00:00On this week's edition of First Things First by Popular Demand, I caught up with a very special guest.
00:11It is my great pleasure to be with the one and only Dylan Donnelly, newly crowned NTRA Handicapper of the
00:19Year.
00:19He's got a whole bunch of other titles as well, but we're going to go with that one. How are
00:23you feeling, Dylan?
00:23I feel fantastic. Beautiful day. Bank account has a few more zeros. I got zero complaints.
00:31So we've all seen the clips of you winning by 84 cents. Can you talk me through that moment again
00:39and what you were feeling when that actually happened?
00:43Just coming down the lane, I didn't know if I was going to get there, even if the horse won.
00:50So they were literally a 16th to go. He took the lead and I was just kind of numb.
00:54I didn't know if my total would be enough. I was happy. At least I would have came in second.
00:58But I mean, nobody, you just, you want to win it so bad.
01:02And, you know, the two minutes of adding up the totals was pretty, pretty crazy.
01:10Luckily, we got there. I'm not zero complaints. 84 cents. Doesn't matter how small it still matters.
01:15Dylan, for those of you that don't know, talk us through your story and what made you love horse racing?
01:22Because you're not only a great handicapper, but you also have skin in the game.
01:25Like you literally own horses. Talk us what got you into racing.
01:28I know it was a bit emotional. You were talking about your granddad.
01:31Yeah, yeah. My grandpa, he lived five minutes from here.
01:34He would babysit me Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays, and we would come to the track.
01:39He would give me 20 bucks and he would, he'd lift me up and make, and I would bet on
01:44the machines.
01:45Yeah, I just got older, got a little, got a little bankroll and I just wanted to purchase some horses
01:50and get really involved.
01:52And I even got to name a horse, you know, so it's just, it's, it comes all around.
01:58I mean, there'd be no horses running. You need betters. You need gamblers. And so I kind of, I'm all
02:04in there. Yeah.
02:06What is it you love about this game? Other than the gambling aside, if you never bet on a horse
02:11in your life,
02:12what would still bring you to the racetrack, Dylan?
02:15You know, I just, it's just, it's very relaxing being out here. There's no stress.
02:20Um, even when I do make a bet, like there's no stress. It's just, it's relaxing. It's beautiful.
02:26Um, get to see friends out here. Um, yeah, and you can make a little bit of money if you're
02:33smart.
02:33So it's, uh, it's very fun.
02:36What did your family think of the win? The missus, the kid?
02:39Yeah, no, my wife was right there with me. She was giving me snacks in between the races.
02:44Um, my son couldn't believe it. Um, but you know, we were all kind of like, I was confident.
02:52So I was kind of, I knew this, you know, I was going to do really well in it.
02:56And, uh, it kind of felt weird that it actually was like so soon to me, like saying I'm going
03:02to win it soon.
03:04And, uh, so now I'm just hungry to try to get another one. Um,
03:09How did you know? What's your secret?
03:10I just, you know, just go, there's this cool thing, ChadGBT, just go like, which one is the fastest?
03:16And it's like, dude, pick this one. And, uh, no, no, you know, it's a lot of, uh, I've spent
03:22a lot of money to get better.
03:24And, uh, you, you learn from your losses and you, you have to be honest with yourself and what are
03:30your flaws?
03:30What are your strengths? And, um, just don't be afraid not to bet.
03:35So only bet when you really have a good opinion. So that's what I would say.
03:38Yeah. Dylan, bloody well done. Congratulations. We love you here at Santa Anita.
03:43Thank you. Thank you.
03:45Dylan Donnelly. He's a star.
03:52Many thanks to Dylan Donnelly. He certainly has a great story and we wish him the best of luck.
03:58I'll tell you where he'll be this weekend. He'll be right here at Santa Anita at the Great Race Place.
04:04Now, a reminder to you folks out there, we have a four day week racing weekend.
04:09We will run on Thursday and eight race cards starting at 1 p.m.
04:13On Saturday, we'll have a 12 race card.
04:16It is the first racing tour that kicks off at 12 p.m.
04:20Five stakes, of course, highlighted by the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
04:26If you want to get up really early and come run with us, you can run the 5K with me.
04:31I know Randy's about to zip on his running shoes.
04:34Could you run a 5K, Randy? Come on.
04:37Zoe, if you see me running, call the police.
04:39There is somebody chasing me and it is probably armed.
04:44All right, well, I'm going to be running the 5K.
04:46If you'd like to sign up, there is still room at Santa Anita dot com.
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