so we didn't get a chance to talk about it. There
but so many good beers, so many beer festivals after everybody leaves town that
we can enjoy. So we'll talk a little bit more about that as we
move on through the day today again continuing to visit with you. We are
high top of the grand stand here at Churchill Downs. Now there is a
nice breeze that is coming up here. I'm starting to feel that now and
it's really cool. Things off, we're up here with Paul Miles is with
us. He's of course doing coverage on news radio eight forty WHS with Terry
Miners. Both of us have removed our jackets. Oh yeah, it's definitely
one of those days. Yeah, a little warm up here. And what's
telling when you walk up You come up here in the middle of media row,
and it's interesting to see all the different stations, not just nationally,
which which is cool to see the national media here, but the local Kentucky
media. John, And I think you're you're a Western guy. Yeah,
so I'm sure you took journalism there at Western. I'm sure you've met a
lot of folks from all around this great state wanting to run down meat.
Is that true? Oh? Absolutely? I mean in terms of names,
I couldn't give you a bunch, but they they try to. They try
to get you into I guess being familiar with those guys right right, right,
and and you know it's just I think for me, that's what I
love most about this gig is seeing the people that come in from different parts
of Kentucky. Throughout the week on news radio eight forty WHS, we featured
different trainers and different horsemen in different Kentucky stories that we're here. Don't get
me wrong, the national picture is cool. I love the national exposure.
Nobody does a better job than painting the picture of the Derby than in NBC.
I think they're just phenomenal. But our local media that we have here,
and you get these stations that come in from Owensboro and you know,
down in Hot Town and coming in from different places, and they're all here
and they love the thing is John, they love being here. Yeah,
And that's that's a big topic of conversation I've had with other members of the
media, is who when we come out here, we all get together and
butt heads and kind of yip gap and talk shop and you know, we
all have one There's always those few people in media that go you know what,
I can't believe I gotta work this weekend. I'm were like, let's
try to get this straight. You're at two of the biggest events in the
state's history and two of the biggest events in the sporting world, and and
you're here and it's not costing you anything. Mind you, you have great
seats, you get inside access to some of the great stories, and you
don't want to work on the weekends. And that's another thing, especially this
year. I'm sure you've heard about the Derby prices and how it's costing people
upwards of triple digits when yeah, obviously part of that is inflation, part
of that as of being Kentucky Derby one fifty. But if you do have
that opportunity, I could see why, you know, you take advantage of
it. Oh, Abs, you're spot on there, John, And And
you know that's what I noticed too, was when when everybody's going, oh,
twelve dollars beers at the Derby, I'm going, I think they're four.
I can't remember that they might be fourteen. I can't remember they were
twelve bucks at the NFL Draft. And when I talk to my buddy Todd
Furman and lives in Vegas. If he goes to a Vegas Golden Nights game,
he says, you're paying upwards of almost twenty bucks for a tall Boy
beer out there. So the Derby has kind of kept things. I mean
they're running par for the course, and and if people are gonna keep paying
those prices, they're gonna charge it. Yeah, and now they have the
all inclusive stuff too, where you can get the entire day, all the
food and drink you can ask for. And again you're paying a pretty penny
to get that access. Yeah, you are something that you could do.
You are. But you know what everybody I talked to you, John,
I was talking to a couple people down to Pattic Area about that. They
love it. In fact, it was it was the weirdest thing to hear.
The beer vendor comes by and he's like, I got free drinks.
I got free drinks. I'm like, hold up, and it takes a
minute for it to register. Oh, everything's on the house here. I
mean they pay for it, but everything's on the house. And people love
the fact. And I even talked to some of the some of the vendors
who make this stuff there and they like the fact that they don't have to
mess with cash, oh, cashing cards. They can just get somebody at
drink served up and be done with it and does it moves the line,
so everybody wins here. So as we get ready to go to break,
I am looking at it. I can't tell from here, but I do
see one ambulance in the infield with their lights on and the back doors open.
