New Product Launch and Closing Thoughts

It's the Mike Francesa Podcast on the Bat Rivers Network. Hello again, everybody, and welcome to the Mike Francesa Podcast, part of the Bet Rivers Network. We come to you on this uh Friday morning, the first day of May. May's my f favorite month of the year, always has been. One of the reasons is the Derby, which is tomorrow, which is we we'll get to in a minute. But the other one is you wait and wait for summer. I've always been a summer person. Most people are, I think, but I have always loved summer and May is such a harbinger of things to come. The weather finally starts to turn for real in the next ten days where you know every day it's nice. And there's a lot going on. But more than that, it's just about you know that summer's coming. And that means all the good things that summer has always meant, you know, uh including Saratoga, which is right around the corner again. So hey, anytime you're looking ahead towards Saratoga , uh the Belmont will be in Saratoga this year again for the last time . Uh it's a long Saratoga meet. And as I tell you, all the time, and I've told people forever, and I can't tell you how many people have come up to me in Saratoga through the years as I walk through the gr you know, the grand stand. Um and everyone's in their you know, their picnic tables and their chairs and everything else and you know they stop and say hello and uh I can't tell you how many countless people have said to me, we took your advice, we came up for a weekend, and now we come every year . And it's just one of those places that no matter who you meet, I met someone recently , and the guy said to me, my dad was in horse racing and he said I didn't never got involved. He's a successful businessman. And he said, but every year, I loved, loved going to Saratoga. And you know it, it's just's just a happy place. It really is. It's and it's a really special place. And like I said, uh if you need to go away for a summer weekend. Maybe plane fares are going to be a lot more expensive than you thought because of what's going on in the world. And you decide the vacation is a little steep. Well, hop in your car. You don't have to stay in Saratoga proper. They soak you for the hotel rooms , they kill you. Once the meat's open, they kill you. Okay. They triple the prices or quadruple the prices. I don't even know. You can stay along the northway. You can stay in Albany. It's only a half hour from Albany. Very reasonable places there. Right where the Giants used to train at the at the school there. Right near there, right on that Western Avenue. Plenty of places there. And you hop in your car in the morning, you're thirty minutes from the track. So again, uh if you need a little getaway over the summer, I always say go to Saratoga and you'll thank me for it because it's a very special place. Now, as I said, Derby tomorrow. We'll wait and see who the Knicks are gonna play. So we have we'll wait for that. The Cel tic and Sixers who are looking very formidable right now. I mean, when you look at it, if they're completely healthy, they are a good team. Um game seven tomorrow night in Boston. Now we know there's also an issue with Tatum, so we'll see how that plays out. But the Knicks off their historic dominant unbelievable turn the town upside down performance can now rest and wait and see what happens. Now Two weeks ago , before the post positions were drawn , I had decided on Reneg ade as my lead horse and everything behind him. I love the way he ran. I love the way he finished uh at Oaklawn . And then two things happened. One, he got the one, which is a killer for a closer and he's a dead closer. Two, he's got a quarter crack, which scares me. I uh a lot of people ignore quarter cracks. Clearly he's trained well this week. Todd Fletcher is who I've known for forty years, thirty years, uh one of the great horsemen of all time, would never put a horse out there that isn't completely ready. They know what to do with the shoes. I know they're wearing uh special three quarters on the front . But the quarter crack bothers me because you know what? These horses are young, they're going a longer distance, they're in a very, very pressurized situation tomorrow. I just don't like to hear it. So the quarterback by itself might not have gotten me off him as the as the winner, but that and the one . And I know he's got Ortiz on him. And I know he's a very talented horse. And I know they really expected big things out of this horse. He co-owns the horse with the with uh with the Lowe's, who have been in racing forever. Um what happened is the the Lowe 's bred the horse. Rapoli bought it and then the Lowe's said, Hey, we had second thoughts. We you know, the once in a while they sell a couple. Just to basically pay the bills or the, you know, pay taxes or whatever. And they sold them. Mike bought them for $9.75. And then they decided to go partners. So that's how they wound up being partners. Plus, they're both very prominent owners. Obviously, Ripoli is. Uh he teams