Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: The following program is brought to you in living color on dailygazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot. Thank you, Scott Geese, and welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting Shots podcast podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Well, it's here. The Belmont Steaks festival at Saratoga Racecourse gets underway Thursday. Four days of racing, of course, highlighted by the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, of course, Belmont park being reconstructed, and that'll be ready in 2026. For the next two years, the Saratoga racecourse will host the Belmont Stakes. So a lot of fun. We're going to talk a lot about that now. Michael Gaddin with his at the track with Mac segment, although when we talked to Mac at the beginning of the show, I forgot to mention that was at the track with Mac. But we'll talk to him about that. And we'll also talk with Richard Migley, our former jockey, now an analyst for Fox Sports. Fox Sports will be televising the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, and if you're listening locally in the Capital Region, you can find that on Fox 23. So Richard, Megan Leori and I discussed the race as well. And then we turn our attention to the Stanley cup final, which starts Saturday between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. And I'm going to beg my pick right now because I thinking about it and I'm going with the Panthers in six. I did not do well in my picks on the conference final, but Edmonton and Florida playing some good hockey right now. And Pierre Maguire and I will discuss the final and what happened to the Rangers against the Panthers in that Eastern Conference final. The Rangers did not look like the same team that sort of rolled into the first after the first two rounds of the Stanley cup playoffs. They just looked fatigued, especially in those third periods. And quite frankly, they were lucky to win game three. They were out chanced in that game badly. And it just took for tourists bounce in overtime for the Rangers to win that game. But the Florida is playing well and that's why I'm going to go with him in six games. So coming up, it's Mike McAdam previewing the Saratoga Racecourse Belmont Stakes festival and part of the at the track with Max segment. You're listening to the parting Shots podcast.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle, and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Want to get all the latest news from the Daily Gazette on your phone or tablet? We have an app for that. The Daily Gazette app allows you to read all the newspaper stories and columns from our dedicated team of journalists. The app is free. You can download the app from the Apple or Google app stores.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Shannon Doer Breer. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Welcome back to the podcast. And it's here. Finally, it's here. After all the preparation to get ready for the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. The Belmont Stakes Festival gets underway Thursday with the racing. A lot of activity going on on Wednesday, and Mike McGaddon has been busy preparing for this. A lot of great stuff appeared in Sunday's Daily Gazette, and he's here to join us to talk about the upcoming meet, the four days of racing at Saratoga Racecourse. And Mike, how happy are you that it's finally here?
[00:04:09] Speaker D: Um, you're, you're kind of.
Somebody asked me about it yesterday, and the quote that popped in my head was Gregory Peck and the guns of Navarro to David niven when he said, son, you're into it now, all the way up to your neck. So that's kind of what it feels like.
You know, we're kind of immersed in it and have been for a couple weeks now. You know, I know the fans and everybody, they're not going to see anything until Thursday, but there's so much prep work that goes into it and so much reporting and being there in the morning.
Our photographer, Erica Miller, we were reunited with her for this assignment. She has a different job now, but we were at the track at 530 in the morning. Actually, I was there at five.
I broke a record on the north way, getting from Schenectady to watch, you know, the Kentucky Derby winter mystic Dan workout at, you know, right around 536 o'clock. So we've been kind of like had our noses deep into it.
I will be thrilled when we actually get to see some racing because it's amazing how much content you crank out in preparation for events like this. And then you just kind of want the days to get there so you can actually see some, some live action.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And obviously, we don't have a triple crown at stake, but the fact that Saturday's Belmont day is sold out, does that surprise you?
[00:05:34] Speaker D: No, no, no, not at all. In fact, the only thing that does surprise me is that the other days haven't really sold out, you know, and I guess they don't need to be. You can kind of wait for the secondary market to kind of take a look at it at the last minute, and there's probably going to be a flurry of tickets, secondary ticket sales going on for those other days. I don't know if they're going to sell out or not, but I'm thinking it'll be a disappointment if they don't get at least 40,000 for Thursday. Friday, I think, is sold out, and then Sunday, I would think they would get 40,000.
That's a reflection of two things. Saturday makes sense, and it's sold out very quickly because it's the Belmont Stakes and they always get big crowds for that.
But the added component is it's at Saratoga this year, so people are going up, picking up those tickets just because they want to go to Saratoga. It's like bonus Saratoga time before the meet starts on July 11. In fact, I was talking to trainer Todd Pletcher, who, by the way, has three horses in the ten horse field for the Belmont the other day, and he said the difference is Belmont's always going to be a huge day, but it's, the other three days are not big days, but up here, the other days are going to be big days, too, which is a reflection of the appeal of Saratoga. So that's kind of, that's what I'm reading right now.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: You covered nearly the bell on segation nearly 20 times, and you feel there's a different vibe up there?
[00:07:04] Speaker D: Oh, absolutely. And again, it goes back to, you know, I was talking to Gary Contessa, another trainer, who has a couple horses in some of the other stakes races this week, yesterday. And you have two things. You have the Belmont, but you have Saratoga, and the combination of those teams, two things make, you know, make the vibe a little different, a little more intense. He mentioned that even his cleaning lady has been talking about it, and she barely speaks English. So it's, you know, you go around town and there's a certain extra buzz here because of that.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Well, we've had a ridiculous string of beautiful weather, although we're taping on this Tuesday afternoon. It's a little cloudy out there. Right now. But apparently the bill comes due on Thursday and it was supposed to start raining and nonstop.