I can't tell if that's an official call or if they're just out there
letting people know they're there in case they need help. So the infield here
at Oaks filling up pretty fast. It is not your father's infield. I
can tell you that it's a lot of tents out there, John, A
lot of manufactured tents. Oh yeah, that you can see. Yeah,
there's no more this just going out there and sitting there. So on that
note, John, I think let's look at taking our first break here again.
We've got coming up the sixty ninth running of the eight Bells again.
That is seven furlongs, that is for six hundred thousand dollars. That is
a Grade two race. And before we go to break, I'm looking at
I like denimen pearls in this one. The seven Impel and the number twelve
are Harper Rose. As you hear our bugler, they're showing some promotional videos
on the big Jumbo Tron and we're here with you up until six o'clock.
We're gonna we'll take you right on through the Kentucky Oaks. We'll talk a
little bit about the Kentucky Oaks when we come back. But John, right
now, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and visit after that.
How's that. Let's do it all right back after this on Sports Talk
seven ninety oh and Happy Oaks Day, great choice and music there, John
Alden, Scott Fitzgeral with you out here at a beautiful Churchill Downs. And
for all the rain they predicted, not bad at all. I mean you
get a couple sprinkles here and there. We're high a top section three twenty
two overlooking Churchill Downs, a still wet track out there right now, thirty
six minutes until we post up to Race nine, that is the sixty ninth
running of the eight bells at Grade two for six hundred thousand dollars at seven
furlungs. Got a French connection going on here. I like the number seven
denim and pearls along with the number one Impel and the number seven denim and
pearls will be ridden by French jockey Ifflavian Pratt and then Impell. We'll be
going off with Flora, Aunt Jerreu and Belle coming in at nine to two
odds right now, and then taking a look at Flavian Pratt and Deniman Pearls
in the number seven. As I look at the big leaderboard, he's down
to four to five. Maybe take the seven to maybe the one if you
want to get lucky with that throwing the six. If you're looking for a
long shot, how about Helena's Forte. You can take the number nine there
if that's what you're looking for. Jose Ortiz gets the ride on that as
well. We are out here at Oaks Day, the first of two beautiful
days that I get to spend here at Churchill Downs. And it was so
funny. I was telling John off the air that I got up this morning
and I went to work, and I came home and I was gonna go
to the gym real quick, come home and change and come out here,
and my wife's sitting there. So I walked in today and she goes.
Can I ask you why you left the house at one thirty this morning because
it's Derby week and gets a little suspicious hunh right right, dude, And
I'm like, I got a lot to do, I mean, and you
know what, but it's it's not working. And what that is, John
is And you can attest to this. You work in this business long enough
and you know when you do something you love, it's one it's not work.
But it's hard for others to understand sort of that world you live in.
And you know, brother, I'm gonna walk out of here. We
go to network coverage. I'm gonna take our coverage up on HS until five
o'clock tomorrow. Uh. And when I walk out of here, I'm gonna
tell you I'm gonna sleep so good Saturday night. Yeah. And what's crazy?
Like you're you're doing this obviously three to six, then you got to
get up for the five am tomorrow. Yeah, I do. Yeah?
And you know what was telling? Because I left at one thirty this morning,
dude, I swear to God, because we got the PBR bars right
next door to us. I walked it as I was walking through our doors
at the iHeart studio. I literally heard the guy in PBR go last call,
last call for alcohol. I was like, oh my god, But
dude, it is such a labor of love, I you know, and
I want to do a little bragging here real quick. And our boss,
Gus l and the entire iHeartMedia staff are so supportive of what we do here.
Daniel Bli is our engineer on site here, and dude, you ought
to see the setup we have here. And it was just until a few
minutes before we went on the air. And I know when Daniel's stressed when
I walk up here and he blows me off. And I walked up here
and I went to say hi to Daniel, and he just he goes.
He put his hand up like hold on, hold on. But he got
us on the air. And Paul Miles is up here working hard with me.
