The state of horse racing in our state as another Kentucky Derby readies to run

So the Churchill folks are about to take over the Preakness and we have questions. Dick Jerardi of Bet Online returns to discuss all things Kentucky Derby, Laurel and Pimlico as the strangest Triple Crown season in Maryland history is in progress. Do we care enough in Maryland?

Dick Jerardi discussed Churchill Downs’ acquisition of the Stronach Group’s interest in Pimlico and the Preakness, emphasizing that Churchill Downs does not own the Preakness or media rights. He highlighted the need to move the Preakness back to four weeks to attract the Derby winner and improve marketing. Jerardi praised Churchill Downs’ expertise in running major events and noted the ongoing construction of a new Pimlico facility. He also previewed the Kentucky Derby, mentioning key horses like Renegade, Commandment, and Danann Bourbon, and promoting Bet Online’s Derby odds and props.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Preakness at Laurel in about a week and a half, using the alibi breakfast invitation and press credential.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Visit Dick Girardi in Philadelphia sometime soon and, if feasible, schedule a follow-up conversation about the Preakness in about 10 days.

Churchill Downs’ Involvement in Preakness and Maryland Racing

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of Churchill Downs taking over a portion of Maryland racing, specifically the Preakness.
• Dick Jerardi explains that Churchill Downs bought the Stronach Group’s interest in Pimlico and the Preakness, but they do not own the Preakness or the media rights.
• The deal involves Churchill Downs paying the state of Maryland $3 million annually and a percentage of the action.
• Nestor and Dick discuss the potential benefits of Churchill Downs’ involvement, including their expertise in running major events like the Kentucky Derby.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Preakness

• Nestor and Dick discuss the need to move the Preakness back to four weeks to maximize the presence of the Derby winner.
• Dick suggests that the new Pimlico facility will help market the event better, but it will still be a challenge to attract high rollers and regular customers.
• The conversation touches on the importance of maintaining Maryland’s horse racing tradition and the role of the Maryland Jockey Club in the future.
• Nestor mentions his personal connection to the Preakness and his excitement about attending the event at Laurel.

Changes and Improvements in Maryland Racing

• Dick Jerardi talks about the new Pimlico facility and the need to bring the sport back to Maryland.
• Nestor and Dick discuss the importance of marketing the event and involving the local community.
• The conversation highlights the challenges faced by the Stronach Group and the potential benefits of Churchill Downs’ involvement.
• Dick emphasizes the need for new ideas and a strong team to revitalize Maryland racing.

The Kentucky Derby and Derby Horses

• Nestor and Dick shift the focus to the upcoming Kentucky Derby, discussing the field of horses and their chances.
• Dick mentions that the Derby field is wide open this year, with no clear favorite like American Pharoah or Justify.
• They discuss the involvement of top trainers like Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher and the importance of the prep races.
• Dick highlights the participation of Japanese horses in the Derby and their potential success in the race.

Betting and Props for the Kentucky Derby

• Dick Jerardi promotes Bet Online.ag, mentioning the various betting options and props available for the Derby.
• They discuss specific bets, such as the horse that will finish last and whether a horse will poop on the track.
• Dick shares his preference for the Japanese horse Danann Bourbon, which is unbeaten and Kentucky-bred.
• Nestor and Dick talk about the excitement of betting on the Derby and the fun of making prop bets.

Personal Stories and Connections to Horse Racing

• Nestor shares a personal story about meeting Jeff Ruby and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati.
• Dick recounts his experience meeting Muhammad Ali and watching him train at Deer Lake.
• They discuss the impact of horse racing on Japanese culture and the success of Japanese horses in international races.
• Nestor and Dick reflect on the history of horse racing and their personal connections to the sport.

Advice for Newcomers to Horse Racing

• Nestor asks Dick for advice on reading and understanding the form for horse racing.
• Dick explains the importance of understanding the history of the horse and the significance of recent races.
• They discuss the challenges of reading the form and the benefits of using online resources for replays and additional information.
• Nestor shares his experience of attending the track with his wife and the excitement of betting on horses.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Dick wrap up the conversation, discussing their plans to meet in person and continue their discussions about horse racing.
• They express their excitement about the upcoming Preakness and the potential for Churchill Downs to improve the event.
• Nestor thanks Dick for his insights and support, emphasizing the importance of their long-standing friendship.
• They look forward to future discussions and the continued growth of horse racing in Maryland and beyond.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Churchill Downs, Maryland racing, Pimlico, horse racing, bet online, Derby winner, Preakness location, horse betting, horse training, horse racing tradition, horse racing history, horse racing industry, horse racing events.

