It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thorntons on Sports Talk seven nine
days now. Here's Nick Coffee. Well, it's not exactly Nick Coffee.
I'm Scott Fitzgerald. Here is John Alden. What a beautiful day. We
are high on top the grand stand, section three twenty two here at Churchill
Town's directly underneath the historic Twins Fires. On our special Oaks Day coverage,
we are three minutes away now from the ninth race of the day, that
is the Grade two six hundred thousand dollars eight bells Steaks. As we mentioned,
we're gonna go with the French connection here at least i am. I'm
gonna go with the seven and the one, the seven being Gentemen pearls with
Flavian Pratt aboard, also Impel Florent Jerux. This will go at seven furlongs
again, three minutes to post. Is just a beautiful guy, just a
gorgeous day. Jody Demmley's gonna try to join us coming up here after the
race. He's down seeing some stuff. I'm feeling a slight breeze now,
John even Jody said, it's it's a little warm today, a little sticky,
folks kind of faning themselves. But we do expect much better weather tomorrow.
I want you get into these evening hours tonight. I'm sure you feel
a lot better. Amen, brother, Amen, and uh, but you
know, John, you just can't speak enough when you when you are able
to be in such a party like environment, and it's it's one like no
weather. It's not like a Marty Gras, it's not like a spring break.
Everybody's dressed up. You feel special. I think that's why everybody comes
out here. It's even different than thunder over louisvill though we had a couple
of weeks right right. I gotta admit, man, I mean I don't
get that I don't get to dress up that often and and I like to
do that. In fact, I was had shopping last week and I just
enjoyed hat shopping. And I'm kind of I'm a hoodie kind of guy.
I love my hoodies and my hockey jerseys. I could wear those every day
for the end of time. But I do like to dress up and and
every now and then, and you like to come out and you like to
people watch, and there's something when you see these people dressed to the Nines.
Sometimes you just see people casual, people like feeling special, and the
Kentucky Derby makes you feel special. It's kind of like when you're flying you
get up grady to first class, oh yeah, and you kind of go
all right, cool, You're like Wayne's wild walking, showing everybody your backstage
passes. Look at me, look at me, look at me. And
it's a good feeling. I wouldn't want to do this all the time,
but when you only do it once a year, I'm so blessed to be
able to do that, and to be able to do it here. Like
I mentioned earlier, it was thunder over Louisville, the top of the Ali
Center, the NFL Draft last week, and now the Kentucky Derby and the
Oaks. I mean, I could die tomorrow and be a happy man,
and it's just my life is complete. The good Lord brought me to Louisville,
Kentucky. I have no business being here. I had no business meeting
my wife in San Diego, California. I had no business getting hired into
media, and lo and behold, here we are. And there's not a
day that doesn't go by that I don't appreciate every single thing that has happened
to me and every single moment in my life to be able to experience something
like this each and every year. So I certainly feel blessed, and again
thank you everybody you made this happen for me today, to include yours truly.
Back there at the studio, John Alden has been a tremendous help to
me. Brother. It's never easy when you step in to fill in for
somebody. Oh yeah, it's a different environment. I know you do this
in the mornings. It's a different time slot, So I mean it's always
an adjustment in some way, shape or form. Yeah, you're just a
pro there, John, and I'm looking forward to doing some more work with
you coming up here as we move forward. Just a testament to the great
staff we have at iHeartRadio Louisville. Good good people there, that's for sure.
All Right. We are coming up and I'm trying to see where they've
got the advertisements on the big board, and I'm trying to see where that
I can't exactly see the starting gate from the vantage point I am at as
they're loading up the horses, it looks like the oh here we go.
Okay, now they're getting ready to load the horses in. They're way off
in the far turn, way down in that little shoot that they kick them
out of there because we're only seven and a half furlongs. So again,
this is the eight Bells, six hundred thousand dollars. Everybody knows the story,
the tragic story behind eight bells, the Philly who of course passed away
here at Churchill Downs. Loading the horses in and now as they go,
and those starting gates are phenomenal too, when those horses get bucking around inside
there, and then we'll go to the call to race and come back and
hopefully Jody Demmling will work his way up here and it looks like it's a
smooth load for these horses. Sometimes you'll get him and they'll buck around,
and they'll kick around and they grab those horses right by the rump they're in
there. Looks like they're all in the gates. Oh nope, we got
one more John, Now we got the feisty one. It happens sometimes,
right John's gonna go to the call, they get him in the gate and
it looks like, well it's kind of like a jack in the box.