I gotta tell you too, Paul Miles, that's my partner in crime
right there. I don't know another guy. We were down talking in the
media lunch they call it the media lunch room, but man, it's good
food down there too. By the way. We were down there having a
bite eat before we went on the air, and we were talking about different
things we had, and I just congratulated on all the work he's done.
He's the one that's getting us all of our jockey interviews, getting us all
of our trainer interviews. Walk in the backside. There's no more consummate professional
than when Paul Miles and as I look over to my left now, he's
working hard over has with of course Terry Minor, and he's the mainstay.
I mean that the news turnover the past two months. Yes, you're right,
You are absolutely right, John, and he is our rock and we
could not do this without him and just the entire staff, guys like you,
John, that bust your hump there, you know, and Nick Coffee
in his absence, I am constantly bragging on Nick at iHeartMedia about how lucky
we are to have a guy like Nick. I always appreciate people in sports
talk radio who I don't want to call him homers because they're not homers,
but everybody knows Nick leans red. Yes, but Nick is very honest and
he and you know, someone told me once in this business, they said,
ten percent of the people love you, ten percent hate you. The
rest of the middle just don't care. And Nick approaches us with he's got
some haters, he's got some lovers, and you know, Nick just gives
us what we want when we want, and gives us the truth. If
I see a post by Nick, a social media post by Nick, I
know there's there's validity to it. I know Nick's not saying something just to
say something. There's there's a good contingent of fans, and obviously you have
to have this core that's always going to be positive, that thinks if you
say anything negative, then you're not a true fan. And that's just not
the case. That's exactly right, brother, that is exactly right. So
you know, for those I just wanted to make sure I got that in
at some point during our broadcast today because I don't I want to get it
in tomorrow too. People don't get what goes into this week of Derby.
We work all year for this. This is kind of our super Bowl and
it's a time we love. And two nobody loved it more than Will Clark.
I mean, if you want to know a guy who's about six seven,
who could fall over at any given time, that I've seen him literally
at Derby time sit in his chair and doze off, I'm like dude,
Joe, okay, and he goes and goes and goes. But you know,
we couldn't do it without It's a collective effort for everybody here on the
staff, So kudos to everybody, and looking forward, we're just getting started.
So I'm looking forward to the next couple of days. Again. We're
coming up on the sixty ninth running of the Eight Bells, one of the
gigs that I like to do. John here the Derby has worked the Red
Carpet, yes, and we're we're against some more inside Baseball. They kind
of changed the way they're doing credentials here and there's been a little mix up.
I've been cleared for the Red carpet. I've got my media pass says
I'm on the Red carpet, but I'm having a problem getting down there this
year because it's become so congested. You know, it's something different about this
Derby. And I know it's one fifty and it's kind of a big deal,
but I mean it's still the Derby. You feel like it shouldn't be
that much. Ever, you also have the new paddic and that kind of
stuff. Yeah. The one thing I have noticed throughout the week and it's
progressively been more and more as the week's gone on. The amount of people
in the city of Louisville and the surrounding area is the most noticeable to me
that it's been since I've lived here for this time of year. Yeah,
that's exactly what is. In fact, I made that comment right along the
lines of what you're thinking with Tony Cruz this morning, and that was yesterday.
I was coming home on the waters and I noticed it was rush hour,
but schools most of the schools were, if not out, were on
their way out. But it was all the out of state license plates I
saw, oh yeah, all over the place. In fact, my daughter,
who's a teacher, she teaches second grade at one of the local Catholic
elementary schools here in Louisville. I asked her on Tuesday, I said,
are you guys still in schools? JCBs said she is, YEA. Why
and I said, because the water soin's kind of empty on my way home.
But that was earlier this week, and driving home yesterday it was congested.