with other people, you know, he buys horses with and with with different groups. Um and And so they're a very formidable ownership group. You got Pletcher, you got Ortiz, you got the best connections you could have in racing, but it's got the got the rail. And it's been a long time. It's been a very long time since anybody's been able to navigate that. And s the navigator's closer is gonna take a miracle. It really is. He could be the best of us and still not win a race. I mean that's why it's really he's the favorite, still at five to one as of now. I don't think he'll be the post time favorite . They're really on a couple of horses that are lightly raced. They're getting a lot of play. Now they're great trainers. You're talking about Bill Mott's horse. You're talking about Chad Brown's horse . Uh getting a lot of play. Emerging markets is eleven to one. Um Chief Wallaby, who you've heard about since for two weeks now about how great he's been training and he has . Um I went back and watched the Florida Derby over and over and over again. Because to me, it's the key race of the whole uh campaign . Uh will the Blinkers move Chief Oliby up ? Bill thinks they will. Hey, Bill's one of the great trainers of all time. We know that. He won the Derby last year with sovereignty. I think six times in history the trainer has won back to back. I think the last one was Baffert. Lucas did it, Ben Jones did it. I mean, so it's been done. But it's rare. I mean, think about winning a derby. Then think about winning two derbies in a row. And this would be same trainer, same and his main joc, which is Junior Alvarado. Um right now you have Renegade five to one, Commandment seven to one, the Puma seven to one, so happy is six to one coming out of the West Coast. I'm a little biased against the West Coast horses, even the Baffert horses. Uh Chief Wallaby's 10 to one, further ado is seven to one, all the way on the outside with Johnny V , uh the ageless Johnny V uh on the A-team . Uh and Incredible is 27 to 1. Uh mention him because I like him as a bit of a long shot to hit the board. Um this morning, another scratch. Chester Broman, who is a wonderful man in racing, uh, and actually has sat to my left for as long as I can ever remember. He is in the box next to me to the left. That's the Broman box right next to mine. Uh I know the whole family. I know Mr. Broman forever. Uh like him a lot. He's a very successful businessman, builder , you know, does major jobs, you know, whole you know, big big, big prominent businessman. Um uh they scratched them, Kenny McPeak scratched right to party. I thought right to party is in over his head anyway. I don't think the horses from the Wood Memorial are going to be able to, they're not fast enough to win in here. Um but this is a wide open derby. It really is. Now, a lot of times the Derby is wide open, like last year it wasn't he was going to win, I thought. Um this is a wide open Derby, and I think more so because of the two things I mentioned with renegade. Uh I'll get to my analysis in a second. Um , as far as things to watch here , you got an interesting group that comes from California. Most of them have speed . Okay, and uh this morning uh let me tell you who drew in. O'Neill drew in with another horse with Robuster . That was the one who drew in for right to party. Uh so everybody's gotten in except my old buddy Dallas Stewart's horse, Corona de Oro, uh, who is the only one that didn't get in. You know, the the three of the also eligibles have gotten in with the scratches we've had. Um robusta comes out of the San Diego Derby . Let me be honest, didn't run well in the San Diego Derby. Uh clearly has speed. No question about it. Uh, a lot of the horses out of the San Antonio Derby do have speed. Uh Baffett has two horses, lithmas test , and uh potenti ent who has worked unbelievably this week. I think even works faster than Baffett wanted. The horse worked in 5 7 . And I know Baff er said afterwards, hey , we had him under a hold. I never thought he was going that fast. We couldn't believe the clock. I think we caught the track right after it was the you know the this the fastest it was all day in the morning. Um the bottom line is the horse work faster than that's a work that's a little quick. You it's not what you want. There was a couple of those this week. Mullins horse also worked very quick this week uh very quick um earlier in the week. Uh work forty five and that's a lot that's a lot of work to put into the horse right before the race. I know he's gone real easy with the horse since that's in Trepito, the three horse. You got speed in this race. You always look to make sure you have speed. If you have lone speed, it wins. I don't care. Even in the Derby where I don't like to play speed. It's a close of track . It's a mile and a quarter. Uh you know there's a lot of horses going to take their shots who are going to either move, leave for placement, stalk, you know, keep the pace lively. The three , the four, the fourteen, the sixteen, speed , the