Meteorologist Mike Adams says, I'm glad I'm.
[00:07:55] Speaker D: Not in that profession only, you know, picking horses every once in a while. I do better than that than I do with the weather. And that's not saying much.
It's weird because, like, on Monday, I checked it and actually was very optimistic. Like, Thursday, kind of been holding steady, is going to be not a great day, but at least Monday, when I was looking at it, it looked like it was going to maybe steadily improve into Saturday. So I was like, okay, if we could just get past Thursday, we'll be good. Then I checked again today, Tuesday, and it was a complete reversal. Thursday, still bad, but into Saturday looking like, you know, 60, 70% chance of rain. So maybe not a full soaker, but we're going to get something. And, you know, even if it's intermittent on and off, you know, what we've been getting used to over the last few weeks, we're not going to see any of that, so maybe it'll change again. I don't know. But either way, you know, Thursday is sort of like kind of hanging in there as being a day that they're talking about some rain.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Before we get to the big race itself, there are 23 other stakes during the four days of the Belmont Stakes racing Festival. You've got a top five of the ones that you're particularly interested in. What are they?
[00:09:07] Speaker D: Well, here we go. And, you know, I will say that whenever you get into, like, Belmont day or Derby day or Travers day or Whitney day, that that single race is not the whole shooting match here. They always stack a lot of other stakes. So, you know, and good ones. So it's almost like an, you know, an all star crew of races. And the horses that are in them, out of those other 23, the five that I'm kind of focusing on, is it five? Yeah, it's five.
Friday is the grade one acorn, which is restricted to three year old Phillies going a route of ground on the dirt. And these are fillies that we're going to see again at the Saratoga meet in races like the coach and Club America Oaks and the Alabama, which are two of the big ones of the meet to nine horse field in the acorn. Six of them ran in the Kentucky Oaks on the Friday before the derby at Churchill, including the top three, Thorpedo Anna, just FYI. And regulating risk. Thorpe O'Anna is so good that trainer Kenny McPeek was going to stick her in the Belmont if his Derby winner, Mystic Dan, for some reason didn't make the Belmont. So he actually had a second choice. And it's his Philly. That's how good she is. Another one in there is gun song, who won the black Eyed Susan, which is kind of considered the second leg of that unofficial triple crown for three year old Phillies. That's on Friday. Then on Saturday, we got the grade three poker. Our old buddy Casa Creed, who we talked about last year, he's eight years old now. He swept the Kelso on the four star Dave, and was a real fan favorite. You know, just this grizzled old warrior, you know, still winning big stakes races. And he'll face off what the horse that I kind of considered was the, like, three year old version of Casa Creed last year, our buddy Carl Spackler, who swept the National Museum of Racing hall of Fame race in the Saranac at Saratoga last year. So we'll see those two go at it in the poker. Really looking forward to. And I believe this is by far the shortest odds of any horse on the entire four day Belmont festival, is idiomatic. Last year's champion older dirt female, she's three to five in the grade one Ogden Phipps.
She's eight for nine last year. Just a ridiculous season for her. I mean, she's all on her way to the hall of Fame. Among her wins last year with personal ensign at Saratoga and the Breeders cup distaff. So really looking forward to her. Even if she wins by ten lengths, that's going to be one of those races where you're just like, I just want to see this star do her thing. Then we move into the grade one Woody Stevens, which is kind of like the alternate three year old race, graded stakes race on the card to the Belmont itself, restricted to three year olds. And that's a real interesting bunch. We got imagination from Bob Baffer, who was 7th in the Preakness.
We've got the two horses that finished second and third behind seize the gray in the Pat day mile on Kentucky Derby day. That would be Nash and Vlahos and anybody who was at Saratoga on closing day last year and saw the hopeful. They saw Nutella fella at 54 to one win, and he's making his comeback. He has not raced since the hopeful. And again, he's trained by Gary Contessa, who said he had a little crack in one of his left hind leg, that they needed the whole winter to kind of heal, and he's back to 100%. So if you saw Natella fella and you're wondering what he did. He's been doing since the hopeful on closing day of the Saratoga meet last year. He's been doing nothing except healing and then getting back into form. But he's in the Woody Stevens. And then last but not least, one of the most historic, greatest races on the naira calendar historically is the grade one Matt mile.
And that field is really interesting. It's a small field of six, but we've got the six to five favorite, white Abario, who won the Whitney in the Breeders cup classic last year, and eight to five national treasure, who won the Pegasus World cup. He won the Preakness last year. He's coming off a fourth place finish in the Saudi cup. So it'll be kind of interesting to see those two butt heads. I will say about the Met Mile, it's going to be a little quirky this year because at Belmont park, the track is so big that they actually have a 1 mile chute. If you're familiar with the seven furlong shoot at Saratoga. Well, they have one at Belmont, but it's so that they can run a one turn mile on the main track. You can't do that at Saratoga because it's a smaller track. So two years ago, they installed what's called the Wilson Chute, which is kind of this awkward angle thing that goes into the first turn, and it's just kind of awkward and quirky. And I know a lot of the purists are going to be grumbling about the fact that a great, prestigious race like the Met mile is being run on this weird course, but they didn't really have any choice. So we'll see how that goes. Six horse field. Hopefully the post positions won't play into it too much.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Course appears to be upset that the fact that the Belmont Stakes are not running at the normal distance.