I told Tony the gym yesterday was packed. I think everybody's trying to
get those pre oaks pree Derby workouts in before they did it, but back
to the Red Carpet and it was we're trying. In fact, we've got
some of the big wigs at Churchill down speaking with the credential folks right now
on our behalf going listen. Has has been a staple of this derby since
the French and Indian War, and part of that coverage has been the Red
Carpet. And it goes back to the days of Ron and Mel and Angie
Fenton, who was a big, big proponent of the Red Carpet. She's
covered the Red Carpet. But last year was a lot of fun and last
year for me and it had to be the highlight was Taylor Dane and being
a kid from the eighties to see her in person. I don't usually fanboy
a whole lot, but boy did I fanboy her and I couldn't believe.
I was so star struck. And you try out to fanboy when you're in
situations like this because you're there to do a job and you have to be
professional. But man, I got Taylor day and standing right in front of
me and look at me down in the eye, and dude, that is
a crazy, crazy feeling and I've got more stories from the Red Carpet from
last year that I'll talk about it, and even I'm getting some rumors about
some folks who are gonna be here this year, but I don't know if
they're gonna come down the Red Carpet. If they do, if aybody's gonna
be able to talk to them. One thing Nick and I have been talking
about in the same vein of what you're referring to is random celebrities you see
around Louisville and you know, the surrounding small towns and that kind of thing.
During Derby Week, have you ever had a run in with somebody?
Oh, I gottw I'm trying to think, and I will think of this
when we go to Marciall Break. I know Shaquilla Lord from w Olka,
why just ran into Tim Tebow in the gym this week? Oh wow,
Yeah, I know he was posting that on social media he ran into him.
I was trying to think of some of the random celebrities I will find
out. I gotta think real hard fact. We had a few people sending
Avery Johnson, the basketball commentator comes every single year. Yeah, yep,
yep. I've heard people say I think this is a few years ago.
Corey Taylor from the band the band Slip Knot, Oh, I remember that,
Yes, I remember that. I remember seeing that one. I'll go
back. I know. There's there's a ton of them that come in here
that you see and then and then of course you have the ones like I'll
never forget. Patrick Mahomes was in last year, of course, because he's
gona rids up. What was so funny? Man? His his handlers come
out about five minutes before they're like, okay, no interviews, no interviews,
no interviews. I'm like, why are you bringing them out on the
red CARPETRD. You know what, I don't need the interview. It's all
right with me. I don't. I don't. I'm alright with that.
But let some of the folks talk to this guy. So I have a
feeling these two that are being rumored the are are gonna be in town tomorrow,
aren't gonna take any interviews if they even come down the red carpet.
Some don't come down the red carpet. And Jack Harlow surprised me last year
who didn't come down the red carpet or he came down the red carpet,
but wouldn't talk to anybody. And you know he would. People would shout
out his name and say hey, can I get your picture, and he
would stop and look at him and let him take this picture. But Bett,
he wouldn't take any interviews. So we'll see. But either way,
listen, boss, we are coming up on twenty six minutes now to the
sixty ninth running of the eight Bells again. I think I'm gonna go with
Denham and Pearls here the fringe connection of Deniman Pearls with Florent Geroux on board,
as well as probably go with the number one Impel that our Flauntre's gonna
be on board Impel. And then I'm gonna go with Deniman and Pearls with
Flavy and Prod on board, that is the two French jockeys. We'll see
how that shakes out. But but that said, we got a big race
coming up tomorrow, that is the Kentucky Derby. Jody Demling is here.
We're gonna talk to him and break that down. He's coming up back to
yourself, but let's get one of Jody Demling's previous way, you say,
John, then we'll take a quick break. Let's do it. This one
is four Endlessly. Now look at the Kentucky Derby field one by one Endlessly.