eight, the fifteen, the eighteen will stalk. Um there's enough speed, should be a lively pace. I don't think it'll be a suicidal pace. I think it'll be a lively pace. I don't think it'll be pedestrian. I think somebody's they they got enough guys here who are gonna crank it up. You got some horses that clearly have that kind of ability to do that, um, that have speed. Um, there's no question about it. Uh so I think we'll get the pace. We'll be honest, and that's all you're looking for. There's always gonna be a lot of movement. Uh, the battle for position. You know, this is remember, not only are these horses, these three-year-olds, going a mile and a quarter for the first time , but they are walking into a scenario where there are 150,000 people. They're usually at racetracks that are very quiet in the afternoon. They work in the morning, they race in the afternoon , rarely, except on a big weekend somewhere, is there a crowd that would disturb them? And even if that crowd was 20,000 or a massive weekend crowd somewhere like Saratoga or 50,000. This is a hundred and fifty thousand. There's a wall of sound here that would knock you off your feet. These horses are not used to this. Then you take into account they will never again enter a race where there are 20 horses in the race . Nobody wants a race with 20 horses in it, but they want to give everybody a chance to get to the derby . So they run 20. There's always going to be traffic problems. If you're a closer, you're going to deal with early position. You're going to first deal everybody does with what happens out of the gate. You can lose your race out of the gate. After that, now you're positioning. Then as this as the closers start to enter the race , that's where you get all kinds of horses trying to move for position, and you have tiring horses that were out on the front who start to fade through the field. You got to deal with them too. This is this is an incredibly tough journey for any jockey, even the greatest jockeys in the world, and that's what these guys are . So you need more than a little racing luck. You can be the best horse in the Derby and not win. It can happen all the time because you can get a nightmarish trip where you can get sort off and be out of the race, or you can get blind switched out, or you can just get knocked off your feet three different times and have to restart. I mean, there's so many things that happen. It's it's chaos. It really is . And you have to take that into account. Now, before I get you tell you what I'm thinking and how I see the race unfolding, let me get these other Bit Rivers things out of the way. First off, if you're looking for a betting angle, check out the top picks news feed in your Bit Rivers app. The Bit Rivers banter newsfeed is filled with picks from Vet Rivers Network personalities and more handicappers to give you expert insights on the fun of handicapping, obviously. Throw a couple bucks on your favorite team. Everybody loves the same game parlays, where you can turn, you know, a couple bucks into a nice payday. Tap the top picks icon in your Bet Rivers app, get the information, see what the guys who do it for a living are picking, doesn't mean you're gonna believe that they're right. They're wrong more than they're right. But they might give you some insight, they might give you an angle, they might see something, or give you some information that you didn't know. Take that and then go with what you believe in. Take everything in, take the information in, take the picks in, look, and then make your call. When you got a good feeling, go with it. Uh but the bottom line is the more information you have, the better equipped you are to make the right play. Now, also Bet Rivers and the Mike Francesa Podcast are helping you get into the swing of the baseball season with a special baseball bonus bet. Betters in New York and New Jersey can get a $1 bonus bet to use uh on anything in baseball when they enter the code Francesa417. Francesa 41 7 in the Bet Rivers app. The code again, Francesa4 177. It's available to Bet Rivers betters in New York and New Jersey. Offer ends on uh May 3rd. Must be 21 or older. Eligible players only. Gambling problem 1-800 gambler in New Jersey in New York eight seven seven Hope eight seven seven eight Hope NY. So eight seven seven eight Hope H O P E N Y or text four six seven three si x nine. Okay . I gave you the odds right now. The favorites five to one, typical derby odds. You have this year, though, a very unusual situation. You have one, two, three, four, five, six horses between seven to one and eleven to one. That's a lot. That's more than normal . So you don't have as many big balloons that can run. Now, one of the things you look at in this race that perplexed me that I had to deal with, and I told you about it, I was mentioning that the other day . I have so much trouble with the foreign horses. The Japanese horses are getting better and better and better. It's everyone's waiting for a Japanese horse to win the derby. They desperately