[00:14:23] Speaker D: Yeah, some people are saying there should be an asterisk. My friend Theresa Gennaro wrote a great column for us that was in Tuesday's paper, just examining the history of the various distances that the race has been run at since it was first run at 1867. By the way, it's been, you know, it's been a mile and a half consistently for a very long time. Belmont park opened in 1905, but again, because of the smaller configuration at Saratoga, to run a mile and a half on the main dirt track, you'd have to basically start it at the beginning of the turn, which would give certain horses an advantage. And it would just, you know, like if you. If you've ever seen a track meet where they run sprints, where they have a staggered start? Because the inside, you know, just simple geometry. The inside is going to be a shorter path than the outside. It's not fair. And you can't do a staggered start in horse racing because they all have to start laterally from the same point in the starting gate. So yeah, some people are going to grumble about it, but they pretty much need to get a life.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Well, let's look at the Belmont field and your top pick. And readers will have to pick up the Gazette or go to dailygazette.com to get your full superfecta.
[00:15:35] Speaker D: They should go to dailygazette.com, the website, anyway, because you have just been cramming that site with stuff. Go to the sports button, hit, hit it and pull down the menu. At the bottom, there's a title that says add the track, hit that and then just go down that rabbit hole. Because we've been supplying a ton of stuff that's still there and really fun, interesting, historical stuff. So I would strongly recommend people for that if not to find out what my pick is this weekend. But just running through the field again, we got the. It's a ten horse field. Very interesting. We have both the preakness and derby winners, and neither of them is the favorite, which was not that hard to predict or very surprising at all. The nine to five favorite is Chad Brown, trained Sierra Leone, who was second in the Kentucky Derby, to Mystic Dan, but probably should have won the race. He was in this. He was swapping paint with forever young in the middle of the track, and meanwhile, Mystic Dan was under. Brian Hernandez was sneaking up the rail and hanging on to win by a nose.
As soon as that race was over, I was like, I cannot wait to bet Sierra Leone in the Belmont or pick him in the Belmont. He's nine to five.
Two things that were surprising, Tim Wilkin and I were at the draw last night at Universal Preservation hall in Saratoga Springs, and they were kind of dawdling and we were kind of, this thing was supposed to start at five and all of a sudden it's quarter after. I don't know what the delay was, but I said, all right, let's play a little fun game here. Let's each write down our top four picks and the odds that we think David Aragona will assign to them. And we were very similar. But the funny thing is, the horse that turned out to be the second choice on the morning line is mindframe at seven to two and Timmy and I, neither of us had him even in our top four. As far as the morning line, I'm not talking about predicting the order of finished. So seven to two mindframe, one of the three Pletcher horses in there, he's two for two. He's undefeated, but he's never run in a stakes race. And now all of a sudden he's the second favorite out of ten horses in the Belmont. It was kind of interesting. The third choice was your derby winner, Mystic Dan at five to one, and we were both off trying to predict what his odds were. I think I had five to two and they got him at five to one.
And then let's see, the other pletchers are protective. Who is a maiden? He's over four in his career, so he's never even won a race, so he's a long shot in antiquarian, who won the Peter Pan at Aqueduct, is the other plechured horse at twelve to one.
So kind of a cool, interesting field, top to bottom.
You got to see my picks online because I haven't figured out how I'm even going to fill out my suit perfected yet. I got a couple different ideas.
I don't know what to do with cease the gray, the eight to one Preakness winner, because he kind of got away with a pretty comfortable trip in the preakness on the front end with nobody really challenging him early and he had enough to hang on at the end. I don't know if he's going to get away with that this time, especially from the one hole where jockey Jamie Torres is probably going to have to send him right out of the starting gate.
So I'm going to play around with the second, third and fourth place spots on my superfecta, but Sierra Leone is a no brainer.
Course has been training great. Trained by Chad Brown. Jockey changed from Tyler Gaffleone to Flavian Pratt for kind of a little mistake that Chad thought Tyler made in the derby.
So there's a lot to like about this horse and Chad Brown's been gushing about him all like the last two weeks about how he does exactly what he wants in his training and just a, you know, really quality horse who's doing everything right right now. So he, for me, he was a pretty easy pick and, you know, it's kind of reflected in the morning line that he was the favorite, even though the Preakness and derby winners were in there.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Well, you can follow Mike's coverage of the Belmont states in Saratoga on x, formally Twitter at Mike Underscore McAdam and of course, online at Daily gazette.com and a print edition. Mike, have fun up there. Enjoy the four days. And we never actually forgot to mention that this was the at the track with Mac segment on this.
[00:19:59] Speaker D: Not too late.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we just did that. So. Yeah. So, yeah, it's been overwhelming getting ready for this. So have fun. And we'll obviously chat before the start of the Saratoga meeting next month.
[00:20:12] Speaker D: Here it comes.
As soon as we catch our breath from this, it's going to be a couple weeks and next thing you know, we're going to be back up there at 530 in the morning watching somebody else work out.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Well, we're going to continue our talk of the Belmont Stakes in Saratoga with Richard Miguel. He's going to be on Fox Sports coverage of the races on Saturday, so we'll come back with him. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:20:53] Speaker D: Meet Andrew Waite.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: He's a dedicated journalist with a passion.
[00:20:57] Speaker D: For research and a commitment to getting all sides of the story, whether it's.
[00:21:01] Speaker E: A local issue or an upstate trend. I do the stories and interviews that shed light on what's important to you.