Jeff Ruby Steak's winner Endlessly as one of the best resumes of any horse
entered in the Kentucky Derby. The bayse Sun of Oscar performance was seventh on
the Derby points list. He's won five of his six career races. The
only race he lost in eighth place finish in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf last
November at Santa Anita. The other five races all won by more than a
length by Endlessly, including a four length score in the Jeff Ruby Stakes on
March twenty third at Turfway Park. The one problem with Endlessly's resume He's never
run on the dirt. Owned by Amberman Racing. That's Jerry and Joan Amberman,
trained by Michael McCarthy. Endlessly will be written by Umberto Respoli. McCarthy
was thinking about running Endlessly in the American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercar,
feeling this horse was more suited for the turf or the synthetic surfaces rather than
dirt. The first four races of his career coming on the turf, the
last two on the Toepeda surfaces, winning the Elchemino Real Derby at Golden Gate
in early February and then the jeff Ruby Stakes at Turfway. But once McCarthy
saw the last workout heading into the Kentucky Derby, he laid out some options
for his owner and Jerry Ammerman decided it was off too. The Kentucky Derby
Endlessly has over seven hundred thousand dollars in career earnings. More than likely he's
going to get the mile and a quarter distance of the Kentucky Derby. The
only question how will he do on the dirt surface? Endlessly the Jeffryby Steaks
winner and the lead up picking Tucky Derby. Of course, it's one flight's
going a mile in an eighth and was running away from horses going a mile
and an eighth and then prop for the derby outside of the dirt. I'm
not sure good more class for looking at it on paper, there might be
one or two horses that have any equal resumes with the Lily Bear. Oh
and welcome back to a beautiful Churchill Towns. He'll be it a sticky Churchill
Towns I'm Scott Fitzgerald High Top here section three twenty two. We are sixteen
minutes now to post. That is for the ninth race of the day on
this Oaks day, the sixty ninth running of the Eight Bells a Grete two
for six hundred thousand dollars and seven furlongs. I am liking the French connection
here, and of course we're gonna go with the number seven denim and pearls
with Flavian Pratt aboard and then all so throw in impelled the number one horse
at four to one odds now that has Florent Geru riding along. And if
you want to throw in your long shot on this one again, looking at
the eight Bells Steaks, I'll go long shot. Why not Helena's Forte.
That's the number nine horse, and that's who you'll find, Jose Ortiz.
I gotta say, Scott, I am not a big horse racing better.
I do it for fun during the Oaks and the Derby season. But yeah,
I have a lot more success when I'm betting college basketball, college football,
the NFL, that kind of thing. I have never been good at
horse betting. Well, let me geh that well And to your point there,
John. In that last race, I took Heavenly Sunday, who led
the whole way and then at the end faded and lost. And that's kind
of where I'm at. I'm my wife and I went to Vegas one year,
and she's my gambler in the family. I don't gamble. Yeah,
so I could take forty bucks throw it down there. When I'm done with
forty I walk away, and I'm good. My wife should just keep winning
and keep in fact, I say I hang with We were at a piano
bar in New York, New York. I'll never forget we were there.
I don't think I paid for a drink all night thanks to her. She
was just playing blackjack on the video blackjack table. So I just sat there
and the guy kept giving us comp joints because she kept winning. So I'm
right there with you, John, But how do you feel now about that?
How do you like this expanded gaming? I gotta say so. I
was not into it before it became legal. I just didn't want to deal
with the offshore type stuff. But Nick Nick was always into it, and
he always asked me, He's like, are you going to get into the
sports betting thing. Now that it's legal, I'm like, you know what,
I'm gonna dabble a little bit here and there and just kind of see
where I'm at. But once college football really got rolling and I was hitting
a couple of parlays, I just I was like, this is really fun
to do. And I'm not a degenerate. There's a lot of people who
probably you know, shouldn't do it as much as they do. But I
have fun with the sports that I'm confident in, with football and basketball and
that kind of thing, and it adds to the experience for me, especially
whenever the team that you root for isn't in the action, it gives you
a reason to root for a different team on certain night. I will tell
you you're you're spot on there, John, because I really got into the
fantasy game over the last couple of years. Oh yeah, my favorite thing.
