Jayson Werth's Flying Mohawk: A Long Shot in Kentucky Derby

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00:00We move to Flying Mohawk, Pete.

00:03For a lot of the sports fans watching this show,

00:05you probably know the name Jason Wirth, Major League Baseball All-Star.

00:09He's part of the team that owns Flying Mohawk.

00:11He's gotten into horse racing in the last couple of years,

00:13and he is a huge ambassador for racing.

00:16He absolutely loves how he's had the experience he's had being an owner.

00:21Do you think Flying Mohawk has a shot?

00:23He's probably going to be one of the longer shots in the field.

00:27Well, no, I don't.

00:28I want him to run well.

00:32I love Jason Wirth.

00:33He's great for the game.

00:34I'm glad he's here.

00:35He's taking the shot.

00:36He's got the points.

00:37He deserves to be here, but he's never been on the dirt.

00:40He's not bred for it.

00:42So many things have to go in his favor,

00:45and the other horses just not show up, I think, for him to make an impact.

00:48Alexa, yeah, I kind of agree with Pete.

00:51I'm excited that he's in here.

00:53It's good for racing to have a big name like a Jason Wirth out there

00:57talking positively, sharing his great experiences.

01:00He was part of the team with Dornick last year.

01:02But not only will Flying Mohawk try the dirt for the first time,

01:06this is like the toughest group he's ever faced.

01:08He's kind of a deeper closer, too.

01:10There are just a couple things that I'm concerned about with him.

01:13Yeah, I mean, props to Jason, right?

01:15He's been in the game for a couple of years,

01:18now had two Derby contenders, won the Belmont.

01:20I mean, he's killing it.

01:21But do I think Flying Mohawk is going to fly to the wind this year?

01:24Probably not.

01:26I love Baeza, who's the 21 horse.

01:29We haven't gotten there yet.

01:30So not currently in the race.

01:32Somebody has to scratch out for him to get in.

01:34There's some rumors maybe that that could happen.

01:36But I was looking at Flying Mohawk, and I was like,

01:38how is he in here and Baeza isn't?

01:41So I just think he's a cup below.

01:43But we'll be rooting, of course, because it'd be great for the game.

01:46East Avenue is the number 12.

01:48That's the next one we're going to talk about, Pete.

01:50He was one of the best horses in this group last year.

01:53He was really precocious.

01:54He was fast.

01:55He came out of this group and was one of the horses

01:58who was just ready to win right away.

02:00And then in the Breeders' Cup, he didn't really run a great race.

02:03He had a bad start.

02:05And then in his first start of this year,

02:06he was a little bit disappointing.

02:07But he did bounce back with a good effort

02:10when he was second last time out in the Bluegrass.

02:13And he is one of the faster horses in this field.

02:16I think the draw is pretty good for him

02:18because he's in the middle of the field.

02:19And a lot of the other really fast horses are down to the inside.

02:23I'm just worried that there are a lot of other fast early horses

02:27that are going to make life hard for him.

02:29Yeah, I agree.

02:30Look, he gives me a bit of those Mandaloon vibes

02:33when I'm winning the Kentucky Derby a couple of years ago

02:36after a disqualification.

02:37I think he's undefeated when he's alone on the lead.

02:41Is that going to happen?

02:43Probably not.

02:43But because he's a bit wide, maybe they keep him out there

02:47where he thinks he's out there by himself.

02:49And there's a lot of the speed to the inside.

02:51It's his third race off his big layoff.

02:54If you can make an excuse at the Breeders' Cup,

02:56the race after that, not so good.

02:58But again, wasn't on the lead by himself.

03:02He's got the breeding.

03:03He's got the connections.

03:04Godolphin.

03:05You know, I feel like he's sneaky at a big price.

03:10And he's going to be up close.

03:12He's a horse I would use first or last.

03:14I might take a shot and put him on top only

03:16because what happens if there's a bad break inside?

03:19Next thing you know, he finds himself out there.

03:21You've seen the movie.

03:22That's my only.

03:24Yeah.

03:25If you're not first, you're last there.

03:27Alexa, what do you do with East Avenue?

03:30Yeah, I was not high on East Avenue at all

03:32prior to the post draw.

03:34And I mean, I'm still not super high on him.

03:35But I think the post draw helped him so much.

03:37Because if you look at the time from US pace projector, right?

03:40You see on the screen that that top one is the early pace.

03:43And so you see the 1, 2, 4, 5 all have a lot of early speed.

03:48But realistically, you know, all those horses bunched up,

03:53all getting their way, getting to the lead.

03:56And I mean, that's not necessarily a super realistic start.

03:59So with him drawing to the outside, like you were saying, Gino,

04:02and so much of the other speed drawing to the inside,

04:04I do think it elevates his chances quite a bit to get a trip that he needs.

04:09But that's the key word, right?

04:10Needs.

04:11Because he needs it.

04:12He's got to be on the front.

04:14And I just don't really suspect him to be able to hang around.

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