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SPEAKERS

Dick Jerardi, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, getting you ready for, and that’s not just the Dan Fogelberg song either, getting you ready for the Kentucky Derby. And, of course, the pre nest, which, if I were really a smart marketing guy, I would have taken the nest part of that and owned it myself. Instead, we’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour. I have the Maryland treasure scratch offs to give away, including these acetate ponies, which Dick Girardi didn’t have any use for them because he can’t bet on them. And we got the boardwalk, of course, and our crustaceans that we like to eat at Costa sin in Timonium and in Dundalk, as well as the Bay Bridge, which, if you’re lucky enough, and you ain’t going down to Wildwood or like, like Luke does, or down to what is that ocean, whatever they call that down in Atlantic City, whatever AC you go across the Bay Bridge, you go to the beautiful Maryland shore. This guy spent his childhood here. He was recruited, I think, by Jack Gibbons, to the Philadelphia Daily News. I could be wrong about that, but he left and went to Philadelphia, and he never came back to Rogers Forge. All these years later, he was my original track man at the sports first in the news American. He was on about two weeks ago, I put an APB out. I was like when Alfred went and had the red light and got the bat thing out that I needed deep horse racing wisdom. Dick Girardi, the man the myth, the legend returns from the fighting city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dick, man, you and I got together and we went at it. And I don’t want to be reiterative. So anybody that wants to hear about me being pissed about Laurel or the stronics or Bruno Mars or the state of the industry, or the fact that we don’t get the Derby winner, like all of that, I want to have you on, because there was news about Churchill taking over, and I immediately, because I don’t believe anybody else, honestly, I reached to you and I said, Let’s Duke this out. So I want to bring you back on, and I would just give you a little lesson, because John Steadman was a mentor to you and a mentor to me. When I first started writing, Steadman edited something I wrote early on and I used the same word twice in a 12 inch high school prep story that I came back and I wrote from Parkville High or whatever, and said, he said, never use the same word twice. A lot of words in English language senior, you can find another word. So for me, you and I did 42 minutes or like crazy a little while ago. I don’t want to be reiterative, but I do want to at least set the stage for it’s Derby week. Things are changing, Big time, big league around here, in addition to the fact that the Preakness is going to be running Laurel. And that’s the that’s not breaking news, but there is breaking news, right?

Dick Jerardi  03:04

Dick. So for the people that have been following this and those who have not, it was announced about a week ago that Churchill Downs CDI, Churchill Downs incorporated their trade on the stock exchange. They have basically taken over first or Strong’s piece of the action at Pimlico and in Maryland over a period of time. They do not own the Preakness. They do not run Maryland racing. That’s still the state entity. That’s still the Maryland Jockey Club, essentially Nestor, what they have bought when first was starting to get out. They made a deal with the state of Maryland that, okay, you can have Pimlico and you can run the Preakness, but as a parting gift, we want to get, like, 3 million per year and a percentage of the action. Well, that’s what Churchill Downs bought. They bought what the strina group had, they do not have they do not own the Preakness. They do not own the media rights. They do not have anything to do with ticketing. I think Churchill Downs would like to sell themselves to the Maryland Jockey Club as a group that runs a great event, which they obviously do, and that potentially could help the Preakness, but that’s strictly up to the building off and the people that are running the show in Maryland. Well, that wouldn’t be

Nestor Aparicio  04:27

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a bad thing to have people who know what they’re doing, right? I mean, to some degree, right? You and I come on and praised Churchill Downs for years as the event. I’ve called it the greatest event in America. I’ve been to 27 Super Bowls, yeah, and I love the Super Bowl, and I love World Cup, which is calm. I’ve done all of this stuff all over the world. To me the Derby, the things I’ve done in life that I should tell people, hey, go do the Derby, is what I tell people.

Dick Jerardi  04:53

It keeps getting better. The problem is, Nestor, it’s become over the last several years so corporate. Like when you first went, and I first went, you could pay $20 or $50 to get in and roam around. Well, you can’t do that anymore. It’s all every ticket is all encompassing. It’s food, drink, and the tickets are extraordinarily expensive. But look, they realize they have a great event. They know people are going to pay for it, so they’re trying to maximize their profit. I remember when

Nestor Aparicio  05:21

the problem was you had to buy the hotels for four days at $400 a night at the Bay 10 because, like, it was Louisville, and that’s what were you gonna do, Airbnb, 400 a night. I bet Airbnb, you know, aired some of that out, you know, about 15 years. I haven’t been to the derby since before my my wife was a blonde since she was the person she was before she is now. So, I mean, I bet the last Derby I went to was, you know, oh 567,

Dick Jerardi  05:49

so they redid it. It in 2004 2005

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Nestor Aparicio  05:54

I was there during that remodeling. Yes, I remember

Dick Jerardi  05:57

that Smarty Jones year was when they were in the middle of the remodeling. The next year, oh five is when they had finished the first phase of it. But since then, their number of other phases, they keep building new sections, and they can’t build enough. They just but so the derby is different. So yeah, that basically that’s what Churchill Downs bought for 85 million. They think it’s worth over time that they’re going to be able to get their money back. But I think they’d also like to have some say into what happens in Maryland. But again, that’s up to the Maryland Jockey Club, the state entity that now runs the show in horse racing in the state.