Yeah, you never know. There you go batch and they're off and Helena's
Forte breaks out in stride. Asternia with a goods start as well as the
field races up the shoot that hats for the main track and us Sternia comes
on through to take the lead. Alina's fortes right there second in our Harper
Rose tugs up from the outside and takes over third. My main squeezes back
into fourth in pelt with the inside fifth. Do Gooder is out in six
Edimen Pearls is all the way back in seventh, alongside of a Comedy Eva
who's eighth toward the rail. All things goes racing in ninth. Tanya Showers
is second to last early and at the back is Lady Moscato, ten lengths
off the lead with four furlongs to go, and they clicked off and opening
quarter in twenty two and two, Asternia hits the fire turned run, blazing
the way in front by length. Helena's Forte on the chasing second in hot
pursuit, and my main Squeeze is coming on with a three wide challenge impels
right there in behind from the back of the pack of comedy Eva. Denimen
Pearls is coming on as well. Doo good or is there swinging wide as
Tanya showers for the stretch drive. They're off the turn. Asternia's coming under
pressure. Here's my main squeeze pouncing from the outside, My main squeeze up
for the lead. With a furlong to go, Helena's Forte, Asternia fighting
on Impell not today for Denimen Pearls final sixteenth. My main squeeze goes clear
by two and a half. Impel's finishing with interest, but she's second best.
My main squeeze the winner. Wow, Oh, there you have it
again, John, know one of my favorites. At least I had him
Bell, you had him be there, Bill and and and we did,
we did. We were gonna go with Helena's Forte. We were gonna go
with Helena's Forte. And it almost pulled it off there, almost almost,
but couldn't come around. So there you have it. We'll get the payouts
for you coming up as well. And of course my main squeeze written by
Luis Saiez in those signature Windstar Farm silks. And you can't mistake WinStar Farm.
Uh. And when you live here long enough and you follow the race
game, you get to know these silks, you get to know. Uh's
sort of the who the jockeys are. And even my son said to me
today before I left the house. He he said, there's no real celebrity
silks in the derby this year, and so to tell you that. But
nonetheless my main squeeze going off your winner, Luis sias Moore, congratulations to
him. Thought maybe Impelle could pull it off, but that's how this goes.
And you know, we'll see, we'll see what else they can do.
Coming up now in the tenth race, is we are going to have
the fortieth running of the Edgewood for six hundred thousand dollars, That is at
a mile in a sixteenth that is scheduled to be on the turf again for
six hundred thousand dollars. We'll try us. It's hard to lever up to
the tenth race already. Let's take a look at Boushu at number four.
See if that one can pull it out. Hard to justify maybe taking second,
of course, dancing in Dixie Mofox given your best long shot there the
number five horse as well, well, let's think about that name there for
a second though, Scott mo Fox, given one thing we love about the
war is the same of the subliminal messaging right here in some of these names
that that's a suspicious if you asked me right, Yeah, I get it.
I didn't even catch that, dude. That was a good catch on
your part. That was a great catch. Again, just a very sticky
day here at Churchill Downs as we continue to work our way through and get
things going in here. Os Jody Demmling's next to me. I was trying
to get his schedule. Yeah, so Jody's on HS. Sorry, we're
delving inside baseball, Jody's coordinating. We're all trying to make use of Jody
here. So nonetheless, brother, we shall see what happens. But yeah,
a little sticky. I see some rain clouds off to the south now
of us here at Churchill Downs. For the most part though, it really
the rain has not been bad. I mean, I'm looking down at that.
It's that new area down there along the track that has sort of the
lounge seating that you're starting to see in more and more football stadiums. And
nobody's left there. Nobody's wearing the ponchos, so it doesn't look like it's
rain. Track is still wet, I did hear Kevin Kirston talking with Tony
Cruz earlier this morning talking about how this track drains very very well so and
it looks like all predictions for the Kentucky Derby tomorrow could be a fast track.
We're just getting you going our all day Oaks coverage here while our all
day but our three hour Oaks coverage will have all day Derby coverage tomorrow,
not on news Radio eight forty whas. And speaking of news Radio eight forty
whs, I did want to remind folks John that tonight we're gonna have a
very special pre Derby programming edition that is coming up. Joe Elliott is going
to host the Running the Secretariat. Yeah, we're gonna run that thing in
its entirety and one of the things I've been now it'll start at seven o'clock
tonight. You want to tune into that. One of the things that I
love doing this year, John, is our Derby memories, and that is
a long standing tradition at news Radio eight forty whas. They were done by
kvid Lepford. They were done by Paul Rodgers, and a boss asked if
I would I would host some and update some and you know, when you
do those, you obviously have to do research on the stories of the different
Derby horses. And one of the ones I did research on obviously, I
mean, everybody knows the story Secretariat, but there's a lot more that goes
into it. And it was very interesting reading about that, learning about that,
and as I mentioned to you off the when I ran into you in
the studio this week, I revisited Secretary at the movie and one I'm a
big John Malklevich fan, who is just awesome as secretariats trainer, So I
was able to do that and go through those stories. We did one on
Seattle Slow. We'll try to run maybe one or two of those here before
we get off the air. But you know, like I said, there's
just so many Derby Day stories, and Joe Elliott's gonna cover those for you
coming up at seven o'clock tonight. It's a great way to really sort of
kind of get you ready for Derby. And one of our favorite things to
do in our house is we like to watch, you know, all the
Derby reporting from the parties and such. And to be able to do that,
as I was telling my wife, I might be able to sleep in
it, believe it or not. Ironically, I might be able to sleep
in tomorrow. Oh yeah, well, I'm thinking we go on the air
at six, and typically I come down early. But because of everything we've
done for Derby leading up to tomorrow, most of it's all already done,
and because when you talk to Derby guests, it's hard to get a lot
of them on Derby Day itself, especially in the morning. So most of
that is done. I told my wife, I said, I may actually
get to stay up and watch some of the the Derby party coverage. Now,
Willie, if you remember will Clark used to go to the Barnstable Brown
every year and he used to go visit with them and visit with those people
out there. I don't know that I I'd be one to go to sort
of those parties. Do you want to go see Joey Fatone from in Sync?