[00:21:08] Speaker D: Stay informed.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Read Andrew waite in the Daily Gazette.
[00:21:11] Speaker E: It's my job to offer commentary about what's happening in our community and what it means to our readers.
[00:21:17] Speaker D: The Gazette reporting based on accuracy and integrity.
[00:21:20] Speaker E: It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Hi, this is Union men's hockey alum Charlie Moxam. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Welcome back to the podcast. My next guest won over 4400 races over a three decade career as a jockey. He will be part of the Fox Sports broadcast team for Saturday's coverage of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. I'm honored to welcome Richard Meagliori to the podcast. Richard, welcome to the parting shots podcast on your maiden voyage. How are things going up in Saratoga right now?
[00:21:53] Speaker F: Things are going really well, thank you.
Great feeling, great energy here in the town. Drove up really early Saturday morning because I wanted to catch a bunch of the Belmont horses that were scheduled to work. So I left home at 245, got here at 520 and was able to witness all of those work, Sierra Leone, as well as mystic Dan Torpedo Anna, who'll be running in the acorn. And the one thing that struck me as I walked through town that afternoon was Saratoga holds a great energy. There's always a feel of excitement. It's even multiplied this year. You can just feel it and everybody that in town, people that live here year round, they want to stop you and talk about it. They're excited. And I think it's a great venue for an american classic. America's classic racetrack with an american classic race. I mean, this is the home to the Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. And just adding another layer to the rich history that is already Saratoga.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Normally, when the Belmont Stakes doesn't have a triple crown, situation really is an afterthought. But the Saturday's race is sold out. And what does that tell you? That the fact that, you know, having this race up here while they reconstruct Belmont park, what does that mean to you, that these fans will come here just to see the race, even though they know there's not a triple crown on the line?
[00:23:15] Speaker F: Well, the Belmont, still a very important race in its own right. And, you know, this year we have the Kentucky Derby winner, Mystic Dan, coming back against your preakness. Winner sees the gray, and they ran one two in the Preakness. So I think it has the makings of a budding rivalry. And then you add into the mix Sierra Leone, who was, I think, an unlucky loser of the Kentucky Derby. He was difficult to handle. Everybody knows he has that propensity to want to lug in running with new equipment. Here's a horse that's two noses shy of being undefeated, and you can make the case he was best in both of those races. The lugging in hampered the riders ability to ride him in a fashion that gave him his best chance.
So I think we have a very competitive race. I think we have a really still wide open three year old championship season going on, and we're still looking for someone to kind of step to the fore and lay claim to being the leader of this division. And I think this Belmont Stakes going to go a long way to answering those questions.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Yeah, you mentioned the fact that the previous winners, mystic Dan of the Kentucky Derby, and Cesar Gray, the Preakness winner, are here, but Sierra Leonez was picked as a morning lying favorite, nine to five. Is that.
Does that surprise you or not?
[00:24:33] Speaker F: It does not surprise me. And I will say this as well. Three year old horses change a great deal in short amounts of time. And usually you start to see it, particularly with the colts, by the beginning of February, and they'll change a great deal over the next four or five months. The biggest move forward from a physical standpoint has been Sierra Leone. Since the Kentucky Derby, he's always been a big, strong, imposing individual. I think he's even bigger and stronger now. I think he's had a growth spurt, but in a good way. He's filled out in a good way.
He's just a big, strong individual, and he's already been, again, a no shy from winning the derby. And I think, from a physical perspective, you're going to see even a bigger, better version of Sierra Leone this time. The change of equipment, it remains to be seen if it's going to kind of solve the problem of the lugging in. But he's looked good training it in the morning. Now it needs to translate to the afternoons.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: Yeah. The race is going to be run at a shorter distance than what we see at the Belmont. It's a mile and a half down at Belmont, but it's going to be a mile and a quarter at Saratoga. And there are some purists out there think that this is not a, quote, unquote, a real Belmont because it's not being run at the normal distance. But what do you say to that?
[00:25:54] Speaker F: Well, I mean, I'm a traditionalist myself. I would consider myself more of a purist. But if you look through the history of the Belmont Stakes, it's been run at five different distances, from a mile and an 8th to a mile and five eight over the history of the race. Now, obviously, in the modern era, it's been a mile and a half for an elongated period of time. It's also been run at five different venues before this year in Saratoga, starting at Morris park up in the Bronx. The first seven or eight runnings were in Morris park. It's been run at Aqueduct. It's been run at Jamaica, now, obviously, at Belmont. So, yes, I would love to see it a mile and a half. There are extenuating circumstances. We have a massive reconstruction at Belmont. I think, you know, ultimately, it's going to be a wonderful thing to bring that facility, Belmont park, into the modern era, because it's been pretty much an outdated facility for a long time. So, yeah, I agree. I wish it was a mile and a half. It's not.
It also hasn't been always a mile and a half. So, you know, the purists maybe want to do their research as well. You know, in life as in everything else, if you're not evolving and changing, well, you're going the wrong direction.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Teresa Gerardo Gennaro wrote a column about that, just explaining this. And so, I mean, it just. It's amazing to me, the history of this race in different, different distances. So I think we're fine just yet. I think it's insane. As you said, insinuating circumstances. And was this hat to horse race fans have to live with it for a couple years before. Go back down to Belmont in 2026.