And I used to make fun of fantasy NERD mind you, so I'll
own this one. My big thing was is I love to get up on
Sunday mornings and I do daily fantasy. So I would get up on Sunday
morning, I have a coup of coffee, watch the NFL Network and put
together a couple. I put together two teams, just two teams. They're
random. In fact, on the red carpet last year, I had a
chance to talk to the one and only k Adams and when she was on
the NFL network, I don't know what she eats for breakfast, but she
won me so much money and I told her that. I was like,
she goes good. Because my suitcase didn't make it, you can take me
out and buy me a new dress, and because their suitcase didn't make it
for Derby last year. But I love fantasy sports, and you know,
it is interesting with the expanded gaming coming about. And obviously people here have
been able to bet on horses forever, so it's not that big of a
deal. I kind of thought it was gonna slow things down maybe a little
bit as far as horse racing, because there's only so much money go around.
But apparently, I from looking at folks at the windows here at Churchill
Downs today, that's not the case. Well, here's the thing with Nick
and I have been talking about this all week two the Oaks and the Derby.
As much as it is a great week for the locals and that kind
of thing, this truly has become now in its current state and out of
towner's event. In my opinion, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you are right. You are absolutely right. The people that are coming in
are people who are having these once in a lifetime experiences. They may be
celebrities, obviously, those are the more regulars when it comes to those who
have more kinds of money and that kind of stuff. But there are people
who are probably here for the first time. They've never been to Kentucky,
that they've never been to Louisville, and this is their opportunity to do some
some classic sports horse betting. You know thing. I love what you're talking
about, John, because I am gonna run an interview tomorrow morning that I
actually did when it before I left for the Draft in Detroit, and it's
all about the short term rental game here in Louisville. And I talked with
one of the guys who's at the forefront and knows everything, not just about
what you need to do when your short term rentals, but how you need
to design your home because to your point, people want an experience, they
want to come in here, and he says, you know, if you
want to get high top dollar for your short term rental. Give it the
bourbon look, give it the horse look. That's what people are coming for.
And he said they were upwards some of the homes. He saw the
top dollar homes that were going this weekend three thousand dollars a night with a
five night minimum. And some people may think it's cliche to make their house
look like their airbnb whatever they're putting together. But when you have somebody who's
coming to the area and it has never been around this kind of stuff,
that's novelty to them, that's exactly right. And and he said it's so
easy to do now, and he gave great tips on how you can literally
flip your home into a derby sort of Oaks home overnight, not as expensive
as what you would think it is. And he says, you're amazed at
what people would buy. And and I like what you said earlier, and
that is about the experience. That's where vacations are going. On our Saturday
Morning Study Hall about a year ago, Joe and I did a segment on
how people are now vacationing for the experience. That is the truth, right,
And when we went to Detroit, whoever thought we could an airbnb in
Detroit. But we did, and it was as we were getting ready to
leave. It was really interesting. It was an old nineteen It was a
house that was built in nineteen hundred that they redid, but there was so
much to that. Whereas we could all my high school buddies and I,
we're all just kind of hanging out. We'd get back from the draft,
we'd sit around and have a couple of beers watching Sports Center, no wives,
no kids, not out carroused and not out raising. It wasn't anything
like the hangover, but it was just like we were in high school again,
and we all agreed that experience was worth its weight in gold, worth
its weight in gold. And you know, I learned quickly on this trip.
I'm cheat so for me to spend money, it takes a lot.
But I also realized that if I'm going to go out and spend some money,
I'm gonna get that experience. And that's what I got. In to
your point, John, I can see people out here right beneath us,
in section three twenty two that are just having an experience, having the time
of their lives, joking, all in groups, talking with each other.
And there's the call we got ten minutes to post here ahead again of the
eight mel stakes for six hundred thousand dollars adds seven for long. So we're
gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come back and feature that race.
You're listening to our special Oak Stay coverage. I'm Scott Fitzgerald, He's John
Alden. We're back with you after this from Churchill Downs on Sports Talk seven ninety