I know he's a main stage, isn't he? He is? And
I know Tom Brady's come in town before. I don't think he's going to
be here this year, though I know Tom Brady guy from who plays Rip
in Yellowstone, Nick mentioned he's going to be there this time too. Yellowstone
yes, Yellowstone's a big favorite. Yellowstone is there was that party and the
one party I always wanted to go to that I never had a chance.
That he doesn't do it anymore. Is Bill Samuel's Derby party that he held
done at Maker's Mark and Loretto, and never had the opportunity to go there.
I know Hermitage had a party one year when Hoodie came here, Darius
Rutger, and that takes me back. You were asking me if I ever
run into a celebrity out in town by accident. I knew there was one.
I was trying to think of it. But it wasn't out in town.
It was here at the Kentucky Derby two years ago. Again will Clark
gets Jeff Milby and I and he does, as usual, come with me.
He grabs someone we know who works security, and this guy can get
us wherever we want to go. That was dear President Trump was here,
and it was Willie had said, Willy goes, come on, we're gonna
go find President Trump. I go, w whati do you get an interview
the guy? He goes, I don't care. I just get a picture.
I don't care. It doesn't matter. So we walked all over Churchill
Downs looking for we cut through what is the old Millionaire's role? I think
they built it up down here. It's down in Turn one where we saw
probably the most ginormous slab of raw shrimp you've ever seen in your life.
And we're walking through, and as we're racing, because WILLI walks one hundred
miles an hour, we're walking through and I know Scott looks like Terrius Rucker.
I'm going that's him, that's him. And I stopped him on a
whim and I had said, mister Rucker, can I get my picture with
you? And he was so accommodating and so nice and gess of things.
Like one thing Nick and I talked about earlier this week is you never know
how people who you see as your heroes are going to act whenever you approach
them sometimes and so sometimes it might be nerve racking if you don't know their
personality or maybe you haven't heard good things about them, Like Nick mentioned Jerry
Seinfeld. He loves the show Seinfeld, Yeah, but that he he can
never speak to him because he's heard that he's not very nice to people when
they approach him. That's right, that's exactly right, by the way,
your payouts coming in on this race now, John, my main squeeze winning
my main m Ane fifteen eighty four is what he paid in the upset to
win, and Impel paid five forty two. Coming in second place. Is
Sterna eight ninety two coming in to show the two dollars exactly with the eleven
and one paid ninety eight forty if you had the one dollar double of the
one and eleven and that was three hundred forty seven dollars and eighteen cents.
And if you did play the two dollars exact again eleven and one ninety eight
forty, So big payout there, that reasonable payout. It's beer money.
We'll put it that way for your winners and some. I mean, if
you have the all inclusive, you don't even need the beer money. You
just put Wow. No, if you bet the fifty cent trifecta on the
eleven, one and six, I got your four ninety three fifty three,
four undred ninety don't get you a sandwich on the way home. The right
get your sandwich over here in the turf club. I did, by the
way, have one person approach me as we were sitting up here, and
I'm not gonna say who it is, because he goes, you know,
I can get you and ey where you want to go. Oh yeah,
what what? And you my luck has been out here. When people say
that they mean it. I mean they're not blowing smoke because if you call
them out on it, they're gonna be I said, seriously. He goes,
yeah, he said let's talk later. And I was like, oh,
okay. That changes the game. And so because I'm debating whether tomorrow
whether I'm gonna run home after the show and change and then come out here
or just come out here in general. And I'm thinking that this guy can
get me access to where I need to be, I might go check that
out. But it is it does remain a sticky day. Now. The
good thing the clouds are out. That's that's the good thing. The clouds
are out. It has cooled it off a little bit. Every now and
then we'll get that breeze that comes up here. And and but it is
not deterring people away. It is a full house out here. I will
be interested to see what kind of crowd all your main area. If you're
watching on TV, John, A lot of people watch on TV and they
see, well, the infield doesn't look that crowded, and then they kind
of they kind of make the assumption that that, well, it must not
be that populated. No, because what you're not seeing is beautiful Turn one
and all the way around is I look down here through the grandstand and then
back over to Central Avenue is packed, just packed. So what I think
it'll go down is one of the record breaking crowds in history. Probably not,
but I do think that they're gonna have a reputable crowd here. I
think tomorrow's crowds gonna be huge. I think you're you're gonna have the one
hundred and fiftieth run for the Roses. The weather's gonna be great. I
think it's absolutely gonna beautiful. And Jody Demlin standing by, I'll tell you
what, John, why don't we let's see, we're gonna take it.