want to win a derby . When these foreign horses come in, it is very hard to assimilate them into where they stand. Do they have the class? I find it very difficult. Okay, they haven't been over the track, which is a negative. I like horses, which I'll get to in a minute, that have been over the Churchill Downs track, but especially the horses that have won over the Derby, over the Churchill Downs track. This year you have three outsiders or foreigners. You have uh Dan and Bourbon, you have Wonder Dean, and you have Six Speed. I'm not using any of them . A lot of people like Wonder Dean. A lot of people like Wanda Dean. He's trained well I just think that looking at him okay I went over him I spent time on him I just I don't think he's of the same class. Part of this is okay , his last race is real good. But that means he has to come here. He ran March 28th. He won the UAE Derby, which is a grade two . Okay . Ran well . Ran very well . Bid the clear leader. Led final furlong comfortably, okay . That was March 28th . He comes here , he's got a trip here, he's gotta go through quarantine, he's gotta do all the little things, and then he's gotta get over a track he's never been on and then win here. I think it's such a tall order. I think it is an incredibly tall order. And one of these days we're gonna get beat by one of these horses. Now forever young already screwed me up on the exact before . And he became a giant. He became a great horse internationally. Uh if I get beat by one of them, so be it. But you can't bet everybody. One of the things you have to realize in this race is you can't bet everybody. There's a lot of horses. They come from a lot of different angles. I think the Wood Memorial Race , which was won by Albus, Bill Mart's son Riley has two horses in the race. I'm sure that makes Bill a very proud Papa . Uh Albus, who won the Wood Memorial, nice horse. Uh, has won a Churchill Downs, or has raced at Churchill Downs. Um , he's gonna have a nice career . He's a cut below. I think everybody in the woods are cut below. Right? The party finished second to him. He scratched this morning . You have to be a certain s you have to have race at a certain level time wise to race in this race. Now so that dismisses those horse. Then you look at the California, you look at the preps and you decide which prep . To me, without any question, the Florida Derby was the race this year . Um commandment by a nose over the Puma , by a half over Chief Wallaby . All ran impressively. All ran good numbers. Wallaby did not want to come in between horses, which is the reason for the blinkers. It was only his third race . What happened with Walla by was, which is a Bill Mart horse, which is lightly raced, okay? Did not, you know, in the old days, he used to throw a horse that didn't see well. That's all that's all gone now. This hor se in January broke its maiden incredibly press impressively . Beat the puma that day . At uh Gulf stream, the only Chalkies ever raced at . They were looking to shop him for a race. I know Bill's gonna give the horse out of the race six weeks off. He looked for a spot. They couldn't find one, so they decided to go in the fountain, a youth, a grade two, in a second start. Bill didn't want to do that. I'm sure he wanted to go in an allowance race. Couldn't get an allowance race to fill. It's very hard to get the nominators of one of the grounds allowance races to fill a lot of the times. I've been through it a million times. Okay. So he ran him in the Fountain of Youth and he ran big. He missed the commandment by a nose, by a neck . So he brought him back in the Florida Derby. He ran really well. Really well . They were all there together. Kamama came on the outside, beat Puma by a nose on the wire. You couldn't even really tell who won between him and Puma was that close, but Kamehameha has a habit of winning. And then Chief Wallaby just would not go through the hole. A lot of young horses don't want to go through tight spots . Okay . The blinkers will keep his mind on business, make him a little sharper, and allow him to do that. And if Bill says that's gonna make him better, he's been training incredibly. He is a very impressive horse. Now, let me get the commandment here . Renegade, I thought would be the favorite, I told you. Now he's still a favorite, but he's five to one. I don't think he'll be the favorite at post-time, but it'll be close. I gave you the two knocks on him. If Renegade had the 10, I'd probably pick him to win the race . He doesn't. He has the one, which is a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. They can downplay it all they want. It's a nightmare. Plus the quarter crack, which doesn't make me any happier either . So I'm not picking him to win. Is he a good horse? Absolutely. Is he capable of winning this race? Absolutely. He will need the trip from heaven to get there. Now , that leads me to commandment . The knock on commandment , the only knock on commandment , the only reason why this horse is not the heavy favorite is because two of the greatest jockeys in the world have gotten off the horse . Not only that, they got off them after wins . Now part of it is the great jockey, and here I'm talking about Ortiz and I'm talking about Pratt . Ortiz is considered by most people the most efficient, the best jockey in the world. I love Pratt. I think Pratt is a genius rider. Love him. I think he I mean I I I looked to Ben Saratoga. He moves horses up. He's a he's a master, a master, especially on the grass, where trip is so important . That has bothered people . Now, does that mean they're right? Now remember , there can be author there can be other circumstances why that happens. It doesn't just have to be the horse, it can be the relationship . Ortiz decided to go with Rap oli and Pletcher . There's a lot of work. with them Does a lot of work with Pletcher . Everyone deals with Pletcher . He's a machine . The other one is Pratt who does a lot of business with Chad Brown. Chad Brown in emerging market, this is not a house that you would expect to see Chad Brown bring into the Derby. And as Chad Brown said, I didn't bring this horse to the Derby. This horse brought me to the Derby. Meaning, he's been so impressive, I gotta run him . He broke his maiden in February. Then they ran him in the Louisiana Derby. He won it by a head . He's had two races. That's it . He didn't run last year. He's got two races. Two race horses don't usually win the Kentucky Derby. But he said this horse been impressive and he's been good in the morning. He's been very impressive in the morning. And he's one of those what they call the wise every week they call the wise there's two wise guy horses this year. And you can decide which one you want. Emerging market is one, the other one is she followed me . The horses that everyone's talking of . Pratt didn't ride commandment. He's riding emerging markets. So now people in the racing world are saying, wait a second , I know commandment looks good. Heck, Commandment's had five races in his life. He lost his first race as a maiden and he don't even know if he was all out in that race 'cause a lot of times trainers do not even turn the screws the first race. So he finished an even fourth, which is a lot of times guys don't want to win the first time out. So I even throw that out. I don't even pay attention to the first race. Now, second race, he wins . He runs in the stake, he w ins. He runs in the fountain of youth, he wins. He runs in the Florida Derby, he wins. He's four for five lifetime. He's run over a hundred buyer twice . He's won at Churchill Downs . He's trained by Brad Cox, who's one of the great trainers in America. As good as anybody there is right now on the top shelf . Okay . The horse to me is four for his last four. He knows how to win. He beat a very good field in the Florida Derby . He's run the numbers you want. He's won over the Churchill down strip. He's trained well this week. The only knock, why did Ortiz get off them? Why did Pratt get off them? They could be wrong . Are they? Or do they know something we don't know? I don't know what it is. This horse wins every time. He's trained well this week. I wanted to see if I saw some floor in his training. No way . Cox had three, he had a scratch one, now he's got two . He's got further ado on the outside who's run the fastest race of the year, but beat a nothing field with that race. So do you want the time or do you want the competition ? He's got the outside, he's a stalker, he'll move move for position. You'll see him prominently placed with Johnny V. Johnny V is great. An all time jock. Now commandment. I mentioned further ado. Then you come. I mentioned Sheif Alibi. Now you come to the Puma . The Puma trained by the guy who gave you a mage. Remember, I gave you a mage for $31. I picked him . Same trainer . This horse looks the part. He's big and strong. He's trained well Lost the Florida Derby by a nose. A nose. And you really couldn't even separate them. It was that close. When they came back, they were showing both horses. Usually they put the camera on the winner. They were showing both horses. They didn't won. But Commandment won it on the outside. And Wallaby was a half-length back in between horses . The Puma is a quality horse, there's no question . Commandment beat him . They both had the same running style. They're gonna come off the pace. He's another horse you have to watch. I mentioned an incredible . Incredible won the Virginia Derby. He's a closer . He's gotta be faster. He's gotta class up a little bit. If you're looking for a long shot, I like him. You want a bomb shot for second or third? To make your triple, to make your your uh superfector. This horse is a good horse to include. Incredible. It's got the 11 plus plus , as I mentioned, he has won over the course. Yeah how many horses have won over the course this year? Have won at Churchill Downs? Three. Commandment incredible. The further ado have all won at Churchill Downs. That matters. How many horses have run a hundred by her or close to it? You want to be right at that number. Renegade ran a ninety-eight . Commandments run over a hundred twice. The Pumas run a hundred . Wa uh uh wallabies run a hundred and a 99 . And further ado ran a 106 in winning the Bluegras s at Keeneland by 11 lengths, but beat nothing. Beat nothing . So the eleven lengths, don't let it bother you. Not gonna bother you, but don't let it make you so excited either. The time is great, but you beat nothing. Come here . Come here . Talking to Taylor. Come here, Taylor. Lie down, baby. Good girl. Um so here we go. Here we go . What do I think ? I dropped renegade who would have been my pick before the disastrous number one spot the third . I have three horses that I will use in exoti cs behind them . That will be Puma, the Puma, Incredibolt, and further ado . And I have spent the last day trying to figure out do I go with Bill Mott, who when I have a horse trains for Lee Einstein and myself . Lee and Bill are very close. I'm not as close to Bill as uh friend as Lee is. They're closer. They have a very good close personal relationship. But he has trained, he's done a great you know, listen, he's one of the all time greats. There's no question. Won the race last year. When he says a horse is going well, you don't even think about it , and he loves his horse . It's between commandment and wallaby. Now, I'm gonna tell you right now that in a race like this , mayake multiple wages. Boxes . Shift who's on top. I will use Commandment and Wallaby both on top. With Renegade, the Puma, Incredible and further ado. I'll use both of them on top. I don't know if I bet triples, but if I do bet some triples, I will use those two, one, two, and then put the other horses behind them. I might even slide one of the real bomb shots that gets to be 50-60 to one that I think has a chance to sneak in for third if I play triples, stuff like that. But here we go. Here's my order of finish. One commandment. Why ? He came up on him he rocketed up on the outside on a slow pace and got up. He wins. He's won four straight times. I believe in the four races that he's tried to win in his life. He's won all four of them. That's impressive. He's won over the track. That's impressive. He's run fast. That's impressive. He's got a big time trainer. That's impressive. Commandment one, Chief Wallaby 2, Renegade 3, the Puma, incredible. Further ado. Uh in my exotics. So I'm going with the commandment . I'm going with commandment. It's not the commandment, it's commandment to win the race . The six horse. Followed by Chief Wallaby. Followed by Renegade and the Puma . And I'm using Incredible, who is now 27 to 1, and probably even go up both there. I'll be using him in my exotics as a long shot. If I was going to use a real bomb shot, I I didn't love the way you could use emerging markets as a horse that could get up with the third or fourth if you're playing exotics . The other thing, uh Golden Temple as a quarter crack closed well, but not crazy well. Okay . The shot says willingly could sneak up and get a third or fourth. That'd be one I'd look at at a big price. If it's a really big, big price. So again, one commandment, two chief wallaby, three Renegade, one, two, three, under the wire in the Derby. Now , like I said, I'll wait on the next. We'll be with you. We'll preview in the next series. We'ell you can you can there goes Taylor because someone's at the door. Now you can get into who you want to play, but I'll tell you something. If the Sixers are going to be healthy with that unit, with those guards , and with the guys they have, with that five that they start , I think I'd rather play the Celtics if I were the Knicks right now. Now the Tatum issue is one we have to wait and see if he's even gonna play. This rumor he might not even play tomorrow. Let's see what happens. Okay . Uh that series has really taken a turn. No question about it. Game seven tomorrow night, standalone game, tomorrow night. Celtics and Sixers game seven. Hey, great to watch. Um The Oaks tonight is in prime time . Uh we send our best to Portnoy, who has a you know, he buys grey horses. He bought this horse out of her first race. She's a really nice Philly. I love the way she moves . Now, she's got a grass background. She's has not run on dirt . I don't know if she'll run on dirt or not, but I can tell you this, she can run. She's gonna have a real good career. I love the way she moves. I I I think she's well built. I love the way she moves. Um so I don't know, it's hit or miss whether she can run. Now she's getting bet, but that's because he's got fans. It's like a lot of times my horse they through the years, they've bet him. Um, that's you know, as the big money comes in, it'll level off. Um, but the horse can run. The question is: can it run on the on the grass? Uh on the dirt. And it's a very wide open oaks. I I don't even have a winner for you because it's so wide open. There's a lot, that's a good betting race, and it'll be in in prime time tonight. Uh as a matter of fact. I know the people the locals who love to go to the Oaks and then go to the Derby. They're not happy that they're going that late tonight. But you know, T V rules and Churchill wants to be a big player and a big company, and you know the whole deal. So uh that's the bottom line. Uh they had a big crowd yesterday, though. 50,000 on a Thursday of this week. That's unbelievable. That's that's an impressive showing. And they'll have 150,000 tomorrow. And I've said this to you many times. That includes Super Bowl and everything else . I've been to the Derby three times. I said I'm never going back again until I got a horse there. Haven't been able to get a horse there. Not easy. Um if it's not, I'm not going back again . It is the best run event, big event. I've never gone to the Olympics. I've never gone to the Indianapolis five hundred. I think I've hit every other big sporting event . Okay. Now you can't compare this to something like going to a an NBA final where there's twenty thousand people or a Stanley Cup final where there's twenty thousand people . Super Bowls have been to a million, as you know, and it's well run, there's no question. But I was utterly amazed at how well how well run the Kentucky Derby is on Derby Day. There's 150,000 people in the place. You can bet. You can get up in bed . I mean, you can move around. I mean, it's it's amazing. You can get served. I mean, it's it's it's amazing how well they run that event. I was so impressed. And I I've loved the times I've gone . I've also had a pension through the years to do very I told you I've never went on the Breeders' Cup ever. Ever. Never. Although I did win a Breeders' Cup race this week this year, because Bill Mont had a horse that he liked a lot, and he told us the horse was gonna run really well, so we made win bets on it, and the horse won by like five lanes. So I actually won money on the Breeders' Cup this year, which is a rarity for me . But I have cleaned up on the derby in my life. I love the Derby as a as a betting race. I love it. Now, usually I have a strong first horse and a long second shot . I'm not as committed to my first horse this year as I would have been, but I like the fur one two. Commandment Chief Wallaby. One two. Could go either way. It's a flip. I mean, I could go either way. I went commandment. I could kick myself with Wallaby wins. I'll root for Wallaby because obviously Mott's my trainer. But uh and we're betting, just to let you know, a Wildaby incredible Mott Mott exacta, which at 11 to 1 and twenty seventh and one would be a great great exacter. So and that's one we're definitely betting. Uh that's a that's a total given. And that's a nice, you know, nice price mott Matt and his son is training very, very well. Uh, so that would be uh a very nice thing. Now, one other thing I want to mention. I mentioned that it was May . Okay . And through the years you've heard me mention my good buddy uh Le ins Heidler, who's my horse racing partner . We own every horse we have, we own together. Um Lee, I first met him years ago when he came to the Mike and the Maredog Show, and he was developing a product and he wanted to promote it and he decided to t use FAN to promote it and the Mike and the Merido show to promote it in a very big way . It was Grey Goose Vodka . And obviously it became a sens ation . And Lee did very well because they sold it to Bacardi for $2.2 billion . Um, he then did Casamico's Tequila, another home run . Uh and now he has started a new drink. Now I haven't been able to sample him because I just have my knee replaced, I'm not allowed to uh partake . These are the rage now, as you know. These packed cocktails, twelve ounces, the whole thing, are all the rage, four point nine alcohol, not a lot of calories. Okay. Very refreshing, the whole thing. Now remember it's still alcohol. So take it into account. It's not for kids. Treat it responsibly. It still is alcohol, but not you know, alcohol like you think of in terms of you know 80 proof. This is four point nine proof. Porque no, which if you remember your high school Spanish and this is for me because I was never very good in Spanish. Why not? Okay . Why not? This is two flavors they have, and I have not tried it, but everyone who has has raved about it. It is now out. It is just on the shelves here in the Northeast. In Massachusetts, in Jersey, in New York. Porcano in this cute little can , 12 ounces, and it comes in two flavors: it is tequila, vodka, and a mixture of fruit juices. Now, it's tequila, vod ka, and and Mang ando gu ava. Now, you're telling me why is it mango and guava? Hey , these guys , this is big business for them. This is big science for them. They go and they test a gazillion combinations to see which one they like best. And they came up with two that they loved. The first is, as I said, this one here that has a little yellow, mango and guava. So they all have tequila and vod ka . Mango and guava. And the other one is watermelon, pineapple , chili, and lime. Now how would you come up with those four together? I have no idea. But again, as they said, they did hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of combinations, had them tested, and these were the ones where they came away saying we have created something that is just perfecto. Okay . They say it has a great taste. It's refreshing. So you're coming off the beach. You're out on a boat. You're coming off the golf course. I'm talking about two adults now. This is not for kids. Okay . And you get a cold one of these and it's right what you want on a summer afternoon with your feet up in the sun setting. So check it out. Poor K no comes in a four pack. Okay, I think it sells for $12.99. The four-pack they might sell them individually in some stores that you might go into. You have to buy it where alcoholic beverages are sold, 12-ounce cans, no calories, no sugar added , gluten-free. So all the little things that you have to hit now when you sell these products. Okay. So yes, I'm biased. Lee's one of my best friends. He does great work in this regard. He's had hit after hit, home run after home run. He spent a lot of time with this. He spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to all these places where they make the product, uh, dealing with the biggest, you know, he knows everybody in the business. He's been in the business his whole life. Uh, and it's changing obviously. And these kind of drinks have become incredibly popular. I see it at Saratoga. That's what everybody drinks. And there were basic ones like vodka and and uh lemonade or vodka and i ced tea. What do you expect for a summer drink? Here's something a little different with a little zest to it. Something a little more, you know, that'll that'll create a little more interest as far as having a different taste. I mean, I don't know exactly what you're gonna get from watermelon, pineapple, chili, and lime, but they say it's good. They say it tastes great, as a matter of fact. No. So just right now, the it's it's just hitting the stores now. Check it out as we head towards May, as we head towards Memorial Day, as we head towards summer, as you head towards the golf course or the beach or the boat or wherever you might be going, or some, you know, off the golf, you know, coming off the golf course, just you know, having a barbecue in the backyard, whatever it might be, check it out. Porcano, which of course means why not? Even I know that. I remember that much friends. You know, I remember Ola, I remember Pocahino, I remember a couple of things. Uh I wasn't very good at it, that's for sure. I I don't even know how I passed, to be honest with you. Because I felt like I didn't know what the heck I was talking about ever. And you know how they used to put you in when I was in high school, they'd put you in these uh what they called labs, right? Now they probably have them everywhere. But you'd go in and you'd sit at a desk and you'd put a headset on, and all of a sudden the guy's speaking Spanish to you, and you got to speak back. And the teacher can eavesdrop on you. So you think you can just sit there and not answer. And the teacher's like, Why aren't you? So I was like , they gave us one of our big tests was that way. And I was like, I couldn't have passed it. I don't even know what the guy was talking about. But somehow I got through the course. I don't know how in high school. But you know, I didn't take any languages. Thank God. I don't want any part of language. I didn't want any part of math in hi in in college. Keep me away from those subjects, I'll be fine. But uh those are my two. I didn't want any geometry or advanced algebra. My daughter is a math whiz . She got it from her mother. Okay. She takes kinds of math I've never even heard of. I couldn't get a 20 on her tests. Okay. The bottom line, I hated geometry. Algebra was okay. I hated geometry. I hated anything past geometry. And I didn't like languages either. And the only one I ever took was Spanish, and I was like I said, I was terrible at it. But I didn't take either of those in college, thank God. So if you give me English and history, I'll knock it out of the park all week. But if you give me the others, so again, 4K no, two flavors. Check it out as we head towards this summer season. Okay? And remember , Commandment, Chief Wallaby, Renegade, one, two, three, use the Puma and incredible further ado in your exotics. Good luck. There's no better day. Watch the Oaks today, tonight. When you get home from work, watch the Derby tomorrow. And then you got the uh Celtics and the Lakers game seven. You have sprinkling the little Yankees, they'll hit a couple of home runs for you . I'm not mentioning the Mets. I want it to be a happy weekend. Okay. I don't want to torture you. I'm trying to be nice to Met fans. Giving you divers ions. And if you're a Met fan, you know, don't hit two hundred of these because you're you know watching the game. Anything is possible with Met fans these days. It is that bad. The ship be sinking as we know. We'll see you soon. Thanks for listening to the Mike Frances a podcast on the Bet Rivers Network.