[00:27:38] Speaker F: Absolutely. And it'll get back to what, you know, we've all become accustomed to, and again at a new, modern facility that I think everybody's going to be impressed with. And, you know, for me, I'm just thrilled that I'm going to be a small part of the history that's going on. And this is history making.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Mm hmm. I mean, as I said, in the open, you have 4400 victories over a three decade career. What do your memories, first of all, Saratoga, when you were racing?
[00:28:07] Speaker F: Well, you know, I mean, I came up here the first time as a 15 year old kid on a horse van, galloping horses for my contract holder, Steve, tomorrow. And I can recall that day, you know, the horse van pulling off the north way on the Union Avenue, popping my head out and being completely enraptured with this place. You know, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. This is a pretty, you know, far cry from where I grew up. And to see this place, I knew that I wanted to spend my summers the rest of my life here as an apprentice jockey, breaking Steve Cawthon's apprentice jockey records here in Saratoga, doing, in eight months what it took him twelve months to do.
And just in general, the time spent here with my family, my children have amazing memories of this place and the history. You can come to Saratoga in the middle of winter, and you can feel the ghosts of racing pass. You can walk down the street and bump into somebody that wants to talk about racing with you. It's just a really wonderful, timeless place in a lot of ways.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: What about the Belmont Stakes? What memories do you have of that?
[00:29:18] Speaker F: Well, you know, I never was fortunate enough to win the Belmont. I had a couple of fourth place finishes. I got to ride in it. You know, I was there as a, as a kid for a firm Denalidar, one of the greatest belmonts ever run with a triple crown on the line.
Just the day in itself, you know, the Belmont Stakes, obviously, the marquee event, but there is just one championship event after another, and we've got pretty much every division covered over the four days. This is like an early season Breeders cup in a lot of respects. A lot of people love to talk about, why wouldn't they ever have a Breeders cup in Saratoga? Well, the Breeders cup is usually run early November, late October, and anybody that knows this area, you can have a foot of snow that time, so you really can't roll the dice with that. But for this time of year, I think we're presenting what could be described as an early season Breeders cup.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, as. I mean, Breeders cup would be magnificent, but as you said, the weather is just, you know, who knows what's going to happen there. What other races are you looking at up at the, during this Belma six festival at Saratoga?
[00:30:29] Speaker F: Well, I'm a really big Filipito Ana fan, the Kentucky Oaks winner, and she worked actually right at 530 Saturday morning. She looks fantastic. Great energy level. Kenny McPeek was toying with the idea of running her in the Belmont stakes against the Colts.
And ultimately, because Mystic Dan has done so good out of the Preakness, he's going to go in the, I mean, excuse me, the Belmont with him and the acorn with torpedo Anna. But I honestly, if torpedo Anna ran in the Belmont, I think I would. She would have been my top selection. I think she's every bit as talented as any of the Colts. I think she's a very special kind of Philly, and honestly, she's only been defeated once, and she had a lot of early trouble in that race. You can make the case she should be undefeated as well. So I'm really looking forward to seeing her. I'd be surprised if she doesn't give us all something to talk about.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Yeah. You mentioned earlier about the, you know, being a purist traditionalist, there's been talk over the last couple of years about the Preakness deciding they want to move an extra week, make it three weeks between the derby and Preakness, and it's sort of. Nyra said, well, maybe not. Do you think at this day and age, maybe it's time to consider maybe having a three week break between the Derby and the Preakness and then three weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont.
[00:31:50] Speaker F: That's a great question, and honestly, I vacillate back and forth, you know, the pros and cons of it.
Would it, would it taint if a horse was to win all three, then? Would it? You know, people want to put an asterisk on it. Well, you know, they didn't do it in the five week span. They did it in a six week span or whatever it may morph into. But then also, we have to be realistic that horses do not race as often as they used to. Debride doesn't seem quite as hardy as it once was.
But also, you know, there were times when the Preakness was run before the Kentucky Derby. There were times when there was less spacing between all three. There was time when there was more spacing between all three. So, you know, one thing about tradition is sometimes things change and they become new traditions again. I don't have a clear, hard opinion about it. I feel like it's supposed to be hard, and that's what makes it great, so we should leave it alone. But I'm not so adverse to if they decided to get together and tweak it. But I think it has to be concerted effort by all three racetracks involved. Obviously, Churchill Downs wouldn't have to change anything, but Pimlico, you know, the straw Net group and the New York Racing Association, I think, would have to really get together and be on the same page, and then I think it could work.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: You mentioned Pimlico. Obviously, they're going to reconstruct that track as well. I mean, how important is that for Baltimore and Pimlico. And Pimlico to keep the Preakness there once it's a new facility?
[00:33:25] Speaker F: Well, I think it's incredibly important to that whole area, and that facility absolutely has needed to be redone for a very, very long time. But the Preakness was actually run in New York for a bunch of years as well, that people may not know that again.
Again. As more things change, you look back. Things have kind of always changed a little bit here and there.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
Could you. Are you ready to share your pick to win the Belmont Stakes, or you want to say that till Saturday?
[00:33:59] Speaker F: No, no. I'm actually pretty bullish about the favorite. I do think that Sierra Leone is the best horse. I think he'd have to get unlucky to lose, or if his lugging in problem really raised its head again, although I think with the new equipment, I really don't believe that'll be a problem.
I think Mystic Dan, you know, it's interesting about horses. Mystic Dan ran hard in the Derby, and I thought, man, he can't replicate that effort in the Preakness.