We're gonna take a quick break. Why don't we take our break right here?
John, Let's do it. And when we come back. Jody Demlin
standing by it the ready, we'll catch him and we'll talk to him.
How's that perfect? We do We've got we've got the fortieth running of the
Edgewood coming up, and that is for six hundred thousand dollars at a mile
and a sixteenth on the turf. You're listening to special Oaks Day coverage on
Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. He's John Alden. We're back
after the break here at Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, big voice
guy, thank you, great choice of music, John Alden, high top
the grand stand, Section three twenty two here at Churchill in Towns. We
just we're getting ready to get started with the fortieth running of the edge Wood
and that is of course for six hundred thousand dollars a mile and sixteenth on
the turf. Joining me now the one and only Jody. I'm like,
good afternoon to you, brother. How are you? How are you doing?
I'm okay, now, aren't you? It is you know what it's
It's not hot, It's just sticky. I mean it really is just sticky.
And every time that it rains it gets worse, and I'm like,
stop raining, what'd you please? I had to take my coat off and
I will say the track is not good. I was gonna say real sloppy
because they were talking Kevin Kurston was talking earlier this morning about how it drains
real. Well, it does, it does. We're gonna have a sloppy
oaks. Yes, we're gonna have a sloppy oak. So what they've got
it sealed right now. So what that is for those out there listening,
it is like packed down, Like if you went and walked across it right
now, you be on roller skates with your with tennis shoes on. Really
yeah, because it's it's packed down. They took those the floats is what
they call them. And they took the floats and they and they rolled over
them this morning. And what they do is when it gets to be where
there's not a lot of water on top, which there's not a ton,
but there's still enough, then they take their harrows and they open they open
it back up and then the water drains down. Now, the water's draining
good right now. It's just they've got it sealed up. You can see,
Scott, we're watching there's somebody walking and he's being real key. You
know, you're in real surfle walking across hockey. It's like you're walking ice.
It's exactly, it's like you're walking on ice. It's like you're walking
on ice. Jody, Jody Dammling joining us now and Jody looking at this
race. This is the Edgewood Stakes. It is on the turf. How
does the rain like this affect the turf? Probably really good on this turf,
because i'd heard a lot of things yesterday about the turf being pretty hard
because we hadn't had a ton of rain in the last few weeks. The
turf was pretty hard. And I would imagine that the turf is listed as
yielding, which is basically kind of it's not. I wouldn't say it's soft,
but it is. There's got a there's some give in it. And
so yeah, uh this this this track holds a ton of water. When
they redid the turf course and then they redid it again, they actually built
it up a little bit, so you're up a little higher uh than what
uh than than what it used to be, and the water drains all pretty
good in there. So we got Callisparis the Irish horse. And this,
along with dynamic pricing the eight and the ten. Is there any truth to
the fact that the European horses run better on turf than you know? It
kind of depends on the race and the style and all that kind of stuff.
But I am one who yes, I I always tend to gravitate towards
looking to bet a European horse. I do everything. I'm a power when
i'm when I'm when there's an European horse in the in the race, to
bet that horse, I turn. I don't always do it on the turf.
I don't always do it, but but that's the case. I will
say this too. Saint Denis, which is not It looks like Saint Dennis
for those of you in town, but it's Saint Denis. What was the
horse three races ago? The Japanese horse? He ran really well and it's
made me think about this race tomorrow because his stablemate t O Password is a
horse. I think he's gonna finish twentieth. Yeah, but after watching that,
this horse might be a little better than what I think and it could
push the pace a little bit. I think that race today. As a
serially owned fan, I was like, oh, I like this because the
Japanese horse did it. But you're right. I mean the European horses they
trained differently. A lot of them trained on turf all the time. Yep.
And and it's just the that's just kind of the way it is,
so you you tend to look at them a little harder when they're on turf.
And you brought up the Japanese horses. I was down wandering around that
new paddock area, and I know there is a strong Japanese contingent down there
wandering around. Is Japan becoming a player in the horse racing game? Now?
Oh? Yeah, big time? Yeah? They've dominated. You know,
they won. They win the three Breeders Cup races two years ago,
two of them last year. They've won but about every big race in the
world over the last few years except for this one. Right, they did
triple the Triple Crown except the Triple Crown, and they want to do it.
What do you think with Forever Young Dermasoto Gak last year finished sixth.
I like that horse a lot better than I like Forever Young. But again,
he's undefeated, he has none no wrong. I just I thought I'd
be wowed by him a little more watching him train in the mornings than I
haven't been the last The last time I look, he had been bet down
to uh six to one, So there's a lot of money coming in on
him. Yeah, you know, and I think that's I think he will
end up being the third choice, uh, in the in the derby,
and I fucked that all along. It's just really interesting that I'm one that
I've I've backed those horses every time they come here a little bit all the
way back to Ski Captain. Tony Cruz always gives me grief for Skia Captain.
