Latest / StallioneSearch Podcasts / Ep.80- Alex Baldillez, Jr. - All American Futurity Winning Jockey

Transcript

Ep.80- Alex Baldillez, Jr. - All American Futurity Winning Jockey · StallioneSearch Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, quarter horse racing fans.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_06: We're glad you're back here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_06: And for context, let's talk about where we are in the year, as we've gotten through the four major yearling sales thus far, as this podcast comes after we've concluded the four-day sale at Heritage Place.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_06: And we've also gotten through the Triple Crown in Albuquerque.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_06: And now the rest of the year, we look at Louisiana, Lone Star Park, and Los Alamitos as the focal point of racing for the remainder of 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_06: And now that you are caught up, let's get started on the number one quarter horse racing podcast in the land, Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_06: And here's your host, Greg Thompson.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_09: And hello again, everyone.com, and here is another episode of Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly podcast.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_09: And we're just getting out of the four-day sale at Heritage Place, and one of the things that had happened over at the Heritage Place sale in Oklahoma City is a multitude of listeners came over and discussed the podcast with some of the things that they really like about the podcast, and a few that touched upon some of the things they don't like about the podcast, and if if I'm brutally honest, I really like hearing what you do like about it as versus what you don't like about it about a thousand times more.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_09: But with that being said, one of the things that was said is that people really like when I had the legends of the sport on the podcast talking about their career and what has happened, and those people that fit into that mold, well guess what?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_09: I'm gonna make your day here because I got one of the legends of the sport joining us here on the Quarter Horse Racing Talk weekly podcast, and that's Alex Valdez Jr., who is an all-American Derby and all-American fraternity-winning jockey, a legendary career that lasted over 40 years in the saddle, and Alex was able to ride amongst some of the greats in the sport, as many would put Alex in that top epsilon of race riders, as it pertains to those that went down the racetrack during those glory days of quarter horse racing.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_09: And he's reached the top of the mountain with wins in the All-American Derby as well as the all-American Futurity in his career, and he's gracious enough to come on and talk with me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_09: And I've known Alex for probably going on two decades now, and this podcast easily could have gone on for over an two hours if I would have let it.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_09: And it was one of the more enjoyable ones that I've done.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_09: Not I guess maybe it's because I know Alex well, but it was just interesting to hear a very interesting take at several different things that have happened in Quidor's racing history, and he was there and he was able to talk about it, and it was great at doing interviews, even though he thinks he's not very good at it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_09: I think you'll agree with me after you hear this podcast, so let me get out of the way and get to the commercial, as we're also going to cover the recap section from the stakes races of last week, as well as getting into the preview section with Yancey Guiman talking about the stakes races on tap for this week in Enquirer Horse Racing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_09: And we'll be right back after these words.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_09: Success starts at Dunn Ranch in Winniewood, Oklahoma.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_09: As success in the performance horse world begins long before the first race or run, it starts with the right program.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_09: And at Dun Ranch, they will pair world-class stallions with your mares with cutting-edge reproductive care and proven horsemanship, with capabilities of embryo transfer to IXE to sales prep to training.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_09: Every step is built around one goal there at Dun Ranch, producing elite horses that win.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_09: So whether it's breeding for the arena or breeding for the racetrack, success starts at Dunn Ranch in Winniewood, Oklahoma.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_06: The Dunn Ranch stallion roster includes multiple graded stakes-producing sire a revenant, the brother to a political pants, a political victory, the second leading third crop sire Cholitos, a leading first crop sire in hot pursuit, a graded stakes-winning son of one famous eagle, Juices Loose, and Grade 1 producing sire PYC Fun and Fancy, all standing at Dun Ranch.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: I hope by now you've made your plans to attend the AQHA Challenge Championships at the Downs of Albuquerque on October 17th, as well as to attend the AQHA Racing Conference scheduled for October 14th through the 17th in conjunction with AQHA Challenge Championship activities.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's get back to the podcast.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_09: Alright, ready to jump right into the featured section here with former jockey Alex Baldez, who won the All-American Fraternity as Mention in 1987, as well as the All-American Derby 1986.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_09: He's been on plenty of the really nice top shelf quarter horses that we call legends in the sport.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_09: And to just give some context, because when I first met Alex, I was his jockey agent for a brief period of time at Lone Star.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_09: We did fairly well as we qualified to get into the Texas Classic, if I recall.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_09: And I've always stayed in contact here and there with Alex as he continues his career as a thoroughbred trainer throughout the Texas Circuit and the Oklahoma Circuit.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_09: And he did go up to Minnesota this season to run at Canterbury.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_09: So without further ado, let's get out of the way and get right into this featured section with Alex Baldez.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, thanks for joining us here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly Podcast.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_09: And it's an honor to have you on.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's an honor to be here, Greg.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, Alex and I have known each other quite some time.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_09: At one point in time, I actually worked for Alex as his jock agent, or I guess we should say we work together as I was his jock agent uh back in the days of uh Lone Star Park.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_09: Uh Alex, I want to get started.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_09: Uh I I know that knowing you all those years, the uniqueness of your story, as well as your other brothers as well, of how you guys got started into racing deals with a lot with the King Ranch down in Kingsville, Texas.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_09: So want to kind of go back to the origins of where you kind of got your racing roots from in in in the horse industry.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my dad did uh my dad ran away from home when he was twelve and he went to the King Ranch.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so the old man there in the bunkhouses raised really my dad.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then he went to up northeast to ride when he was old enough to go, and he rode up there for a little bit, and then had a good weight problem.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: He came back to the King Ranch and he worked for him for a few more years.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: And in that period is when I was born there on the King Ranch.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Then after that, after about three years, he started training on his own.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I was about four or five years old when he started training on his own.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then he trained until I was in high school and out of high school, and I just I've been around the horses all my life.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: He put me on my first horse when I was five, and then he he kicked me away from the gate at six.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so ever since then I've just loved being on horses.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_09: And those listening, Alex has two other brothers that were jockeys as well, Roy Valdez and Orlando.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, are you the oldest?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_09: Where do you f where do you fit?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: I am, I'm the oldest.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then Roy's like uh a year and a half behind me, and Orlando's like four years behind me.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_09: Four years behind.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_09: And also the King Ranch is known for not only you know their their development of the quarter horse, uh, but also they had thurbreds.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, you know, they had won the triple crown, and uh so there's origins of of thirdbird racing at the King Ranch as well.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_09: When you were mentioning that your father was training at the time of w in your early ages, was it thurbred oriented or was it quarter horse-oriented?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: No, he started with the quarter horses.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: He worked with the third red there at uh at the King Ranch.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: There was a time the King Ranch had like, oh, I don't know, over 500 third grids.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: They would go to the track ten at a time.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then a hundred yards behind that would be ten more.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So they had a lot of third grades, and they had other than that, when they won the triple crown with, they had other great, great stadiums there.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so he was really messing with third grades, but when he started training, he trained quarter horses.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_08: The name of the horse was not Omaha, it was actually Middle Ground.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_09: I just thought in my head, Middle Ground's the one they won the triple crown with there.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_09: So as as a youngster, you basically were growing up in the saddle, and I'm assuming Roy Roy being only a year and a half behind you, it wasn't that far behind you that he was shoulder to shoulder with either galloping horses with you or or working horses down the lane.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_09: Uh kind of talking about having this camaraderie amongst brothers that became jockeys.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Roy has uh kind of a different story.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: When we were young after school or whatever, I'd go to the barn every day.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: And uh Roy and Rondo really never did, even though they were a little younger, they never really did go to the barn and hang out.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Roy didn't show any interest of being a jockey until after he graduated from high school.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: He had a really, really good job.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And he I was riding for the field of trench and I was in reddit, and he called me and said, Alex, I want to be a jockey.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: I thought he'd fell and bumped his head.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Roy, you got a wonderful job.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: He said, No, I want to ride.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: I said, You don't know how to ride.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't even ride when you were little.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he kept on and I put him off, and then when we left Redosa and went back to the Phillips ranch, it was time to start breaking babies, and I was gonna have surgery.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember Dwayne Gilbert said, Well, we need somebody to help us.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know anybody?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: I said, I don't.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then I said, Sleepy, my brother, thinks he wants to ride, but he's he doesn't really know.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, better than nothing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: I called Roy and he showed up in three days, and he'd never really been on a horse uh to gallop in a flash saddle or whatever.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Cash rate was the first horse he galloped, and that's because he was gentle.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And Sleepy followed him to the track, and right before they got on the track, cash rate kind of stopped and shook.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like they shake sometimes.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Roy fell off.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: And Sleepy just turned his head.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: I said, I told you, Sleepy.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, I was gone for a month, and Craig Smith was there.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And in that month, when I got back, Roy could stay on and gather.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then Roy just started right there beside me, and we'd go to Redosa, he'd go with us, and he'd develop hands like he always had them.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: And he literally was just a natural and didn't know it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: But he was willing to try it.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: He took a big gamble, yeah, and it paid off for him.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_09: Since we're talking about the the Baldiez brothers, go ahead with Orlando.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_09: Is Orlando's story story similar to yours or similar to Royce?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's in the middle.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he did ride a little bit when he was younger, and then he came to the Dallas area and he started uh galloping horses for people there at Ross Downs, and he kind of made himself.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: He uh he stayed off to the ranches and stuff, but he worked hard.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: And he was so little, I kept begging him to go east or west and ride thirds, but he stuck with the quarter horses.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then also he developed hands and before you knew it, he he could uh ride pretty darn good.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, let's back up.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_09: So uh you grew up on the King Ranch, we've already mentioned you broke out of the gates at six years old for the first time and all.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_09: Did you always have the desire to want to become a professional as it pertains to being a jockey, uh, even at an early age going up there?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_09: Was that your pursuit?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_09: Or you know, your father was a trainer.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_09: Were you thinking going into the training game?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: I used to box in high school, and I liked boxing.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I one day said that I wanted to be a boxer.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: And my dad looked at me like, you're not gonna be no boxer.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then he started putting me on babies, and uh I remember when I was like 14, me and Cash Ask Muson used to work yearland and Laredo against each other.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Keith Ask Musen and my dad were friends.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, Keith rode for my dad when uh dad had good the good horses.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, me and Cash would work yearlings down in Laredo.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: I did like horses.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I'd see TVs and and I think man that would be cool.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: But one day, the guy my dad trained for, he saw me go to the track when I was coming back, I heard him talking inside.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: And that man asked my dad, What's it like Alex doing on that horse?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And dad said, he's gonna be a jockey.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I heard that man, he goes, He'll never be a jockey.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that hit hard.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was like 12 years old.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: When I walked in the barn, he saw me, he quit talking.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: But that right there turned me into where I was like, damn right I'm gonna be a jockey.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I got to the point where I was serious about it, then dad got really serious about it.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: And he would always say, It's in your hands.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter how good you look on a horse, it doesn't matter.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's in the hands.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the hands, all the range with the range are in the bed of that horse.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's the only way you're gonna connect with that horse.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: And at first, when after I I started gating horses a lot more, he would cut their whole mane off and not put a belt or nothing on there, and then go tell me to break him out of the gate, but don't break in his mouth.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the first three times I broke in the horse's mouth.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: And the fourth time he said, Do not break in his mouth.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Jack.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: I just turned around and under my breath said, What an idiot.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: He said, But this time I'm gonna count.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And at three, I'm kicking him.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: So he started counting, and the only thing I could think of, when he got to two, I just fell on the horse's shoulder.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: And he kicked him, and somehow I didn't break on his mouth.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: And when I got back to the barn, he said, That's how you're gonna develop hands.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Don't depend on the ma main, depend on the rest of your body too.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: He said, I if you if you don't have any hands, then you're just gonna be a jockey.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you're gonna be a race rider, that's different.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: They have hands.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Every one of them has good hands because that's the way they connect with the horses.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's true, it really is.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of good riders, or any any rider will tell you that through those range you can feel just about what you're sitting on and what's about to happen.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And when Roy started galloping beside me there at the Phyllis Range, of course, we were breaking 70 dash for cash babies a year.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: So we were getting on some really good horses, and that was a a little benefit for for Roy because when I started, I was at Ross Down, I'd gallop from sunrise to sunset.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, Newt Kick was the last person I would gallop for, the last horse he trained.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: But Roy was with us at the Phillips, so good horses will help you develop good hands.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I will say Roy was patient, very patient.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he wasn't afraid to be told, do this, try this, or whatever, he would do it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: He just developed the love for that sport at a later age.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I started it when I could barely walk.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I'm proud of Roy, I'm proud of Rongo and everything they've uh accomplished.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: They've done it on their own and they developed into good riders.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_06: Did you know that four of ten All-American Futurity qualifiers this year were Riadoso Select Yearling graduates?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_06: And did you know that 15 of the 30 qualifiers into the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity, Derby, and Oaks were also Riadoso sales graduates?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_06: Yearlings times Riadoso Sale equals success.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_06: It's that simple when you think about it.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_06: Serious buyers wanting success in this game of quarter horse racing?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_06: Invest at the Riadoso sales.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_06: Introducing the overwhelmingly talented stallion roster of Lazy E Ranch.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_06: A roster that includes Grade 1 Super Derby winner Big Lou, the legendary sire Corona Cartel, the number one second crop sire in the country, Cyber Monday, and one of the all-time leaders in quarter horse racing, first down Dash.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_06: The grade one winning, Grade 1 producing sire, Kiss My Hawks, and his son and grade 1 winner himself, Kempton.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_06: Another top-leading sire in PYC Pinch Wagon, champion Age Stallion Unrelentless, and multiple grade one sire of three champions and five millionaires Valley Hero.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_06: And introducing for the 2027 breeding season the grade one winning the Fiscal Cliff and all these sires standing at Lazy Range in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's get back to the podcast.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, for those listeners that I I want to step take a step back and give the high-level description of what you mean breaking in a horse's mouth, as those people that are listening to that and heard that term, those that don't know what you're talking about, give a give a description of what that means and what does it why is it a negative?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when you go on the gates and you're in a race, when them gates open on a quarter horse, you're going from zero to forty-five quick.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so those first two or three jumps are important in quarter horse racing.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: They're the most important.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: And where your hands are is kind of gonna depend on where that horse is gonna break.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of riders, they go in there and they know how to throw their knots or hold their reins or whatever.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: And riders have different spots where they leave the gates.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: But the thing is you gotta have a hold of some mains to help you out because you don't want to break in that horse's mouth.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because that'll stop him in the first three important jumps of the race.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: So you gotta figure it out to where you don't want to give him too much rain because then if he stumbles, then you got no control of nothing.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's in the middle there where you gotta figure out where you want your hands and how much mane you're gonna get.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen boys get a whole handful of mane forgot their head reins.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Then I've seen the opposite too.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: But every rider has his way of uh leaving the gates.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: But breaking in their mouth is when you got too short of reins and you're tight, and you don't give that horse the freedom to to leave them first three or four jumps, that you're gonna break in that horse's mouth.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And they say it's gonna go straight up.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: When you don't depend on that mane, you just know when that last horse gets in, just get you a a couple of fingers of mane, and that's the way I used to it.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: I leave with a couple of uh mane in my hand and might not even have mane in the other hand, depending on what horse I was on and and what I knew about the horse.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: But you don't want to break in a horse's mouth because then you're in trouble.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the first three important jumps.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, from the time that you were growing up on the King Ranch before you you took out your license, were you going through the the bush track circuit?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_09: Were you riding at an early age in those competitive races prior to going on a recognized racetrack, or did you really just I did.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: I did.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I uh I graduated in 77.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: In the winter of 77, I moved to Ross Downs.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: And Ross Downs, there's a lot of great people that come from that racetrack.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of good legends, road there, Terry Burgess, new cag train there, uh Sleepy Gilbert.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: JB Montgomery, uh Sleepy, Dwayne Gilbert came right there from Ross Downs.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I started riding there and I would ride 20 races a week.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: By the end of the year, I was leading rider there uh in '78.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: But I was riding at other tracks in Texas too, like Columbus, Goled, Manor Downs, Del Rio, many tracks that people don't ever had they don't know existed back then, but those were the ones that held the good fraturities in Texas.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh at Gold, they used to have it wasn't a Texas classic, it was it was just a Texas Futurity.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: And they would run a lot of trials and some really, really good horses in those races.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I roaded all those tracks too in 78, really 77 and 78.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then after the spring of 79 is when I finally uh went to Redosa.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_09: And you went to Riadoso with Sleepy, or who who actually brought you to Riadoso?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was riding for a trainer named Noel Bruni, and he didn't have but maybe ten horses, and I went with him.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: But by then he did have a horse that could run a lot.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: His name was Jet View.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: That was the first world champion I ever rode.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: And we went to Redosa and I remember the first grade one we qualified for was the Rainbow Fraturity.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the year Streak and Six won it.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: I wrote a horse called Tix Charger Bar, and I ran fifth.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: That was my first year in Redosa.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then the next year is when he had Jetview, and we won the West Texas Fraturity with Jetview, and then he went on and became world champion.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: And he's a full brother to Rare Jet, which is the dad of refrigerator.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Once I got to Redosa with Noel and those 10 horses, I was weighing like 109, 108.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Never had road thoroughbreds, but I got my bug license and I started riding thoroughbreds and quarters.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: And before you know that, I was riding the card.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so I really did like third reds.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I did well with my bug.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I was riding quarter horses too.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I did that for like seven years.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: I did it until I got hooked up with the Floor French.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I was riding the Third Reds in New Mexico, which I was riding the best ones that they had at the time, but they weren't Kentucky breads or nothing like that.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: And one day Mr.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Fellows called me in his office and in Redosa.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh he said, Alex, I'm gonna ask you to do something I really don't want you to ask to do, but it's important.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Okay.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: He said, I'd like for you to quit riding in thoroughbreds.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: He said, you know, you ride those cheap thoroughbreds, and if you get hurt, we got 17, 18 in the trial, what are we gonna do?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: You get hurt, we're in trouble.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: I lived on his ranch in the winter time for like eight years.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: And he made another comment, you know, he said, you know, you get off a$2,500 horse and then you get on one of my half million dollar horse.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not that it makes me look bad, it's that uh it scares me that you might get hurt and then come trial day, we gotta hunt riders for telling us any horses.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: So he had a point, and that's when I quit riding thoroughbreds after seven years.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: But I did like thoroughbreds, I liked riding them.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: They told me I wrote thoroughbreds better than I did quarter horses, and I didn't I didn't believe that, but that's what they used to say.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_09: Well, before I asked this question, Alex, I'm gonna add some context to it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, you know, those that know Alex, he's in he's a currently a thoroughbred trainer, training in the state of Texas, Oklahoma, all you actually went up to Minnesota as well here recently, but back in those days, uh there's been a tremendous amount of riders that came out of that circuit, out of the New Mexico circuit and went on and hit the big time.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_09: And and uh, I mean, Jerry Bailey uh had gotten a start there at Sunland Park in New Mexico, uh, Pat Valenzuela, Mike Smith, all of these Kentucky Derby Hall of Fame level jockeys I mentioned.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_09: Garrett Gomez is another one that uh Sunlin Park, New Mexico, all of those those riders went on to great fame on the Thorbred side.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_09: And and me knowing Alex for several decades, you've told me the story about you had that pivotal moment in your career that you had gotten contacted by an agent there in on the East Coast that represented a lot of those big name jockeys and all, and and you had the opportunity to uproot and go and and chase the the big circuit there in on the thoroughbred side, and kind I guess you've answered the question of why you stuck with the quarter horses.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we were in Albuquerque riding, and Mike Smith was riding there, and Pat Valenzoreda was riding there, and we were young, and I know I had the bug, and I think Mike Smith had the bug, and I'm pretty sure Pat might have the bug too.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: And an agent came down and he was talking to Mike and Pat, and he also talked to me about going to to the East Coast.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And at that time, I because I was riding with him, when that agent came, uh my first wife was about to have our daughter, and I told him, I said, I can't go right now, but I'll I'll go after my my daughter's barn and stuff, and then I can move her and everything, and then I'll head up there.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so they left.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: Mike Smith and Pat they went, and yeah, they they did well.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: Would that have turned out to be like for me?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: I I I doubt it, but I did have the chance, and because I chose to stay, I went to Sunlin Park, and then that's when I was riding the card, and so at a young age I thought, shoot, I'm right here riding the card.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: And bottom purse at Sunlin that year was 1700.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And but I was winning a lot of races.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: So no, I never did take that leap that I was offered at one time, and I just sometimes wonder what would have happened.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying I wish I would have done it, um, because when I switched to straight quarter horses, it was good to me.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the quarter horse world was very good to me.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I can't complain either way.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, about what year I I'm assuming you're gonna tell me about right around the mid-80s and eighty-five and eighty-six, is where you really were up in the upper epsilon as it pertains to the the the grade one winning horses that you were getting on and and uh winning those big headline events.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_09: Give us a snapshot when you started getting into that realm of of being able to pull a lot of the big horses.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: In 79 and 1980, and 1981, I rode Quarter Horses and Thurbreds.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I was doing pretty good.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I was winning my shirt races.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: In 82, the year that we went to Redosa, I got to ride the Kansas trial.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Back then it was the Kansas Facurity.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: I said the fastest time in the Kansas Faturity with a man called Amy Joe Motto, which was trained by Brent Davidson's dad, Terrell Davidson was his name.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And five days after the trials, I had I got in an accident where I burned myself, and I had to go spend 42 days in a burn unit.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: And they first told me I'd never write again.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: Then they told me it'd be about a year, and then there was a nurse there where I was at that was torture, but she said, I'll have you back in six months.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I was there for 42 days, and I had a daughter, and she was young, and shockies don't make no money sitting on the sideline.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, I started I had a skin glove, cotton glove, and then a golf glove on top of it.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: And when I left the was gone for those months, when I come back, I walked that barn area every morning and could not pick up a mount.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: Every morning I'd walk that barn area in Redosa.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And one day I was walking to Wayne Gilbert stock, and he said, Hey, I got a horse that belongs to me.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm fixing to run him 550.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: You wanna ride him?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Yes, sir.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I rode that horse, and that horse won.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it was getting toward the end of the meet, and one day Dwayne asked me, he said, What are you gonna do this winter?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Sleepy, I got nowhere to go.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: I just got back into the saddle, I said, I got nowhere to go.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, if you'll come help me break babies, he said, I'll ride you on what I can, but it'll give you a job.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what I did.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: I left Redosa in '82 with Dwayne, and we went to Keller.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: We were at a farm and we couldn't work horses there, but we could gallop them.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if we wanted to work them, we would have to go either to Ross Downs, and then that winter is when Mr.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: Phillips and Dwayne Gilbert and Jerry Rudisau got together.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: And before we know it, Sleepy's gonna be training for Phillips Ranch.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I would spend half a day in Keller galloping, and at lunchtime I would drive to Frisco and gallop those horses.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so in the spring of 83, I was living on the Phillips Ranch, and Sleepy would just call the horses there to work.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: 83 is the year, well, really 82 when Sleepy stopped and asked me if I'd ride that horse.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was my door up there.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_09: The pivotal year.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: And he did, he kept his word.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I helped him break babies, and he rode me on all he could, and before you know it, we're we're at the Philip French, and that's where things really started getting big.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because the first year that we went to Redosa with the Philip Tranch horses, you know, we took horses like On a High, Mr.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Crimson Bug counting the cash, I mean, many grade one winners.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: And then from then on, every year there was grade one winners that went to Redosa from the Philip Tranch, many of them.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: Every time Cherry Lake had a baby, that was like a bank to us because we knew that baby was gonna run everything out of her was running.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Cash rate count in the crash, floral crash, six popper, and others.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: But I would say in '83 when I got to Redditos is the first year I got there knowing that I was riding some good, good, good horses.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: And they were.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: What your horse eats determines how good they will become.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's why every day, more horses eat Purina horse feeds than any other brand on the market.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_04: So, no matter what your needs, there's a Purina feed created to provide optimal nutrition for your horse.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_04: Purina.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_04: Horses make better people.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: And we make better horses.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sure you saw the results on Stallion eSearch, but if you didn't, here's what you should have noticed.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_06: Sire Apolitical Jess, standing at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma, had a phenomenal average for yearlines going through the sales ring at Heritage Place at over$73,000.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_06: He compliments the outstanding Sire roster of Royal Vista that includes his son, a political J Streak, the AQHA Champion Sire FDB Going Grand, the royally bred heart of the cartel, the grade one winning Eye on the Card, and the Grade One winning just Dulce.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_06: All standing at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get back to the podcast.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, let's start talking about some of the big name horses that uh you've been able to get on and some of the bigger wins that you've got on.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_09: Steer towards the 1986 All-American Derby win.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_09: I would assume, as it pertains to the highest level type win, that was probably your first.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think the next grade one I won at uh Redosa was the Kansas Fraturity.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then when we took six popper as a two-year-old, he was he was fast.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: But that was the year Brigand Silk was running.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so in the Rainbow Fraturity, I ran second to Brigand Silk about four links, but I but he did run second.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was a year on a high when the fraternity was in '83.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: Back I didn't back in the springtime when we were moving from that farm to the Phillips Ranch, the Wayne Gelbers and Jerry Rudisil, which Jerry Rudisil owned on a high.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: But we also had a horse called Mr.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: Crimson Bug.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: And one day they took me for a ride and they said, Alex, look, we know these two horses can run, but you get first choice.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: You get to pick.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then we're gonna find another rider for the other one, and then that way when we get in a switch, it'll already be taken care of.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Okay, well, I chose Mr.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: Crimson Bug.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I chose him because he was the faster horse, he really was.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: He won the first constellation of the All-American faster than Anahai did the finals, not taking anything away from Anaha.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: But uh some people that know about that, they go, Why didn't you pick Anaha?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: They told me to pick the fastest horse.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And Mr.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Clintonburg was the fastest.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: He was just unlucky at a lot of things.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: But my friend Steve Harris picked up Anaha and couldn't have been a better guy to ride him than Steve.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: So um 83 is the year that I started really riding and running against really good horses.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_09: So let's go into that sixth topper year, uh, 1986.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_09: You had mentioned obviously the the freak of Brigand Silk ran in 85.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when we run the rain when we ran the Rainbow Fraturity and Jackie won it on Brigand Silk, and I ran second about four lengths.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: We got back to the jobs room and Jackie came over and sat beside me and he was white as snow.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_02: And he look he looked like a person that was about to puke.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: And he looked at me and he said, Hey, you almost got all the money.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I thought he was teasing, but he wasn't.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: I could tell you it was serious.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: I go, What are you talking about?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: He said, I've never hit this horse.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: And today, why I did, but that's when we were still running on the on the one track.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have the the quarter horse track.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: We had to run on the old track.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: He said, When we come off that hump, I reached and hit him, and when I did, he sucked me to the back.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: I and the only thing I had was a knot.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: I come inches of falling off.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, I wouldn't want you to get hurt, Jackie, but I wish you'd have flew off.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so the next year, of course, Bugan Silk died that year, and we didn't have to face him as a three-year-old year.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: And Six Popper had the fastest son for the Kansas Derby, was the favorite, and but it had rained for a week, and it was raining while we were running that race.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the favorite.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: And when they kicked the gates, six popper just sat down on the tailgate and didn't move.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: They had to lead him out with a lead rope, and here I am favored.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: When I got back to the barn, of course it was pretty sad around the barn.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody was kinda had their head down, and I was one of them.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Mr.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Phillips walked in and he stood there for just a minute or two and he looked over at me and said, Who died?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Pardon?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Everybody's walking around here with their head down and all bummed out.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Yeah.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: I said, he goes, let me tell you something.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: You okay, he's okay.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's the thing.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: There's other derbies this year.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the type of man Mr.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Phillips was.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: If he saw you down, he was gonna try to lift you up.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: And sure enough, I broke my ankle right after that derp, and I missed the rainbow derby.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: And he qualified for the rainbow derby constellation, and Nikki Wilson wrote him and he won.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I was gonna make sure I was gonna ride him in the All-American Derby.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so I cut my cast off and uh I rode him in the All-American Derby Trials.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: And the day that he ran, there was like four of us flying in from California to ride the Derby.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: And we had a misconnection in Albuquerque or something, and they're like, Well, we're not gonna make it.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: I go, Yeah, we are gonna make it.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: I knew I was on a good horse, and somehow we ran into jet.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: My agent got a jet to meet us in Albuquerque, and I got to Redosa and I ran through the tunnel a race before the derby.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that day it was raining, but it wasn't muddy or watery like it was the day he stood in the gates, and that day he broke off a rocket and won the derby pretty easy.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that was my first biggest grade one win ever does.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_08: Mm-hmm.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_08: And that of course being preceding the year that uh the big year with Elon special in '87.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_09: Your introduction to the John Buchanan runner Elon special and as it pertains to working your way to uh towards the all-american.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: In in 1982, um a man showed up there in Sleepy's barn.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: He had one horse called Here of the Band.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: And Sleepy said, This man came in from Florida.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: He wants you to ride a horse for him in the trials.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: He said, We'll see how we draw, and if you can ride him, help him out.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_02: Where was John Buchanan?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: And he I rode that horse for him, and I think he made the consolation.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's the first year I met John Buchanan.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: In 1987, I was in El Paso, and a man, George Gage, came up to me and said, There's a man named John Buchanan you need to go find.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: He said he's got a Philly that can win the All-American.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot of people say that in February when we were talking about a race in September.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we get to Redosa and uh I was only gonna ride a limited amount of horses because I had broken my ankle again that January.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so John Buchanan approached me and said, I got this Philly, and she can fly.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, I'm only gonna ride a few in the trials, and it'll be for the fellow friends and stuff.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: So he said, Well, will you at least work her?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, Yeah.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when I worked her, I got off and told my agent, I said, Look, we'll ride what we need to.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that Philly there gets first call.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: She could run.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: She had the fastest time for the Kansas and acted up in the finals.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: She ran third in the rainbow and acted up in the finals.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: And on All-American Day, it was just everything worked out good for her.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how I met John Buchanan in 81st with the horse called Hero the Band.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then the next one I rode for him was Elon Special.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_09: When did when did you qualify going into the All-American fraturity with Elon Special?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: She had the third fastest time.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I was uh in the jox room, and I had rode a race earlier, and then I lay down and I think I dozed while I was taking a nap.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: And my valet came in there and said, You gonna ride this all America or you're gonna sleep?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I get up, get ready, and while I'm getting ready, I'm hearing the announcement that there's a horse that's been scratched.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm thinking it, I hope it ain't mine.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: And my agent uh valet said, No, it ain't yours.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was Shu Chell, the one that had the fastest time.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: And he was a runner, and we all knew he was a runner, but he had a foot problem, and Jack decided to scratch him that morning.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: And when that happened, the only thing we had to worry about E-Land is how she was gonna act in the gates.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: But that day in the post-parade, she was different, she was like calm, in control.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember telling uh Sergio, the guy that worked for John, I said, Sergio, if if we get away, we're gonna win this.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: And she did act up a little bit at the first, but then she settled and she left like a rocket.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: And knowing I didn't have to run against Shu Ch, I made my hopes up a little higher because he was fast.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's one horse I didn't know if I could outrun.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: But if she left the gates, I knew the rest of them, I think I could have outran.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: And what makes her a little uh different also, Greg, is back then we ran two sets of trials for the rainbow.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: In the first set of trials, you had to run first, second, and third.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: If you did, you made it to the time trials.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: In the all-American, same thing, two trials, but you had to run first and second in those trials to make it to the time trials of the All-American.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: So she ran eight times that summer and made all three faturities and then ended up winning the last one.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's tough for a two-year-old, and it's really tough for a two-year-old Philly, but every race she won was about two lengths for further.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: The only time she got beat was in the Kansas Finals when she acted up, and the Rainbow Finals when she acted up.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, she was tough because she had to run eight times that year.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, take me from the gate to the wire in the All American and and kind of relive this moment with us.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I've been in the other.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: All Americans where we had to ride the to the wire.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: I ran second one time, get beat a nose, and but that day she left the gates better than she'd ever had because she was kind of moving around.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden she went to move forward, but when she moved forward, the gates came open.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: And in two jumps, she was daylight in front.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't hear nobody behind me.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_02: I could hear the announcer and the crowd, but I couldn't hear nobody behind me.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew she was in front easy.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a race that I think we ran 2149, but it was almost like two minutes because I didn't really have to ride.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: All I had to do was wait and finish the 404 yards.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: And about 150 yards before the finish line, I heard the announcer mention my name and heard him say Elan's special.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so I knew then, without having to look back, which I never do, I was a winner.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: If she didn't fall, I was a winner.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so I got to soak in all the stuff like that, where if I would have been having to ride, you know, you're paying attention to riding.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: But that was one race that from the first jump I knew I was a winner, unless something tragic happened.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: But it worked out that way.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I would watch the replay of All American and I it gets that same feeling like it lasted a lot longer than 21.49.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_09: Did did the All American win open even more doors through your career after winning it?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: It helps any rider, but yeah, it opened up doors that with other people that weren't there.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: But the feeling y it's kinda like you're trying to soak in what just happened, and you know it's the highest high you're gonna feel at that time, being a jockey or a trainer or whatever.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: And j just trying to soak it in and enjoy it and and was overwhelming really.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: But uh and that was my uh fifth All American to ride.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought I had I thought I could win it two years before that when I rode Sixer Run.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: I was in front with Sixer Run and a hundred yards before the war he switched leads and chipped the knee real bad.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I got pot Mr.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_02: Trekajet won it.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I I don't I think if Six a Run doesn't have that happen, I would have won the All American Fraturity.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, your your unique story of you and your brothers as well has another chapter where you are in the same race in 2011, and uh you're on Denver Pass, and you're you've watched your your younger brother accomplish what you were able to accomplish and also win the All-American.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_09: And I remember being there, and I remember you and your silks going out onto the racetrack when they were circling around a choa, and Roy's all-emotional because that was the mount that Jackie would have had and possibly would have won his eighth All-American fraternity on that horse.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, and as they're circling, you and Roy are having this touching moment of uh brothers congratulating well, you're congratulating him.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_09: So talk about the joy of watching you and your family member win the All-American, something that you were able to accomplish in '87.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think I was just as happy that day as the day I won it.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, I didn't have a horse in the finals.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: Jackie had qualified several, and so he had his pick.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_02: And they told me about five days after the trials, depending on what Jackie was gonna ride, I might be able to pick up one.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we all knew who he was gonna ride, and so I got a call, and that's how I picked up Denver Pass.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and that's why I was there that day.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, of course, we're brothers, family, but once we're on horses and we're in that gate, he's a jockey, I'm a jockey.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where it was.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: But when I pulled up and I knew he had won it, it was a feeling that was another unexplainable feeling because the first thing that came to my mind is the day he rode Cash Ray to the barn or to the track and he fell off.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: It took me back to that day, even though it was many, many years later.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then all the time that he spent galloping with me for two years, he would gallop right beside me.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: All of that was kind of coming to into my mind as I was going back to the unsaddle horse and everything.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I put my saddle down and I went out there and and I found him, and I was glad that I got to ride the race, but I was glad that I was there too to to share it with him.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_06: With us being done with the September yearling sale of Heritage Place, now it's time to look towards the November sale in Oklahoma City, with the three days of November 5th, 6th, and 7th being the key dates to mark in your calendar for this top caliber equine sale.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_06: So I look forward to seeing you at Heritage Place, the place where champions are sold.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_09: Hey, take notice.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_09: As the sire KBN Corona standing at RoboShow Ranch gets another grade one win as his three-year-old daughter Beautiful gets it done in the grade one Millie Vessels at Los Alamitas against older females.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_09: Also standing at RoboShow Ranch is the multiple grade one producing sire A Political Blood, and the greatest stakes producing sire Gold Heart Eagle V, the AQHA champion sire Tempting Dash, and the All-American juvenile-winning son of Corona Cartel Visa, all standing at RoboShow Ranch in Bro Bridge, Louisiana.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get back to the podcast.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, I I I never almost never let some of the legends get on this podcast without talking about some of the other legendary horsemen that they were able to ride up against or ride for.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_09: As we w had talked about some of the things in the past about your careers, it a lot of it refers back to Jackie and kind of give it a snapshot for those people that are listening of just just kind of how great Jackie was.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: Jackie Martin was uh well, everybody knew he was a quiet person, but uh me and Jackie became friends.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was one he would open up to.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: It took a while because he's always leading rider at Red Osa.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: And in them years I rode for Fellow Strange, most of the time I was right behind him.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we became friends, and I've heard people say, Well, yeah, when you ride the stock he's riding, you can't lose.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's you knew you do need stock.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_02: But Jackie was a very, very smart, smooth rider, is what he was.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: And he didn't change that style for most of the horses he rode.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: He was aggressive if he had to be, but I would say most of all he was very, very smooth.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that takes me back to he could connect with a horse in five nine minutes if he had to.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: And he never moved on a horse.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: He just had that rhythm that he was always with the horse from the word gates to the finish line.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: And again, he was a smart rider.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: In the big races, he had ice water in his veins.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_02: You wasn't gonna rattle him.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: If you didn't watch it, he'd rattle you.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: Not only was Jagger with a great rider, he was a great friend to me, I would say he was one of the smoothest, never-change style rider there is.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_09: Another writer that you'd fit into that category of being up at that level?
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: Jerry Nicodemus.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_02: And Jerry Nicodemus, to me, is maybe as equal as Jackie was, but in another way.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Nick was one of those that he also didn't move, and he was smart, and he was tough.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I got blessed because the first agent I had in Redosa in '79 was Nicodemus' agent.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, he didn't really want to take me.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so I had the same agent as Nick did for like 15 years.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I learned a lot from from Nick.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: He taught me a lot.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think he was the only rider I ever rode for that could rate a quarter horse.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_08: When you say rate a quarter horse, explain to the listeners what you're talking about, Alex.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: One time he got sick or something, and he called me and he said, Will you ride a horse for me today?
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: I go, Yes.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll I get to the junction and I think I'm riding, you know, just a day race.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's overnight handicap, and it's a mare called Make Mind Cash, which she had already made a million.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: She's favorite on the program.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: And but before Nick hung up the phone, he did tell me, he said, wherever you break, Alex, do not ask this mayor until you're about a hundred yards for the wire.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: Sit there on her and don't wait until you're about a hundred yards from the wire, then you can ask her.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I was in the five and the four was a great mare, and on the other side was a great mare.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_02: They kicked the gates, and here we are, three of us heads up.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we're getting closer to the finish line.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm getting ahead behind.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: But I remember what he said, wait until you have to go.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I waited until I thought I was about a hundred and hundred and twenty yards from the finish line, and then I really asked her.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_02: And when I did, she gave me just enough to win by Nick.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then later I asked Nick, How did you I mean, that's how he connected with horses.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: If he doesn't tell me that, I'll probably lose the race.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: But he knew when to ask horses in a race where sometimes other riders didn't.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I mean.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: He he could probably raid a quarter horse sometimes if he had to, where other riders wouldn't think to do that.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_02: Guys, I know one time I was riding against Nick, and I was in the seven, and he was down there in the four, and we were in front, we were head and head, but apart from each other.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: And about fifty yards from the wire, Nick just all of a sudden screamed at the top of his lungs and caused me Alex instead of Bertha.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when he said that, I turned and looked, thinking something was happening.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_02: And when we pulled up, I said, Nick, what were you hollering?
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: And he smiled and he said, You looked at me.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Who won?
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_02: I said, I think you did.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Don't ever look, Bertha.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: Don't ever look.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's one thing my dad taught me.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: But that's one thing that I've always told riders, let them ride their horse.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: You ride your horse.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because one of these days a good rider will get you.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: And how do I know I got got Nick got me?
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_08: I don't think you ever told me that story.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, you never I I've heard a lot of the.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I tried it I tried it on Jackie Martin and it didn't work.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I still ended up beating him with sign to fly in the Kansas Fraturity.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I was in the 10, and they were down there in the six and five, and they were heads up, and I was way out there on the outside.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I tried hauling at Jackie.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: Either he didn't hear me or he just tuned me out.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_02: But I did catch him like the last jump and and won the Kansas with Sundafly.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: And Jackie ran second, and the other one I qualified run third.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, your your career lasted quite some time.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_09: Uh I remember going with out to Hyaleah and being there, and you riding pretty much the whole meet when we were running horses down in Florida at Hyaleah, uh, and you obviously came up to Remington Park as well.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_09: Talk about when you decided that it was time to hang up the tack and then obviously talk about the transitioning into becoming uh the thoroughbred trainer that you are today.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: In 2015, it was 40 years because I rode my first race in 1975.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_02: In 2015, uh I had a really bad concussion earlier that year that put me out for like five months.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I had had one in 2014 that had put me out for a few months.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the doctor did tell me that he said, your brain's like mush.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_02: You can't take another hit because it's you're not gonna like the way it leaves you.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_02: And and so my daughter, my oldest son in December, it was after the Lone Star meet in 2015, they sat me down and they said, Dad, that's enough.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I had seen friends like Jackie Martin and Mark V and a bunch of riders that I I have I had seen die on the track, and some that were in wheelchairs and stuff like that.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_02: Bone will heal or get put together with plates and pins and screws, but once you start messing with the brain, you're really taking a chance.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: And my daughter said, I got three sons that I want 'em to grow up and know their papa and be able to talk to him.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I struggled with it because I still wanted to ride.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, well, if it takes me, then it'll take me doing what I want to do.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_02: But then I got to thinking about what she said, uh, and what the doctor said.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_02: If I took another hit, the best thing he could do was take me, because it was gonna leave me in a bad stage.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I got to thinking if that happens, then they gotta sit there and look at me, and that's the way they'll remember seeing me.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then I felt like if I kept writing I was being selfish and was thinking only of myself.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so I thought it over and I finally called them and said, Okay, I'm gonna quit.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Greg, you were the one to say that I had retired from writing.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I think so.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_08: I think you and I had to discuss it and we put out a story about it.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was tough.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was tough.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_02: In 2016, January the 1st, I wake up and I don't have a job.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_02: What I struggle with is a couple of months later I would break out in sweats and start shaking, and I was like, what the heck?
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I did.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: I went and saw a uh so-called psychiatrist or whatever, and he told me, he said, after he heard my story and all that kind of stuff, he said, he said, how if your body is wanting that adrenaline that you fed it for over 50 years and now it's not getting it, whether you galloped horses or worked horses or roading a race, you always had that adrenaline going.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well your body hadn't had that adrenaline for some time now.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna take a while for that to to adjust itself.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it did.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_02: It took time.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_02: By the end of 2016, I had gotten over the part of, you know, sweats and all that kind of stuff, and my body got used to not having that adrenaline.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_09: Alex, when you look back on your quarter horse racing life, and you know, there's plenty of people that you clearly could be thankful for and fa thankful to, who were those ones that kind of jump out and what would you like to say to those folks?
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'd like to thank all the trainers and all the owners that gave me the opportunity to to ride their horses, the good ones, the bad ones, it doesn't matter.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate the trainers and the owners and all that.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I had other people that helped me, agents and stuff like that through the career that I want to thank.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Dorane Gilbert is one that really the day he stopped when I couldn't even pick up a mount at Redosa, that opened up a door.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_02: So Sleepy really gave me a chance when nobody was giving me one.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_02: But there's other trainers that also helped me, John Buchanan and Arnold Simmons.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_02: I wrote some for Blaine.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_02: One year I went out there to ride first call for Caesar Dominguez at Los Alamitas.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_02: When I got there, he had 68 horses, and by the end of the meeting he had four, and one of them was taking on the cash because he was switching from quarter horses to thoroughbreds.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's another guy that I rode a lot of horses for, and then I got hooked up with Jen's list at once special, double bar S.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_02: I was under contract with them for about six years.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_02: So there's many people that helped me from the beginning to the very end.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, one of the first trainers I rode for that to me is a legend was New Keck.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he won three of the first five All-Americans, and here I am galloping for him, and it was at Ross Downs.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_02: We only run that mirror twice, and she won her trial, and then she came back and won the Foolboard Derby.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the last race that Newkeck ever ran.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I had the privilege of riding that mirror.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so from Newkeck, there's many, many trainers that I I couldn't think of their names.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_02: It takes me hours to mention all of them, but I'd like to thank every single one of them and owners also.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_02: I've ridden for some great, great owners.
• 1:02:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_09: Well, Alex, I certainly appreciate you getting on here, and and you and I have discussed it's it's hard to condense something that's lasted 40 years in the matter of, say, 50 to 60 minutes and put it in a podcast forum.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_09: We there's so many avenues that I could have gone into and rabbit holes that we could have gone into that maybe that calls for a second podcast here.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_09: But we absolutely appreciate you getting on here with Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly and and discussing the career and especially the big wins in the in the All-American Fraturity and Derby.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_09: And I'm sure we'll be seeing you sooner than later, as the you'll be running the roads here with the thoroughbreds that you got going on, and we'll be certainly watching and rooting for Alex Baldez.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate it, Greg.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_02: And again, thank you for having me on.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a very good speaker, but um I appreciate you you having me on, and I enjoyed it.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_08: Thanks so much, Alex.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_06: He's one of the top three second-year sires in the country, and he's Eagles Fly Higher.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_06: With his top earner being Eagle on a June bug, the graded stakes winner with earnings of nearly$375,000 on the track.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_06: Eagles Fly Higher is a grade one winner and two-time champion.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_06: And he stands at the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction in Opalousis, Louisiana.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_09: There's still 50,000 reasons to take a look at HIP 195 at the upcoming Losal Equine Cell.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_09: A March Uncle D cult that carries the Uncle D smart money incentive potential, and he's there for the taking.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_09: As Uncle D is a Grade One winner, and he's also a Grade One producing sire, and he's also one of the 50 Stallions in the Fuego program.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_09: So so many reasons to look at this son of Corona Cartel as you get closer to the choice of who you're going to breed your mares to in 2027.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_09: Smart Money says Breed to Uncle D.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_09: He stands at Prestige Equine in Roswell, New Mexico.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get back to the podcast.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_09: Alright, we're back here, ready to jump into the preview section, joining me, Yancy Diamond from Utah.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_09: Yancy, we're looking at a bunch of futurities here coming up this coming weekend.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_09: Let's go out to Prairie Meadows and look at the Great Three Valley Junction Futurity.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_09: Right off the top, jumping off the page, is the fastest qualifier, just a southern girl out of the barn adjacent homestead.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, this horse looked really good in the trials, Greg.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_07: Um she has four wins at Prairie Meadows already this year.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_07: Comes and says the her fastest time here.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_07: She was also earlier in the meet, she was fourth in the Prairie Meadows juvenile stakes.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_07: So she seems to really like this track.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_09: Yes, and four to five on the morning line.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_09: Uh you know, actually this is a fairly good exotic wadering race here again.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_09: So you got three horses that are less than ten to one, and the rest of the field is uh twelve to one or greater.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_09: These three standout horses in there, including the second choice, Isaac Chick Magnet, on the outside for Stacey Sheradhill.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, Isaac Chick Magnet.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_07: Um I really liked how this horse ran in the trials too.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_07: It stumbled at the start and broke in, and then it came and really finished strong and got the win.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_07: This horse also has six starts four wins.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_07: Um it was previously ran fourth in the prairie medals gold fraturity.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_07: He draws right next to the fastest.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_07: Qualifier.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_07: Uh, the meets leading writer, Christian Escada, is in the irons.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_07: So I like for this one to be a tough one to outrun as well.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_09: And that'll move us over to Oklahoma, the OQHRA Mystery Futurity Restricted Grade 2 event there at Will Rogers Downs.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_09: Another very tough field here.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_09: And we have the fastest qualifier coming out of the barn of Jed Vane dressed in black.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_09: This horse, of course, jumped up and really exploded in this trial race.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_09: There's no other way to say that, Yancy.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_09: If you look at the E-rating figures, uh, the last two races were down in the 60s.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_09: This horse gets in this trial here at Will Rogers, really runs a hole through the air and gets there, and posts not only the fastest time, but a huge E-rating, which is almost 23 points higher than its highest one.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_09: And so the only thing I don't like about when a horse runs this strong in a trial race is usually I'm almost waiting for the horse to bounce in the next race.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_09: And this certainly might be the case, but goes out, posts is the fastest time going into SMIST Futurity.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_07: Yes, Greg, and it has super tough connections.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_07: Juan Polito and Jed Vane are always tough to beat, but I went a different direction.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_07: I went with another one that I like, or the horse that I really like is Whiskey Doc.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_07: And Whiskey Duck looked like it was kind of the opposite to me.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_07: It looked like he was ran a really easy trial race.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_07: I don't think Cody Roger asked him much.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_07: He was held back quite a ways.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_07: And this horse is really impressive so far.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_07: He's put together quite the big campaign.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_07: He's he hasn't won anything, but if you go back to Remington, he's ran second in the easy jet.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_07: He qualified to the Oklahoma Fraternity and run fourth.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_07: He ran third in the Lackelbird.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_07: Then he went to Tulsa and he ran second in the Speedhorse.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_07: This horse is always right there.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_07: He just hasn't quite got up to get a win in a fraternity yet, but I think if Whiskey Doc runs his race, he always breaks super strong.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_07: He just sometimes gets caught on the end.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_07: But I think if he runs his race, he'll be really hard to beat.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_09: Well, I'm gonna have to go back and look at this one.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_09: This is the ninth fastest qualifier going to the race, and you're you're definitely pointing it out.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_09: If you look at the second fastest qualifier, Dalen, out of the barn of Jason Olmsted.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_09: This is a horse that qualified into the Northlands Faturity.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_09: It ran a fifth, didn't get up there and win, but this horse does know how to get to the winner circle.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_09: Finished second in its trial race, but finished second fastest get to get into this field.
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_09: And it's got great connections here.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_09: Jason Olm out of the barn of Jason Olmsted.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_09: So I look for this horse to definitely be a factor in this faturity.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_09: It will stay there right there in Iowa for the grade three, two rivers stakes there to start off that big day of racing on the 25th of September.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_09: And this this is a loaded field.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_09: Seven horses going postward.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_09: Jason Olmsted has a four-horse entry, but the one to look at is on the far outside.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_09: He's curls magic wagon, winner of the grade three Keokuk stakes last time out, but that was all the way back in July, the third.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_09: Ran a huge number there as well to win this race.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_09: And it's been off since then, but comes back here and is on the outside and is the favorite going into this field.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, Greg, I really think this horse is came into his own.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, he had a great campaign at Remington too.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_07: He was third in the Boyd Morris, second in the Bob Moore, but then comes here and, like you said, put up a huge speed finger, speed figure 104 in the Kula Kluck stake.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_07: But another really good standout runner, he's been in stakes races all year, is out of the Jason Olmsted Barn, and that's Cardiac Cowboy.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_07: This horse won a nice allowance last time out.
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_07: The time before that, though, he was second in the Prairie Meadows Championship Challenge, which is grade two, and then before that he was a fourth place finisher in the Kula Kluck.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_07: But he had a really solid campaign at Remington.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_07: He was third in the Bobmore, winner of the Mighty Deck Three.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_07: For this horse, just always is super tough in stakes races.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_07: And I look for him to be hard to beat, but there's I mean, any horse in this race, this for a seven-horse field, this is a loaded stakes race.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, I think top to bottom, any of them could win this race.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_09: Including one that I definitely think all of these runners are going to have their hands full with, and that's she's a fearless eagle, the Colorado bread that was a third place finisher in a grade one Juno's request earlier in the year, in July comes to Arapaho and wins the Arapaho Park Distance or Dis Staff Challenge Stakes, and then comes out of there and goes into the Rocky Mountain Championship stakes and gets another one.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_09: So this is a back-to-back stakes winner coming off of two stakes wins in a row going into this field.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_09: This horse should be tough, Yancy.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_07: And I like to mention the one son.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_07: This is a Brazilian bred horse.
• 1:11:09
  SPEAKER_07: Uh two years ago, they sent it to Paul in California.
• 1:11:15
  SPEAKER_07: And it was always tough in stakes races.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_07: It didn't win a lot, but uh this year they kind of sent it, they sent it to Jason Olmsted.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_07: And since he's got to Iowa, he's kind of found a home.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_07: He's he's got won his last two races at Iowa.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_07: They weren't stakes races, but they were an allowance race, and then he he ran third in the Klu Kluck stakes.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_07: So I think this horse could be super tough.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_07: I think he's kind of found his home in Iowa.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_09: And that'll do it for the preview section here on Quota Horse Racing Talk Weekly, and we'll be right back after these words.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_09: Alright, that's all the time we have this week here on Quota Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_09: And as mentioned, we appreciate all the support we get from the listeners as well as the advertisers out there, and and we're closing in on the 12-month anniversary of when we actually went and did a weekly podcast.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_09: And and as we get closer to that anniversary, we're looking forward to bringing you the weekly show that you look forward to to getting on here and listening to some of the legends that get on and talk about their careers here in this sport that we love.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_09: So hang in there until next week, as we'll see you here on Quota Horse Racing Talk Weekly on stallionesearch.com.