And then I thought he ran just as good a race in the Preakness. He just hit a horse. Sees the grey, who I think has gotten good, and watching him train since the Preakness, I feel like he's almost gotten better because of the workload.
You know, racing sometimes tears a horse down. They lose a little weight, they get a little dehydrated, they suck up. He's gone the other way. It's actually built him up. I think he's going to run another big race. I think Sierra Leone will win. I think Mister Dan will give a good account himself. I think anybody that is going to throw out Caesar Gray and just term the preakness of fluke, I think they're making a big mistake. I think this is a horse that's changed, developed and gotten good at the right time. And if I had to pick a long shot that I think will run well is Bill Mator's resilience.
He had a very difficult trip in the Derby and I watched him train here over the weekend and I. And I think he is sitting on a really, really big race.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Well, coverage of the Belmont day on Fox begins at 04:00 on Saturday. Richard, we'll be looking forward to your analysis and appreciate a few minutes.
[00:35:41] Speaker F: No, thank you. It's always fun to talk about this stuff.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's Richard McGlurio. We've had talk Stanley cup finals with Pierre Maguire. Next you're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: You guys just didn't want it bad enough.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: That should have been an easy win. What were you doing out there? You got a hustle. You could have made that play if.
[00:36:22] Speaker E: You'D been open on the car ride home after the game. When you think you're helping by telling me what I did wrong and what I need to work on, all I hear is that I'm not good enough, that I'm supposed to be perfect, that it's not okay to lose on the car ride home. All I need to hear is how much you love me and enjoy watching me play. That my worth isn't determined by my performance.
That even on my worst day I am worthy.
That you see me learning, growing and doing my best. And that is enough.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: This message presented by NISFA and the New York State Athletic Administrators association.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Chad Arnold. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
Welcome back to the podcast. And now it's time for the Stanley cup finals. The Florida Panthers at Edmonton Oils will meet for the right to carry Laura Stanley's cup. And Pierre Maguire NHL analysis joins us now, as he always does during this post season. Pier, I don't know if we expected this kind of matchup, but this should be a pretty exciting final.
[00:37:40] Speaker C: I think it will, Ken, and I agree with you and it's very nice to visit with you and your listeners again. Thank you so much for having me. You know, Ken, I have to tell you, I'm not surprised about Florida beating the Rangers.
I just thought that they were the meaner team, the bigger team, the rougher team, the more playoff ready team, if that makes sense. Talking about Florida and on the other side, I really thought Dallas had it in them. But I thought about it last night as I was working for the NHL during the broadcast of the game, and I said, you know, people forget that Dallas had to go through the defending champs Vegas. They beat them in seven games and they were down to nothing in that series. But they still came back to win. They had to go against Colorado and won the championship two years earlier.
So the last two Stanley cup champs, Dallas had to play in the first two rounds, and they had to play Denver at altitude, which is very, very difficult, and then compound it. And this was the third thing I thought of, and Ken, and I don't know if you'll agree with me, Dallas had to play a double overtime game in game one against Edmonton, and they lost that game. And they had a double minor to start overtime in the first overtime period. Connor McDavid with a high stick, and they still lost the game. And I wonder how much that affected them because they were chasing the rest of the series. They were never large and in charge in the series. So the fact that Edmonton won and there was no 7th game, I was really impressed by Edmonton, but I just don't know how much juice Dallas had left in the tank.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Well, I look back at a game as the game four, Dallas was up to nothing in that game. And Edmund comes back to win. I think that really turned the momentum to that scene because Edmonton goes into Dallas dominates down there and Sunday night, ten shots on goal for Edmonton. They still won the game.
[00:39:32] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. No, but you know, you got to give Stuart Skinner some real props on that. That was impressive by Stuart Skinner. Probably the best game he played the entire playoff. And a lot of Dallas shots, I know were from the outside. But when it came to money time, when it really came to winning time in the last seven minutes of the game, Stuart Skinner had to come over. Three or four really important saves for the Edmonton honor. Give him a lot of credit. Obviously, the coaching staff in Edmonton deserves a lot of credit. Chris Knoblack, Paul Coffey, Mark Stewart, they did some really, really good work out there and they got that team turned around and now they get to go to the Stanley cup final, which is an amazing experience.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: And you think Stuart Skinner was benched in that series against Vancouver late in that series, me, Edmonton had some goaltending issues heading into this final round, the conference final with Dallas. But Skinner turned things around. He looks a lot more confident. They did early in that Vancouver series.
[00:40:26] Speaker C: It's an amazing story. Kenny Danico, who's a former New Jersey Devil, three times Stanley cup winner and does such a good job on MSG, doing the Devil's games. He was on the show I was working on last night. Kenny and I, when we were players, were both in training camp in New Jersey together. We've known each other over 40 years.
We were talking about, you know, being an Edmonds day kid. That's where Kenny's from. He grew up there and he played in the Western Hockey League before he got to New Jersey. I was saying, could you imagine Kenny like this kid? Stuart Skinner, born and raised in Edmonton, played in the Western Hockey League, and now he's back in Edmonton and he bring the Edmonton R to the first Stanley cup final since 2006. That's an amazing thing. Yeah, it's an unbelievable thing. It really is.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: I want to go back to the Panthers Rangers series for a moment here. I agree with you. The Panthers just wore the Rangers down. If you watch those third periods in that series, it seemed like the Rangers just had no life. They were lucky to win game three because they were out chance so badly in that. In that game. And I don't know, somehow they won that game, but you could just tell they just did not have the legs. And I think just Florida physically wore them down.