Uh because Ski Captain Actually Ski Captain ran seventh, so it was not
that bad, right, But Uh, this horse, I'm not. I
don't have him in my top three. I think I got him fifth.
I think he'll run. Okay, how does that affect the horse? And
it's one thing when a horse comes over from say Ireland, it's a much
shorter flight. But this is coming all the way from Japan, halfway around
the world. Well, they had to go to Chicago, and they there
and then ban down here, you know, after the fact, or really
or fly down here. I don't know how they they got, but they
they were in quarantine there and then they're here in the quarantine bart it does
affect them forever. Young's been here longer. Uh, he's been here about
a week longer than any other Japanese horse that's been in the Derby. So
he's been here a good amount of time. Well, let's talk Jody while
we got here, because I know you got to get going here before this
race starts. About the oaks coming up. Yeah, I like just FOI
I uh, it's I think she is a I think she's sitting on a
monster race after her last race was the one race to get her back into
this year. I think she's sitting on a monster race. I think she
has got a chance to run away with it here. Unfortunately, I think
she's probably gonna be the favorite. Torpedo Anna is right there with her.
You know, it's been a brad Cox, A good day for brad Cox
here today. He's got three wins I believe in stakes, two wins in
stakes races. Florence Dreu's got three in stakes races. And they will team
up on Tarifa. Uh. And you know she was the morning line favorite
at seven to two. Yeah, she's not she's not getting a lot of
respect. I think the last time I looked, she was the fourth choice.
Yeah, and so yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting to see.
I kind of looking it into Champagne. A lot of her ownership group comes
out of Mount Washington, Kentucky local ownership group there. Maybe he'll be a
price, She'll be a price. She definitely will be a price. Waising
means is a horse that's good on the backside if Leslie's Rose didn't have that
fourteen spot with the way she wants to do things, and then kind of
I think a little bit of a wise girl horse, let's say, is
our pretty woman? And I think it's a lot of people saying, hey,
honey, I'm betting this for you, you know. But I also
think with Steve ask Music that he's talked highly of this horse and what she
could do. But did whyatt pretty woman ran well on the sloppy tracks,
didn't she? Yes, she had mistaken so she's done better any other horses.
Half, So there's a handful of in the half. Yeah, Well,
post time is five point fifty one looking forward to it. I don't
know if the weather forecast has changed for tomorrow's Derby or not. I don't
think it really has. I don't think it has. I think they're holding
study. You think we'll have a fast track for tomorrow? Oh, I
definitely think so as long as it doesn't as long as the weather right now,
it's fifty percent chance over the courts of the next hour or so,
and then what I've been looking at is there's really nothing until a slight chance
of some storms in the afternoon tomorrow. So I think definitely most of the
day will have a fast track. I would. I'd be surprised if they
don't have it fast for the Derby. Do you think all right? Well?
Yeah, looking at the crowd. I was talking with John. The
first turn looks beautiful down now, and the grants to everywhere undercover's fall.
The enfield's probably not as full because of the rain. You can't tell anymore,
right, you can't. You can't tell anymore. Do you think we
may see a bigger crowd tomorrow just because it is the one fiftieth? I
do? I think the days of the one hundred and sixty or seven,
whatever the record is, those days are over right because of all the buildings
and things that they've got in the infield. You just can't pack people in
there in the infield, right, But I think we're gonna see a really
big crowd tomorrow, I really do. You know, it's interesting when you
see the price points that a lot of people made comments about how much beer
is or how much a drink is. Dude, I was at the NFL
Draft last weekend. Beer was the same price there as it. Yeah,
I oh, no, I know you're gonna get people that pay that in
regard. I mean a crab roll at a crabrell at Fenway Park is thirty
four dollars. You know, a hot dog get a baseball stadium. You
losk at what they are. Yeah, they are expensive, and they won't
probably be that expensive every day of the week, but I think they can
do it on derby week and they're not expensive today because all these people it's
all on their ticket because it's all inclusive and it's really cut down. It
really has cut down on the lines. Yeah. And I was talking to
one of the vendors, one of the guys that was was working one of
the things, and he was like, he's like, I don't want to
tell him it's kind of easy, but this is kind of easy for us
because we just hand out food. We don't do anything else. Yeah,
that's what I was telling John. It's nice for us as patrons because we
don't have to wait in the line for the beer to be busier tomorrow.
Well, Jody, I appreciate you always, brother. I know you got
a roll. You're getting ready for this race, and we're lucky to have
you with us and looking forward, hopefully we can connect tomorrow's We definitely will.
Okay, all right, See if there he goes, ladies and gentlemen,
Jony Demmling, you can follow him along and he's I'll be back talking
to Louisville Sports before too long. But right now, my man, he's
gonna grab his camera with the big lens on it. He's gonna take that
thing down and he is all about the Derby. One of my favorite peeps
to hang out with come Derby time. So there you heard it, John,
I mean you heard Jody offered some good insight there. Yeah, I
mean he is the Louisville horse racing expert if there ever was one. Yeah,
I mean horse racing. The Cardinals. Jody is well connected, does
great work over there at Holy Trinity and Saint Matthews as their athletic director.