Nestor Aparicio  06:30

You and I have chatted, by the way, Dick Girardi is here my life or friend, it’s Derby week, and I’ll give you a chance to assess the horses and do all of the derby stuff that we do in advance of that, because I don’t know whether the winners, losers, some of these horses might run in the Preakness. Some are maybe not running this weekend. Gonna run the pre I don’t know. We do know the Preakness is happening two weeks from now, and it is happening in Laurel. And if you care to hear all of the who struck John as Charlie Eckman would say you can go, go see the other piece this period of time for whatever pimlico’s going to become. I mean, it’s amazing. You’re like Churchill, they’re stacking the stacking of the stackings. And then Belmont, apparently, is going to be completely a different place as well. Pimlico still feels like it’s in the dream state of what it might be one day while they’re running the real race for 4800 people, including me. By the way, I do have a press credential. Thank you. Gulfstream Park. David Joseph, so my my wife and I are going to the Preakness at Laurel. I just got my alibi breakfast, um, invitation this morning. I don’t know when the post draw is, but all this will be happening in a week and a half from now, for the Preakness running here, if you were to sit with the new president, and I haven’t sat with him, and I know you know him, I’ll do this with my AI clone dick. So I get real answers, but I want to ask you, what are the three or four things that I should be asking him about this? What are the questions you have about all of this, about Maryland racing, about the Preakness, I think we went through this before that, like, they got to move the race. Like, that’s got to happen in order to get the Derby winner. Like, so there are some just fundamental things that the industry, including Fox, ESPN, NBC, whoever’s going to like all of that. But for where Maryland holds on here, and my cost is friends up at Timonium, at the spa that you love so much, and you know whether they’re now going to have a training track, right? Like all of these things that have been talked about, what’s important for racing fans here to know.

Dick Jerardi  08:40

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Well, a couple of things. One, let’s talk Preakness. They got to move the race back to four weeks. Memorial Day weekend probably works the best if you want to get the Derby winner, if you want to maximize your product, because look Nestor back in the day with the two weeks that got you the college students for the infield. Well, that ship has sailed. They just they blew that. That’s not I don’t think that’s happening. I don’t think that’s coming back. So with this new smaller Pimlico with mostly tents for the Preakness, and that’ll be true even after the new facility is complete, they have to focus on marketing an event and find a way to make it some facsimile of what happens in Louisville. It’s never going to be the Derby, but they’re going to have to find a way to market it to the high rollers and find a way to keep their regular customers happy. It’s not going to be easily done, but that’s, I think that’s the first thing that Bill and his group have to do, and then they got to find a way to bring the sport back in the state. Look, Maryland has a phenomenal tradition. I’ve been in Pennsylvania for over 40 years now, and there’s no chance Pennsylvania will ever have the horse racing tradition Maryland does. So it’s ingrained in the state. I think there’s people that want it to succeed. I think having a brand, I

Nestor Aparicio  09:54

don’t read enough of them. Can I say that in the middle of this, if you’re out there and you’re listening to Dick and I. Like, and me being pissed, and me being a part of somebody, brought Bob lefflers name up to me the other day and asked me if I knew Bob. I’m like, I mean, there’s a guy there that was involved in horse racing. Karen to Francis is on my Facebook page, you know. Like, I like, I’ve been at this a long time, Dick, you know? I mean, and I don’t need enough people who are champions of this, including plank, who kind of probably saved it for a little while, right? Literally, right?

Dick Jerardi  10:29

Well, I mean, he was involved, obviously, he had Sagamore farm, and he was going to be a big player, and now he’s not right. I mean, he was into it for a while, and it’s, it’s a hard game. Even when you spend a lot of money, there are zero guarantees you’re going to get it back. So you better be in a position if a guy like Kevin Plank was obviously with under armor. But if you don’t, if you can’t afford to lose money, you can’t be in it at that at that level. There’s a smaller level, obviously, but yeah, I just think the everyday racing in the state, because there’s certainly a loyal fan base. And you’re going to have this smaller facility, you got to find a way to not just market it for horse racing, but other things, get the neighborhood involved. There’s all kinds of ways. And I know, look, I know some of the people that are involved in this, and they are smart people, but they’re, they’re playing from behind right now. They’re an underdog, right? Because everything has changed. The strina Group on its way out the door. They just basically let it kind of just crumble. And the good news is they are now going to be officially out out. Churchill Downs has taken over for them. I think that’s a good thing for Maryland racing, because I think the stronger group at this point was just interested in how much money they were getting paid and a piece of the action Churchill’s got an interest Nestor in promoting the Preakness right, in having the Derby winner go there. What did I just say? They get a percentage of the betting handle, right? So they have an absolute incentive. And I think that’s one of the reasons that braces certainly going to be moved back. Churchill Downs is going to want to be moved back? Is they’re going to want the Derby winner there more often? Then you got to get the people at Naira in New York involved, because they would like the Belmont Stakes to stay about where it is. Maybe move a week back. I think it’s going to have to move back several weeks.

Nestor Aparicio  12:11

They don’t want to go to the Fourth of July, right, correct?

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Dick Jerardi  12:13

They don’t, because they don’t want to mess with the opening of Saratoga, which is their big money maker, right? Saratoga opens later in July. They don’t want to fool with that, but I think they’re going to have to TV networks will have a lot to say. I know we talked about this. NBC has the rights to the derby for a number of years. Fox has the rights to the Belmont for a number of years. This is the last year of NBC deal with the Preakness. So somebody is going to get the Preakness next year. It’s probably going to be NBC or Fox, and I think that will tell you a lot about the spacing of the races. But yeah, it needs to also,

Nestor Aparicio  12:45

also the value of the Preakness as a bidding tool for television, for the industry, for the Churchill people, that maybe you could make a case without being, by the way, you’re here. By the way, I got to say this on behalf of bet online.ag. So do you want to give a plug to that before I go, I talk Churchill and we talk some money here. I do.