[00:41:39] Speaker C: I think you're spot on, Ken. I really do. The cycle game for Florida is amazing. The four check game for Florida is off the charts. But here's the thing that's not getting enough credit. And I hope that tv network, I know ABC and ESPN have the final, will do something on it. It's called the strong side pinch. So if the pucks coming up the right hand boards of the Florida Panthers, so it'd be Florida's left defense would pinch down.
They do this better than any team in the league, and they're totally committed to it as a group. And if the puck reverses and it's coming out, you know, the one team's left hand side, it would be Florida's right defenseman pinching down. They keep the play alive in the offensive zone better than any team I've seen. I have not seen a team execute this as well as probably the late 1980s Boston Bruins. They used to play in those days. It was called the full five man four check. And that because the rink was smaller in Boston, it was also smaller in Buffalo. So they could do that.
But I haven't seen a team do it as well as Florida in the modern era. I really haven't. It's just amazing to me. That's the thing that I think people weren't ready for on the Ranger side, things you could see, they just never made an adjustment to it.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: And the other thing with Florida, they're healthy going into the finals this year. They mean last year they were getting just basically beat up heading into the finals. And I said at the start, when we talked earlier on one of our previews, I honestly didn't think Florida was going to be able to get back to where they were because they had a number of injuries, but they overcame them and they just seen on a mission here and to bring the Panthers their first Stanley cup.
[00:43:21] Speaker C: It was part of, you know, last year when they played Vegas in the final, Vegas was fresh and Vegas had big mountains on the back end, like big, huge trees for players on the back end, and they just couldn't get to the net last year. And you're right, I don't think they were 100%. It's not going to be the same kind of challenge with Edmonton. Edmonton's defense is big, but they're not nearly as robust as what Vegas is was, and they're not nearly as good moving the puck as Vegas's was last year. So I think that's going to be a bit of an issue for Edmonton. They'll have to figure it out. You know, they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth last night in the last 25, let's say 26 minutes of that game, the entire. The entire third period. In the last six minutes of the second period, they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth to get through that.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Yeah, it was like 7717 left in the third period when they finally hit double digits and shots on goal. I mean, I think it was like the fewest shots on goal in a cup and a playoff clinching game in a while. So it's just. It's amazing to me. Pierre, the Florida car, as we mentioned, played in the finals last year, but how much is that experience going to help them going into this final?
[00:44:36] Speaker C: A ton. You know, I can tell you this from having been part of two Stanley cup winning teams and having broadcast 20 Stanley cup final, it's. It's amazing. Everybody wants to be in the Stanley cup final. Everybody dreams about it, but until you get there, you really. You think you know, but you don't know. I can just tell you you don't know and what players. And I was talking to Kenny Danico about this last night, too. You know, you think you really got your finger on it. You've been in the league five to seven years. You haven't got to the final, but you know what it's about. You know what playoff hockey's about. And then you get to the final and you're like, holy moly. This is not what I was expecting. It's just everything ramps up, media ramps up. You know, noise levels ramp up, exposure ramps up, mistakes are magnified. It's just everything's. Everything's just a little quicker. And after you do it once, you're so much better prepared for the second time, and you're so much better in it. You know, I can remember in 91, we were good, and we ended up beating Minnesota, the North Stars back then in six games. But in 92, we were so much better as a group. And, you know, we won. And this is something for your listeners, I think they'll appreciate. There's only one team in the history of the NHL, only one that's ever won eleven straight games to win the Stanley cup, and that was the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins. And, you know, you think about it. Three against the Rangers in the second round, three straight. Four straight against Boston in the eastern conference final, and four straight against Chicago in the Stanley cup final. That's never been done before, and it's not been done since. That's an amazing record, and it speaks to what I'm talking about. The experience we had from 91 winning to 92 being there was amazing. And we were just so much more comfortable as a group in 92 compared to where we were in 91.
[00:46:29] Speaker A: Yeah, that was an amazing run. Unfortunately, next year, the Islanders overtime goal. But that was a fun. They were fun teams to watch. I mean, they made some good trades. Getting Rick Taka from the Flyers, Ron Francis, which, by the way, why not? Haven't the Penguins retired? Ron Francis, his number.
[00:46:45] Speaker C: Good question. I don't know the answer to that. There's not a lot of numbers retired there. You've got Brember and he passed away 19. Yep. And then you got Mario Lemieux, you got Jeremy.
So there's not a lot of retired numbers there.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing to me with the contributions he has, he's made over the years of Pittsburgh. But. All right, so what's the key? Let's start the key factors in this, starting with the Panthers.
[00:47:11] Speaker C: For the Panthers, it's going to be, I think, to institute their physical play early without taking penalties, they're going to have to make adjustments on their power play because Edmonton's coming off a playoff series where the Dallas Stars didn't get one power play goal. Edmonton was 14 for 14 on the Bentley kill, so floor is going to have to be ready for that. And then I think the third thing is make sure you have a plan, and it can't always be the same plan. They have to choose because it's double trouble. Either have a plan to shut down Leon Drysale or you have a plan to shut down Conor McDavid. You can't have a plan to shut both of them down, so you have to pick one. And I would pick Conor McDavid. So you got to have a plan to shut down McDavid. You got to have a power play that's ready to make adjustments because of the great penalty kill of the Edmonton Oilers. And you got to get to your physical game early without taking penalties.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: And how about the Oilers?