He does, he does it all. So and of course you remember back
to the COVID years, Jody was probably the first person I knew that came
down with COVID. That's right. That was a heck of a story people
following along with his COVID battle in the hospital. But thankfully he was able
to get through it. And it was as somebody who was just getting to
working in the radio business and he was still a thigheart at the time.
It was crazy to see him come away being healthy after all that, because
I mean, yeah, it was a scary situation for him. It was
very scared. And I remember I would always walk past Jody's desk just to
kind of look at it, you know, on his desk he'd always had
the Louisville Cardinals wrote down, and what was on your schedule is sometimes easier
to look at Jody's desk than it was to look up a schedule. And
I just remember Jody being out for so long and his last entries that were
right before COVID. So uh, great to see the comeback by Jody.
He's looking fantastic and he's just he's loving life as we all are out here
at the track working here high top section three twenty two again underneath the historic
Twin spires. And that's the only part John, the only the only and
there's no negatives to this at all. But the only thing is I can't
see the Twin spires when I sit up. Heh, yeah, I can't.
That's part of the Derby experience. And but Jody's right, you can't
get a read on the crowd anymore because it is all tense. And if
you, if you do turn your turn on your TV and turn us up,
turn them down, you'll be able to see all the tents in the
infield and and just all the things for sale and the people milling around,
and it doesn't stop them. One thing I did want to mention, because
it's up on the big board now, is we're seventeen minutes to post here
coming up again on race ten here at Churchill Down. It's the fortieth running
of the edge Wood for six hundred thousand dollars it. Paul Miles took me
down to the paddic area, the new Paddock, and like when I say
took me down to the paddock, we went into the paddock and you'll see
some of my pictures up on social media. Seven ninety Louisville. You can
see it there. Just beautiful. I mean, when you stand in the
middle of this thing. It is incredible. It is a colisseum fill or
feel. You certainly are the center of attention. I cannot wait to see
what this looks like on TV tomorrow. But when you see that paddic area
for the first time and you see just the grandeur of it, I mean
again, you get it right away. It's crystal clear what's going on here.
So again, we're coming up on race ten. We'll probably take a
quick break here before too long, kind of recharge our batteries. I ran
into a guy here at Churchill Downs, and if you watch it, if
you follow on social media at s fits underscore eight to forty whs, we
posted a picture of him. We'll have my conversation with him, and then
coming up as well. We'll probably do that conversation next hour. John coming
up next though. I think we're gonna talk a little bourbon, because bourbon
sounds really good, dude, And I keep trying to tell myself, I
gotta get up and go to work tomorrow. So I usually Friday, I
don't usually have anything to drink. But man, when you're at Churchill Downs
and you smell that cigar, smoke keeps wafting up here, and you see
that Woodford when you walk down below, you're like, oh my goodness,
one day of the year, I just want a bourbon. We're gonna hear
from one of the top bourbon officionados right here in Kentucky. Had a nice
conversation with him, not talking about Eric Gregory, president of Distillers Association,
not just about you know, bourbon and how to drink it, but the
state of bourbon and believe it or not, the good work that they're doing
in parts like West Louisville, the University of kent There's a lot going on
with the bourbon industry right now. And plus we'll find out how the top
dog when it comes to bourbon likes his bourbon as well. So I think
what we'll do, John, Let's go ahead and take our break, and
when we come back, we'll talk a little bit with Eric Gregory and we'll
be ready to go come up in facts. Maybe we'll play it by here.
We'll talk to the break because we're coming up on the race here.
All right, let's take a break here. You're listening to special Oaks Day
coverage on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. He is John Olim.
We're back after this again on Sports Talk seven ninety Oh, great choice,
great choice, John, Allen Scott Fitzgerald with you here. We are
coming up seven minutes to go to race ten, that is the Edgewood Stakes.
Before we go to the race, though, I had a chance to
catch up with a very interesting gentlemen. You're gonna see more of them tomorrow
as well. On the backside. Go ahead and roll that audio. John.
Okay, that's my own And where do you hail from? I come
from Denver, Colorado, and I was born in Aliso mehe girl, But
I have moved to them that back in nineteen seventy seven, and then you
know, I watched it being TV also you know and TV stuff. But
now I say, you know what, someday I'm going to make it up
that and I did. This is my second time. What was the first
time? I left you? Last year? Wow? How long does it
take this get up? This is incredible? Okay, I you know I
come from Denver. I left the Tuesday ever to Mega yesterday because we want
stopping everywhere, right, So so let me tell you how long does it
take to put this outfit together? This is when I want to say this
happen a couple of weeks. Okay, you know, because I take my
type of thing. You know what do put on? You know right right?