Dick Jerardi  13:06

I do. My man Jimmy Shapiro puts me in with you and a lot of other people around the country to talk mostly about the derby this week and get on BET online.ag. You have odds on, obviously all the derby horses. You have some great props. You have things like, what horse will finish last? I know you’ll love this one. When your TV cameras are wrong. Will a horse poop on the race track? That’s one of the props. It’s just, it’s a, it’s just a fun thing. Will a Todd Pletcher horse win? Will a Baffert horse win you get? You get different odds. That’s a crappy prop where there is that problem. But, yeah, don’t, don’t write that. Stedman would not be happy. I don’t have to clean

Nestor Aparicio  13:43

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that up. You know, just Steadman would laugh the loudest at that, right? Because it’s a little bawdy, right? Yeah, because he was, he was, like, that a little bit the Churchill thing, as it came to me, was, oh, shit, the gypsies bought the race, right? Like, now, after talking to you for 15 minutes, right? You’re like, Well, no, they know what they’re doing. And, oh, by the way, if they get a hold of the Preakness, no one would have more interest in maximizing it than them. And I’m thinking, Well, does that mean they move it to Keeneland, you know, like, I like, I’m

Dick Jerardi  14:14

just forget all that. Forget moving it. Forget any of that that’s got nothing to do with Churchill. The state of Maryland is running the Preakness. That’s why the new Pimlico is going up, because they want to maximize the Preakness. So anybody that says they’re moving it, Churchill’s in charge of it, that’s wrong. That’s just nonsense. So forget that.

Nestor Aparicio  14:34

Okay, good. Thank you. I appreciate you mentoring me. 45 years into this, to talk me out of any tree from this is like what I told David Rubenstein when I met him at a Beth to fill him like there’s been a lot of trauma here. You know what I mean? There really has been a lot of trauma here on the horse racing thing, and not a lot of witnesses to come around and want to, like, talk about it. And. Educate people like me about it in a way that I don’t think that they’re lobbying me in some way about it, or boujeeing Me, which is even worse, because you only have one chance to do that.

Dick Jerardi  15:10

You know, of course, look, there’s some smart people involved with it. I ran to Corey Johnson, who’s been around horse racing forever. He’s involved in the building of the new Pimlico. He’s been involved in the sport forever. I talked to him the day after the Preakness last year. You got Bill Knopf, who ran a really successful racetrack at Monmouth Park for years. And the team, I think they’re putting together is a group that has a lot of experience, but also has some new ideas and realizes that what has has happened in Maryland, certainly in recent years, it’s not going to cut it. But I think there’s an appetite for some new people coming in, and just the fact that you have a new a new Pimlico, obviously, it had to go. The old place was falling apart. So that you have a new, you’re gonna have a completely new racetrack. That’s something to get excited about. Hell, I

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Nestor Aparicio  15:56

remember, I’m trying to get excited about it. Dick, you’re the only one I talked to

Dick Jerardi  16:00

about it literally, wait till it opens that obviously it’ll get a lot of press. I don’t know for sure that it’s going to be finished by next May, but they’re going to run the Preakness of Pimlico next May with with tents or whatever. Hopefully it’ll be finished. I don’t know what state. I haven’t been down there since last May, so I don’t even know what it looks like. I know the old building, everything is torn down. I do know that so but it’s not nearly as big as the new building they’re putting up at Belmont Park. Drive by there

Nestor Aparicio  16:29

might break me right, like, literally I

16:30

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might, yeah, again, I don’t know what

Nestor Aparicio  16:33

you’re gonna say. Haven’t driven by. I haven’t been up the hill on

Dick Jerardi  16:39

that Sunday morning after the Preakness last year, and I’m driving on Northern Parkway heading for 83 heading out of town. Man, I look behind in the rear view mirror a few times, you know it’s like, because, I mean, that was my dude that

Nestor Aparicio  16:50

made that may freak me out.

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Dick Jerardi  16:52

Dude, yeah, when you see nothing if

Nestor Aparicio  16:54

I go down winter Avenue there, and I mean, a convenience store on a corner

Dick Jerardi  17:01

store, but yeah, I think they were gonna put planning to tear down all the barns again.

Nestor Aparicio  17:05

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Oh man, that the little paddock area where I met Ferdinand on 1986 that beautiful chestnut.

Dick Jerardi  17:13

Yeah, all gone. And some of it’s going to be modeled after the original Pimlico clubhouse, which burned down, and want to say in the 60s, and it’s going to kind of look retro like that a little bit. But yeah, I’ve seen drawings. I’ve seen everything

Nestor Aparicio  17:27

that just ran cold dick, you know, like, that’s my blood just ran cold. You talking about, you know, the barns being gone. I think I don’t know that I’m ready. I did. It took me years to go by Memorial Stadium. John Hoey, coming on from the Y my wife would tell you she married me 2003 so the last football game there was, you know, 98 so I couldn’t drive down 33rd street for a good while, for a good seven, 810,

Dick Jerardi  17:56

years by there, when I’m in town, I’ve driven by there a few times, and I don’t think I can go back, because, I mean, you look I

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Nestor Aparicio  18:03

like it at all, right,

Dick Jerardi  18:05

yeah, I spent so many nights there in the right field bleachers, 85 cents, talking to my man, Frank Robinson, back in the day, between innings and all the Colts games and everything. So, yeah, that’s hard. But the fact is, you know, you now have a great stadium downtown. It’s things change. That’s just, you got to deal with it. That’s all, well,

Nestor Aparicio  18:24

I’m ready to deal with change. Dick Girardi is here, and as much as old horse racing guys like you and I and rail birds like you, degenerative horse racing guys, we get together every year. This is my I don’t I can’t even do the damn math. I started 92 that I said this is be the 35th year that you and I will preview the derby together. Some years we’ve done it together. You sat on my national show when I did the show up in the press box with Chris Redmond and me and Papa Joe Chevalier at the Derby weekend, at the oaks, all of that. I’ve got pictures of you and me and all sorts of costumes of Brian Billick at the turn of the century. So you and I have done this a long time. Where are we with derby? Derby horses? Where’s the bafferts? Where’s the pletchers? Give me the give me the whole load. And I even see the Jeff Ruby steaks. Is going on here. I once had dinner with Jeff Ruby in Cincinnati, with Marvin Lewis. So I love all the horse racing talking. I don’t do enough of it. I mean, I literally now that Marty’s retired, you know, I this is you and me. We’re the last two after 35 years to do this. So half the

Dick Jerardi  19:35

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derby field is like Baffert and Pletcher and Brad Cox and Bill Mott. You know, all the heavyweights, Chad Brown, they had like half the field. It’s one of the years Nestor, where there’s no justified, no American Pharaoh, California, Chrome or that you just say this horse is going to win unless something unusual happens. We just don’t have that kind of a year. It’s extremely wide open to favor. It could be like five to one by the time the batting is over. So it’s and you got to get a sense of how the race is going to be run. All the fundamentals still apply. But a lot of the horses, the American horses, look very, very similar, trying to separate them when you watch all the prep races, the Jeff Ruby stakes, by the way, is one of the prep races run a turf way Park in Northern Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. And it is the Jeff Ruby steaks, not S, T, A, K, E, S, but steaks, as in a steak that you eat. And Jeff Ruby the restaurant tour, who’s got a great restaurant downtown Louisville and Cincinnati, he sponsors.

Nestor Aparicio  20:41

Listen. If you’ve ever had a meal with Jeff Ruby, the Jeff Ruby, you would remember 100% every part of that meal. So I dined with Jeff Ruby and Marvin Lewis before Marvin had coached a game. Marvin had just gotten a job in Cincinnati, and I was flying in. The Ravens were going to play him. They upset the Ravens. The next day, upstart Marvin Lewis and Jeff Ruby came in to Jeff Ruby’s while we were having a steak, and Jeff Ruby proceeded to sit and talk to me about things. And yeah, that was good. I told Marvin I was marrying this girl that night. He’s like you. So 23 years later, same thing you said to me, Dick. Jeff Ruby said the same thing, like you. He didn’t even know me. But nonetheless, yeah. I mean, this is a time of the year where everybody Peacock’s, I guess is my point that if Gene Simmons had a horse, or MC Hammer had a horse, or George Steinbrenner had a horse, this is but it’s now like, you know, very driven from across the water in a lot of ways, for ownership, right?

Dick Jerardi  21:46

For sure. I mean, you have Japanese horses are regularly coming over. There’s two Japanese horses in the race this year, one bred in Japan. One actually a Kentucky bread who’s coming back to the US after racing three times in Japan. And that’s a

Nestor Aparicio  21:58

tough ship, isn’t it, right?

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Dick Jerardi  22:01

It is. But you know, the way, way it’s done these days, and the way they take care of these horses, it’s not like it would have been back in the day. So one of the horses I like, actually, is a Japanese horse. He’s American bred. He’s Kentucky bread horse named Danann bourbon. Is the seven horse. What could be better than Kentucky bread named the non bourbon? So he’s three for three. He’s one of the two unbeaten horses in the race. And the Japanese are going to win this race sooner rather than later. I mean, they have some of the best racing in the world, and horse racing in Japan is every bit as big as baseball. Those are the two national sports over there, and the people over there bet like they have unlimited funds. They like the action in Japan. The only place in the world that bets more than they do is Hong Kong, where they race twice a week for like, I want to say they have like, 70 or 80 racing dates, and they handle more money in those 80 Days in Hong Kong than we do in the entire country all year with all of

Nestor Aparicio  23:01

our races sick, I don’t have a lot of regrets in life. By the way, Dick Girardi is our guest here. We’re talking horse racing. He’s here on behalf of, on behalf of bet online. Dot A G. I’m going to give him a chance to talk a little bit more about that. But I don’t have a lot of regrets in life. And you know, I, I flew to Asia with Cal Ripken in 2007 in October of seven, early days of YouTube China. I couldn’t even put videos up on YouTube when I was in China, but I went to Beijing. Cal went to Shanghai and Guangzhou. My wife and I decided like we’re going to do the four days in Beijing. John maroon was on this trip. We Rick from the Washington Post, who’s Rick mace, went on the trip. So it’s all you can go watch it on YouTube. Me and my wife run around Tiananmen Square and whatnot. But we went to Tokyo, and then we went to Hong Kong, while Cal went to Shanghai and Guangzhou, we made our move. And I really wanted to go to Hong Kong, because the Man with the Golden Gun. James Bond was shot there. And so I wanted to go to tick tock club there and do all that. So in Hong Kong, when we got there, we only had, like, four days there. And dude, I rage when I’m in Asia. I mean, you can only imagine, like, my ADD and up all night, and how much I love Asian food and how safe and fun and cool it is, or whatever, to do everything in Asia. The one thing we could have done was done the day trip to Macau, M, A, C, A, u, that you can do. And it’s like the bender that you did in Philly to get in the limo to go down and see Uncle Leo. Down in Atlantic City. We’re going to go to AC which you did in from Rogers forge no doubt, and 1981 and or go to Vegas on a bender, or, if you’re in Florida, go over to the mess hall. You know, they named a card trick after that. I think, right? So I would say that the Macau thing, I didn’t do it. I don’t think I’m gonna get back to Hong. Kong now that it’s become a little bit more communist, and I’m not with the State Department the way I was with Dow being handled a little bit, where I had a TGI Fridays in my parking lot and a proper Bennigan’s. You know, when I was in in Beijing, I would actually a bonanza, believe it or not. They still had those then Ponderosa. I don’t know what it was. Wasn’t a rustler, wasn’t local or York Steakhouse, but I would just say, for me, the Macau thing, and seeing the gambling over there, and then seeing like the way cricket is gambled upon in India, and seeing the way many casinos cater to Asian folks that are on trips into New York with, like, casinos and dining and all of that. It is very, very clear that like, but I didn’t know until you just told me that horse racing is big in Japan. I had no idea at all.

Dick Jerardi  25:50

None. Yeah, it’s huge. And there’s and Sunday silence, the 89 Derby and Preakness winner, he they sent him over to be a stallion in Japan, and he’s basically made the breed over there, over time, just sons and grandsons and all of Sunday silence.

Nestor Aparicio  26:07

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There’s a godfather in Japanese culture that loved horse racing so much that they bought the granddaddy to pardon anybody, sperminate and procreate and do all the things that studs do, and it’s created Japanese right? This would be like, Andre the Giant making wrestlers in Japan, right? Like, literally, right.

Dick Jerardi  26:29

And they’ve now compete around the world. If you remember, two years ago, Forever Young finished third in the Kentucky Derby, very unlucky, Japanese bred horse, Japanese owned horse. He’s since gone on to become the horse, the first horse in history to win more than $30 million he won the Breeders Cup classic last year at Del Mar. He’s won the most expensive horse race in the world two years straight, the Saudi cup,

Nestor Aparicio  26:51

20 million. So the best horse didn’t win the Derby, but then went on and made

Dick Jerardi  26:55

a boatload of dough. Correct? He’s now a five year old, and he’s still running great, and they’re not sure if where a season and this year could end up at the Breeders Cup again in Kentucky. But so yeah, they race

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Nestor Aparicio  27:07

a horse like that that can make that kind of money.

Dick Jerardi  27:10

But right? Yeah, he’ll run like 234, times a year, and now, because the purses are so big.

Nestor Aparicio  27:17

But how long till 678, now,

Dick Jerardi  27:20

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he’s five now, I mean, horse, a lot of horses don’t even peak till they’re five. The problem is we don’t get to see American Pharaoh or justify or any of these horses past three, because the stud fees are so big. But the purses at some of these international races Nestor becoming so big now that it’s worth keeping him in training. And obviously, 30 million is a pretty good number for doing anything, and so, yeah, Forever Young, he’s typically raised about three or four times a year. He’s like a heavyweight boxer back in the day, right where they’re not gonna, they’re not gonna fight for the title too many times, because they’re making all the money. Why would they fight more two or three times

Nestor Aparicio  27:56

a year? You know, reminds me, I was gonna ask you, did you ever meet Howard Cosell? I don’t

Dick Jerardi  28:01

know that I ever met him. I was around him when he would come in for the previous I was probably, I think I have a big memory of being in their trailer with like Jet 40, who was the director back in the day. I think I might even run some bets for Chet jet, like that. He’d like to gamble.

Nestor Aparicio  28:17

I heard that. I read that in a few books.

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Dick Jerardi  28:18

Yes, I certainly saw Howard, but I don’t know that I ever actually

Nestor Aparicio  28:23

met him see I was gonna ask you about that, because Marlo tells me this story about you like him. I don’t know if you’re with him. Going up to see Ali box like in Pennsylvania when he would train. Was that you with him or no?

Dick Jerardi  28:33

So Mike and I went up to Deer Lake in the

Nestor Aparicio  28:36

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poker Steve, I knew I’d get a story out of Dick Girardi, courtesy of bet online.ag, let’s go, come on, Jimmy. Jimmy doesn’t even know this story, so make sure you tell it good. Yeah, I went up

Dick Jerardi  28:48

probably in the summer. You get the year, right? 1974 It was the year that was the year Ali Forman fighting, okay? And I went up with college friend of mine, Caesar, also, who was our sports editor at the paper, unfortunately, passed away like 22 years ago now, and my buddy Rick landers, who was a, everybody knows him as a high school coach in the Baltimore area.

Nestor Aparicio  29:12

We just lost Rick recently, correct?

29:14

Rick passed away in November.

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Nestor Aparicio  29:16

I forgot he was one of your guy doctor,

Dick Jerardi  29:19

wow, okay, Coach, did St Pius the tent together for years, right on York Road, right next to channel two. And the three of us went up that summer, and we got up there really early. Ali trained in Deer Lake. That was it was his training cabins up there. Was up on a hill, and we got up there.

Nestor Aparicio  29:37

Ali Goldstein told me this story at his kitchen table about him going up there.

Dick Jerardi  29:42

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And so nobody was there. Nobody’s there. It’s really early in the morning. Ali comes out of his cabin. He just starts talking to us like, you know, like you can never get within 100 miles of a guy like that today. And he says, hey, look, I’m gonna have breakfast in a cabin. You want to come in at breakfast with me? Watch, watch. We’re gonna watch Foreman fight. Norton on, you know, on the replays I’m going, This is unbelievable. So we hung out with him the whole day, and then we watched him train. Then I came back home and I told and I told Mike later, I said, Mike, you got to do this with me, because Mike was an oddly fan Mike Marlo. And we went up later on. A couple of

Nestor Aparicio  30:18

us, Mike, these people don’t know, but Mike Marlowe was the mentor of all mentors to me, you know this, but people that don’t know him, and Bob nos guards been on the show, Marlo will never come on the show because he’s not part of my shtick, but he’s a big part of my shticks. But nonetheless, he doesn’t know it. I can’t

Dick Jerardi  30:35

remember it was the first time I went or the second time, but I went back to the dressing room after it was over, after he finished training, this is still unbelievable that you could actually do this. And he’s getting rubbed down by by his trainer. And I said, Hey, I got I was at one of your fights way back when. Here’s the program. Can you sign? He says, Absolutely. It’s the one autograph I have. It’s the only one I’ve ever gotten from the greatest at beer Lake. Correct my all my favorite sports night of all time is when he won the title back from foreman. I was at the Civic Center with Rick, bunch of my high school friends, legendary night when he knocked out on the screen. On the screen, correct, right. There was, it was some closed

Nestor Aparicio  31:16

circuit, closed circuit television.

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Dick Jerardi  31:19

Correct, that’s right, I’d sent, like, eight rows back from the screen. It was, there was, I felt bad for George Foreman in some way. There wasn’t a single person in that place rooting for George Foreman. Not one. Everybody knew that Ali had been unjustifiably stripped of his title. He’s three to one underdog. Nobody gives him a shot. And I remember saying to Rick after maybe two rounds which watched him train. Remember he was he was just letting Foreman hit the old rope. A dope rope, a dope Sure. And I told Rick, and that’s what he was doing in training. I didn’t know why he was doing it. After about two rounds, I looked at Rick, I said, this fight, so he’s going to just tire Foreman out. It was brilliant. That’s what he did. Because he couldn’t, he didn’t have the speed he had when he was young, like 10 years before, when he first won the heavyweight title, he didn’t have that anymore. So we had to come up with a had to come up with a new way of winning. And he

Nestor Aparicio  32:05

did come for the horse racing, stay for the boxing. It’s Dick Girardi here, the man, you know, I could do college basketball with you. I could do palestra Big Five, you know, I could do Orioles baseball with you, and Orioles history with you as well. I could do Baltimore Colts history with you as well, but we’re going to do Kentucky Derby, tell everybody about your your sponsor, and Jimmy and everything going on. Philly bet online.ag. Dick Girardi is here on behalf of them, but always on behalf of me in Philadelphia, because we’ve been friends forever, right?

Dick Jerardi  32:33

So great odds and prompts on there we have, we have the one renegades, five to one at BET online, further ado, 11 to two. Then commandment at six to one, and then all these great props, like here’s one. Will Secretariat’s record time be broken? Well, there’s only one horse been under two minutes since then, since 1973 that’s 15 to one. I will say this, if they ran on the track like it was on Saturday and Sunday last week, then it might, but it won’t. I can’t imagine it’s going to be that fast. But come on Saturday, how about this one saddle cloth, number of winning horse, odd or even. You can make that prop bet six to five on an odd number, even number. There’s bet a lot better horses and even stalls five to eight. Starting gate of winning horse, one to nine. One through nine is five to 710, plus is even money. So all those kind of props at better online.ag. It’s just a fun way to approach the derby. And again, I like the seven, the non bourbon, he’s 15 to one in early betting. I’m hoping he’ll drift up the 20. Japanese horse going to win this race soon. I think it might be this year.

Nestor Aparicio  33:39

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Picture already is here before we go. I, you know, we made it. Used to make predictions, and I would read the form and And Clem would come in. You remember that? You mean Clem be at it like all that, gosh. I mean just how much I love Clem, and how much I love being at the track with Charlie Eckman and Chris Thomas and Vinnie Peron and buyers running around there, although you never talked to, buy, buy early. Leave him alone. At least I left him alone because I thought that’s Andy buyer. He’s got the speed number, even though you were part of that a little bunch of people contortion. But nonetheless, as you know, you taught me well in the late 80s, a couple of you said, bet on Pat day’s horses and you win. Okay, so that was the 80s into the 90s. It was more like into the odds Baffert. And Baffert would always come and do my show. We were boys and like all that at Super Bowls and whatever. So I would always be like, I’m with the Baffert horse. I like the Baffert horse. And my old standby is, is nothing to do with who won the Florida Derby or the Arkansas this or that, or any of that. It’s just the names that I like. So if I were to give you, let’s say 10 bucks and say, give me a little triple action here, Dick, I want Renegade, because, first off, Mike Tomlin is doing the show in a couple of weeks. Now that he’s got his NBC gig, he might be seeing seeing Springsteen together in Pittsburgh, but so Mike Tomlin is coming on and, you know. How much I love sticks. I let all those guys be a big part of my life. So, you know, I’m not going to sing renegade too, but oh my mom and fear. So I would have Renegade. I would have commandment, because I love that name, commandment. That would be six to one, all the things that the President United States breaks commandments and then so happy because I love that song, happy. So I would those are my three. Yeah, I don’t. I’m looking at all that. There’s a lot of names here, right to parties, a cool name, but the horse is 75 to one, so I’m not going there. So nonetheless, there’s my triple. Do I have any chance? I meant triple, pay a little something, wouldn’t it? You have

Dick Jerardi  35:39

a chance. I mean, look, certainly commandment is very live Renegades liable to be the favorite. So, yeah, you got two horses, no reason to think they’re run. Well, should I say this on the air, and that

Nestor Aparicio  35:49

damn thing comes in and I don’t have 10 bucks on it, and I would have made $383 I’m going to be upset because that, you know, I’m just going on names. But can I ask you, because you’re about to really break this down like a like a grown up. What would be your first advice if I were because I’m wearing my Costas gear, and I now I do my show at Costa simonium, and I’m there, and they were a horse racing family. If you’re in Dundalk, you see all the horses. If you go back and pee next to the crab room, and Dundalk is just winning horses everywhere, because Mr. Costas loved the horse racing game. And when I had Pete on two weeks ago at Costas, he told me about his dad’s first horse, the name, how he got involved, how he got suckered into it by the Dallas family, because they loved horses and like all of this. And now he’s at the track like when you come down to the spa, you have the best crab cake of your life. But what you’re going to notice being the degenerate gambler that you are Dick Girardi is that everybody’s like you they all get the forms out. It’s an OTB dude. There’s TVs everywhere, you know what I mean. So, like, there’s real forms on paper, stapled in, the whole deal. If I hand that to my wife, what do you tell her as a as someone that could teach a grandson, or me or my wife? If you were to spend 10 minutes with my wife, what would you tell her about reading? About reading the form?

Dick Jerardi  37:04

Well, look, it’s It’s the history of the horse, right? It’s showing you, you read top to bottom. That’s a chronological order of the races. The most recent races at the top, the furthest away is and typically they’ll give you the last 12 races. Some horses obviously are racing a lot more than that. And then the what happened in those races is left to right. You’re as you’re looking at it, and

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Nestor Aparicio  37:27

it’s sort of the first analytics of sports, right, like, literally, in 1968 you could get a batting average on a baseball player. You could look on the back of a football card and see whatever. But guards and tackles, there were no stats for any of these things above and beyond, points, rebounds, assist in basketball or whatever. This was like science to Clem Florio and you in 1972

Dick Jerardi  37:51

it looks like, if you’ve never seen it before, it kind of looks like the stock tables, a little bit if you got the Wall Street Journal, and if you don’t know what you’re looking at is very hard. The print is very small. I do most of mine online now where I’m just I’m sitting, I can make the print bigger. I can watch replays. Now it’s with the DRF. You can do stuff like in addition to looking at the lines on the far right, we’ll show you a replay of the horse’s last race. That’s not the not something it was ever considered back when we were starting that technology didn’t exist.

Nestor Aparicio  38:25

I tell people that I sat at Tony Gwen’s locker and we had such a friendship that I would watch him unlock the closet that he had in the corner of the locker room at Jack Murphy stadium, and the video tapes that he had stacked up in his Mad Science Hall of Fame. Mind that now every player has a pad with like it’s it’s just, but horse racing, it is intimidating. When I’m sitting there and my wife is sitting amongst rail birds, because they’re always up at the bar. I know their names now. I mean, I sit there right, and they’re all betting, they’re yelling at all sorts of races that the forum can be really intimidating, and I think it’s the window to really enjoy horse racing, right?

Dick Jerardi  39:07

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Literally, it is. I mean, you want to find out the object is, obviously what’s going to happen now, right? The forum is telling you what has happened. Your job is to figure out what’s about to happen, and that’s and it just takes time. Nestor, there’s it’s like anything else. It’s like anything you do in life. The more repetitions you have, the better you get at it.

Nestor Aparicio  39:27

All right, I’m going to wrap things up with you, because I love you, and you have to go. He is here on behalf Jimmy. You know, I love you, I miss you, and all these days. Bet online, dot A G. He is from the fighting city of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love and delicious cheese steaks and cold beer at a reasonable price, I’ll get back up to Philadelphia sometime soon and see Dick Girardi, although I’m a little bit on this pork thing and the Italian beef on my way up there. So I’m gonna figure that out. We’ll make that thing happen this summer. I may bother you again in 10 days about the Preakness. Okay, do I agree? Deserve the right to do that. Yeah, let’s do it all right, two pieces. I mean, so important. We had to go twice. Dick Girardi did the show two weeks ago. We did a lot of sort of 101 horse racing. This was more 203 the upper class here, as we get ready for the derby here in Baltimore and the Preakness, it’s a suffix. It’s Baltimore positive. Stay with us.