[00:48:05] Speaker C: The Oilers is really simple. You're going to have to make sure you get a split down in Florida. If you go down all to, I don't think you'll be able to come from behind a wind, so you got to get a split. That's number one. Number two, I would say speed game. And you have to have the speed game going from all four lines. And if you look at their four lines, the way they're constituted right now, they do have speed on all four lines. The biggest thing, the caveat to what I'm saying is Evander Kane, he got hurt last night. Night. If Evander canes not back for game one, which is Saturday night, that could be a problem for Edmonton. That takes a little bit of the speed potion out of their lineup. And then the third thing is Stuart Skinner is going to have to be what Stuart Skinner was last night and what Stuart Skinner was in game seven in the Vancouver series. And what he was, and I want to say it was game four. It could have been game three, but it might have been game three or four in that the LA series where Edmonton won one nothing, and Edmonton only had 13 shots on goal, and Skinner played off the charts good in that game. So Skinner, Skinner is going to have to be really good.
And to me, the biggest one, like for Edmonton, you got to get a split down there. If you don't get a split in the Stanley cup final for Edmonton, I think you're going to go out fast.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: How much pressure are the Oilers under trying to win Canada's first Stanley cup since the Canadians won in 93?
[00:49:24] Speaker C: A lot. A lot. I can tell you that my mom still lives in Montreal. White wife's family all lives in northern Quebec. You know, I got tons of friends across the country and I grew up there a lot. Serious pressure. It's unfortunate that people take it so provincially, but the truth is, is that, you know, Canada hasn't had a Stanley cup parade since 1993. Now, if you look at it, they've had Olympic gold medal parades. They've had some. A lot of world junior celebrations. They've had amazing success in women's hockey, and, you know, especially at the Olympics and the world championships, they've done a lot of great things. But the Stanley cup has been a foreign concept for them since 1993, which is amazing.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I think that what, the Canadians were the last one to be in the final in 2021 because that was a sort of.
[00:50:15] Speaker C: That's an asterisk one, I think, though, Ken, don't you?
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:19] Speaker C: And that. Because if the playoffs had really been a playoff year, they wouldn't have made the playoffs that year, which is crazy.
[00:50:24] Speaker A: It's crazy. And that was the first time, if you remember, they, before it really went east west. I mean, the last time two eastern teams met for a cup final in that situation was an 80 with the Flyers and Islanders.
[00:50:36] Speaker C: That's correct.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: So it's a. Yeah, it's great. I mean, also, you know, obviously there's some time off for these teams. How important is that before, you know, having some time off before they drop the puck Saturday?
[00:50:50] Speaker C: I think it's important for the teams. I don't know if it's good for the game, though. I'm living in Boston right now, and this is a huge hockey market. And, you know, the one thing they're talking about now, Celtics. The Boston Celtics.
So hockey's kind of on the back burner here. This is a massive tv market. You know, New York Rangers, I bet you they're not talking about anything but probably the New York Yankees and how bad the Mets are, you know, I mean, that's probably what they're doing. So those are two massive markets, and I don't think they've been talking about hockey in Chicago for a long time. And same thing in Detroit. So it's. It's tough. One week off, people will lose interest. That's my concern. But that's a long break. It's a real long break.
[00:51:34] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:51:34] Speaker A: The NBA Finals are the same thing because they last played last on Thursday when Dallas and Alemia, Minnesota, boss, has a place since last Monday. So. And they start Thursday. So, I mean, they've had some time off too, so it's kind of, kind of a crazy situation. But, well, Pierre, as always, I appreciate a few minutes chatting hockey with you. And I thank you for doing this during the cup playoffs and hopefully we have a seven game series between these two.
[00:51:59] Speaker C: That would be tremendous. Ken, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed doing this with you. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: Hopefully I'll see you somewhere in a college hockey rank. If you know Northeastern Union end up hooking up somewhere along the way, that would be it.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: I'll be a tons of games. I'll be in touch with you. I'll definitely be in love each other.
[00:52:16] Speaker A: Let's hope you're doing the ECA season. Lake Placid. If you have union guts up there, I'll see you up there.
[00:52:21] Speaker C: That would be great too. Thank you so much.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: All right, that's Pierre McGuire. We're going to wrap up the podcast and have the latest winners in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest in just a moment.
[00:52:29] Speaker F: Ra.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily Gazette's martial arts podcast. In each episode, I interview artists from around the region, from musicians and comedians to dancers, sculptors, even video game designers. After you finish the latest episode of the parting shots podcast, I hope you'll give martial arts a try.
Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Ted Remsnider. You're listening to the parting Shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Kenshott.
Back to wrap up the podcast. The week 15 winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest was Kathleen Crohula of Schenectady with 45 points. Kathleen wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Kathleen. The vip winner was Jerry Peele of Frankenson's with 25 points. I'll announce the autoration contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailyGazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner. Just because Covid-19 mandates are easing, that does not mean you should relax. Be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends.
That wraps up another edition of the Party Shots podcast. I want to thank Mike McAdam, Richard Migliori, and Pierre Maguire for coming on the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's schottellygazette.com. follow me on x and threads at Slap Shots, the views expressed on the parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I am Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time. Time from the Parting Shots podcast studio, Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good sports.