And we're gonna post this on our social media feeds so bocks can see
what you look like these shoes? Brother, how long did those things put
together? This h I do one to day to be sure, you know,
you know the ideas to be sure I put it that right thing because
I don't want to take it out of your Are you worried about the rain
if it rains, or you're worried about snow coming off? I don't want
to buy the rain even a day it went. I don't care because I
got my my better head. So so now are you if you come back
for Derby, are you gonna bring a new outfit with a different No,
everybody, he's a popular guy. So tomorrow you're back for Derby with another
out I want to I don't want to tell you I won. Yeah,
he's a popular guy. Everybody is talking. Said, well, I'm gonna
post this online. Folks can look and they need to look for And what
do you go by again? You are the Mexican elvis, a mustache and
the mustache, keen mustache. Oh, I got you. It's good to
talk to you, Boston. I know you're probably he had to take a
break. Folks, he's taking a picture. This is a popular guy.
Well, happy Oaks to you, my friend. I'll let you get back
together with the crowd. Yeah, that's thank you. I'm taking your diamond.
You bet you're gonna let me see if you get who's your who's your
oakshold, who's your Oaks horse too? Yeah, I don't know. I
just picked the skinness and Douglas hooks. Okay, and as it I didn't
last year in the win. Yeah, okay, so that's what I'm gonna
do. I don't go for the you can run right. I'm gonna tell
you something. Yeah, I wanna hopefully social media hear me. When you
pick I'm a football ben yea. When you pick a football players, don't
pick your foody faces. Okay, big ones, I learned that. I
learned that from the Pits butter Steelers. I got you, Yeah, I
got you. You're kind of looking like Rocky Glier All right, boss,
I'm trying to get an interviewed here pushed out and I'm getting the interview.
Go ahead, there, you take care of This is Mexican Elvis. He
is. It's a popular guy. People are literally pushing me out of the
way so they can get their picture with him. No, that's okay.
Well I'm I'm gonna let you get to your photo. Ops. I want
to get one picture with you, all right, Okay, I want you
to buddle me. Yes, yes, well I'll tag you their boss.
Hey, look, you got pictures. You gotta get buddy. You have
a good time Mexican Elvis. A right, thank you, sir. All
right, all right, Mexican Elvis, Ladies and gentlemen. He's on our
social media feed plays. The first time that I've ever done an interview like
this where I have been like people were showing me away, like they told
me to stop doing my interview so they can get her picture with this guy.
Well, get up on social media. I'm Scott Fitzgerald celebrating Oaks one
fifty. You're having a great time on Sports Talk seven ninety All right,
Yeah, that was a wild experience there, John Uh. And that was
whenever you told me that we were going to be going to this interview with
Mexican Elvis, I had no idea what to expect, and it to me,
it just seemed like this guy just kind of appeared out of the ground
like a gnome and found himself at the Kentucky Derby. Dude, I just
posted his pictures to my social media as fits underscoring forty WHSLC does look like
Rocky Blier and his kicks that he was wearing our amazing. But dude,
people were pushing me out of the way as I was doing the interview.
He was so popular. People were like move, and I'm like, I'm
talking to him, and I kept trying to get out of his way,
and he kept wanting to talk to me. And he started going on about
something about the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers and it's just part of his
popular character among NFL memes and that kind of thing. Yeah guy, that
kind of thing who knows. Yeah, well, he told me. He
says they feature him all the time on the jumbo tron when he goes to
Denver, when he goes to Broncos games. Okay, John, we are
two minutes away now from race number ten to fortieth running of the Edgeway the
Grade two for six hundred thousand dollars. This is on the turf. They
are loading up the horses just off to to my left. Again, it
just got real humid on this end. I'm watching fans around me here starting
to really fan themselves and running the thing like we're not used to the humidity
yet around here. A couple of months to kind of get acclimated to that
kind of stuff, right, And as you were running that interview, I
felt myself. I mean, I just got off the treadmill this afternoon.
I think I'm sweating as much as I was on the treadmill, and I
was starting to wipe the sweat from my brock. I don't know where it's
coming from, but it just came out all of a sudden. He got
a little darker here and then now things are starting to lighten up. But
I did notice fans were kind of fan of guys were taking their fidors all
kind of waving themselves and fan it a little bit. Now as the horses
are coming around the far turn here that what would be the final turn in
the derby. They're still on the tur on the dirt. They're gonna make
the crossover into the turf before they load in it says we're almost up on
the race. So again, this is the Edgewood, the fortieth running of
the Edgewood. I think I'm gonna go with Bushu the number four in this
one to win, and that is with Martin Garcia aboard. And then we'll
take the number nine hard to justify. I wonder if that has any relation
to justify that has Flavian Pratt. We'll try to get another win for Flavan
Pratt. And to your point, the long shot in that funny sounding name,
and I can say it because it's legal, it's true, mo Fox
give it. You almost feel bad for the guy who's gonna be calling the
race. Oh my good miss, you might watch himself right right, So
mofox given, we'll take that as the long shot that has Junior Alvarado on
board as well. Now I think some of that humidity has passed away.
I'm starting to feel a little bit more of a breeze now coming back here.
So I think it's just something we're gonna be dealing with here today.
Again, doesn't like it's holding people off, so they are now the horses
are coming up on to the track and getting ready to cross over onto the
turf, and great explanation by Jody about what it meant to seal a track.
To be honest with you, I had never really dove into that.
I thought when you seal the track, it's you seal it, and I
didn't know. As Jody mentioned, it's kind of like walking on ice with
regular shoes, like at a hockey game. And it's very interesting when you
look down on that now and very It was great insight by Jody. Okay,
the horses are coming across now. Uh, they are on the turf.
It looks like we got the first horses going in now one and two
are in or with the one horse is in the number two horses coming up.
The horse is getting ready to man again. This is going to pay
out five hundred one thousand dollars in this race. As they get ready to
load him up, you might be safe. We'll try to go with the
four to nine and the thirteen, the thirteen being dancing and Dixie. That
is the number thirteen horse. That is Jose Ortiz on board as well coming
up. By now we got how many more horses? We got two horses
left to load, the eleven getting ready to go in. Now that of
course, followed by the thirteen we just mentioned, and there's the thirteen.
The gray colt into the gate as they close the door behind her in the
gate and they're off and Maxi's Superfly wasting no time. She's sent right to
the front, angles over toward the rail. Hard to justify is there and
from the fire outside way to be Marie comes on to join them to make
it three across the track, paining Polka dots in behind, races up to
grab fourth. Bookou is now fifth the end of gold, angles over inside,
tucks away to save ground, racing in six denemic pricing a little bit
wider to that turn now finds the two path moving up from seventh. Mofox
given his eighth scalable toward the inside is ninth, dancing in Dixie's back in
tenth, too clear of Calli sped on the trailer to the backstretch run long
shot Maxis Superfly throws down a quarter in twenty two and four heads down the
back stretch run in control and right next to her is hard to justify.
Second Maxi's Superfly gets away just a bit, opens up length and a half,
hard to justify. Still second Pink polka dots toward the inside. Third
good to be Marie on the far outside is fourth, Bookoo is right in
the thick of things. Fifth dynamic pricing, three wide far turn, starting
to edge forward from sixth band of gold and Mo Fox given. So they
round the far turn. Maxi's Superfly still in front, round the turn,
one length advantage heading for the quarter pole. Pink polka dots with a pocket
trip needs to find a way through. Hard to justify set down wady by
Marie comes wide off to turn. Bookoo switches outside for the final furlong,
and dynamic pricing is coming, and so is Mo Fox giving. There's one
for long to go and it's going to be way to be Maria in front
of the gate pole. Hard to justify gives way dynamic pricing, Bookoo,
Maxie's super Fly down the center mofox giving and way way out on the center
of the course, dancing in Dixie. Here's the wire. Dynamic pricing got
up in the nick up time. Wow, there you have it. Fans
here pretty excited. Wow, what a race that was. And we thought
we thought we see hard just hard to justify. Pull up Bookoo even making
a run at it. As well. But a great race here on the
turf that is the Edgewood Stakes for five hundred thousand dollars as they come across
the line at the turf, and we'll see what the payouts are coming up
on that, you know. And again, John, that's part of the
fun here is that the when you hear the crowd just you know, roar
and excite and everybody get on their feet when you had that one horse did
nobody saw coming? Oh yeah, come around. And that's the beauty of
this sport. And you know, this is definitely a sport where people feed
off each other. I mean, let's be honest. I've been out at
the track a couple of times where I've had guests in from out of town
on a random weekday and we come out here and there's really nobody here.
Doesn't carry the same excitement as when you have a lot of the folks out
here that are cheering on these horses. Of course, and we'll wait to
see what the payouts are here. As it looks like dynamic pricing. The
Irish horse comes across Irad Ortiz Junior and jockey on that horse I read Ortiz
Junior, no stranger, to success, that's for sure. In the horse
racing world, so more excitement. The hats. Nobody's taking the hats off,
that's for sure. Everybody's got the hats on. The mid gulps are
flowing. I have seen so many mid juleps out here, people carrying min
gelps around, and you know it. One thing that is constant is we
hear people complaining all the time. Men jewlbs. They're terrible, they taste
terrible. But you know what they sell every single year, and even at
twenty two dollars, I mean, jewlps will sell a lot of folks taking
home the lilies the lily drink as well. When I didn't know John looking
at the lily glass. My daughter loves to collect the Derby glasses. It's
the same logo every year. I didn't know that, yo, unlike the
Derby glasses because my daughter, we have a ton of them at home in
the cabinet, and my daughter's like pile them all up, and she,
of course, I go, you know they have the same logo over you.
She goes, no, they put different different names. I'm gonna go,
okay, all right, So coming up looking at the next race,
I cannot believe we are okay, well, we are getting close to the
top of the AAR. We've got the Kentucky Oaks coming up, the granddaddy
of them all. Let's go ahead and take a break, John. When
we come back, we'll talk more about the Oaks and maybe talk a little
bourbon as well. Back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety