Friday Four-Pack 5.29.26
Red Sox path should be clear. Sam Kennedy is a moron. I bought two books. Big Go Go Greys update. MutStack Notes!
A note from MutStack owner Dave Portnoy:
If you’re on the waitlist, I’m right there with you.
Dave released the first-ever Go Go Greys polos this week. Legit perfect for Saratoga. A lifelong procrastinator, I waited too long. The 200 or so that were available are gone, and I’m set up to get an email alert when they're restocked. As usual, I’m an idiot.
But next week, we get racing live at the greatest place on the planet, Saratoga, so we have that going for us. The five-day Belmont at Saratoga racing festival runs Wednesday through Sunday. I’ll be in Laconia, NH for the final KMS Live Show, so I won’t be in the building Saturday. But maybe I’ll be able to get to Saratoga for a day early in the week. We’ll see.
It’s been a few weeks since Derby weekend and Lovely Grey’s effort for Go Go Greys Stable in the Kentucky Oaks. She turned in a bullet workout at Turfway this week, and there was some online speculation she might run next weekend in the Wonder Again up at Saratoga.
I emailed Dave to ask about Lovely Grey and some other Go Go Greys’ runners as we get towards the summer racing season. As usual, he quickly responded and gave me the latest on the most popular stable in horse racing.
Lovely Grey: “That (The Wonder Again at Saratoga next Friday) was the original plan, but her foot is a bit tender so we’re gonna give her some more time to get 100% and toward Wild Applause July 3rd.”
The Wild Applause is a one-mile stakes race at Saratoga this summer, to be run on Opening Day of the 10-week Saratoga summer. Hell of a way to kick off the meet!
Silver Syndicate: “Should be running early July at Churchill. No clue if he’s learned how to rate yet.”
Yeah, this guy is quick early, but has faded late. Runs hard. Still has one of the faster Timeform sprint numbers of the year for three-year-olds. Also, still a maiden.
Miss Apples: “Frustrating horse. After she got scratched again for the same thing we sent her to have bone scans and everything else. All came back clean. We are giving her 45 days’ rest. Hopefully that will clear up whatever heat the vets keep picking up in New York. Probably the most frustrating horse because she has been ready to go, and now we are months away again.”
Dave had been excited about her training before the vets scratched her twice. Maybe we’ll see her this summer.
My buddy Alex is a diehard Go Go Greys fan, lives in Saratoga, and wanted to know if the stable was moving north for the summer. Alex is out at the Oklahoma Training Track every day, trying to find us winners.
”The only horse who will be at Saratoga next week is Miss Ice. Hopefully we’ll have 5 or 6 there for the summer.”
Miss Ice! Elio! I don’t see any workouts for her yet. How about the ones closest to racing next?
“Lovely Grey, Monomoy Mist, Miss Watermelon, Naughty Nancy
(Unnamed Early Voting), Silver Syndicate
These are the only ones I think who have a shot to run at Saratoga this summer. Lovely Grey is the most likely. All the others, who knows.”
Naughty Nancy was just purchased this spring and is a two-year-old filly.
Based on the insane response in Kentucky, I imagine Saratoga will be full of Dave/Barstool/GoGoGreys fans when these horses hit the track this summer. Dave has talked about how much Saratoga means to him, so seeing him get his runners on-track upstate will be wild.
Hopefully, there’ll be a new release of Go Go Greys polos before the end of the Saratoga Summer, for those of us that missed out.
Meanwhile, the path should be clear for the Red Sox. Sam Kennedy puts his foot in his mouth. I bought two new books this week. And your weekly MutStack notes.
All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #174.
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On the obvious move for the Red Sox…
People love a bad thumbnail.
Also, this stat is insane.
On the clown show that is Sam Kennedy…
He just stinks.
If you’ve followed this newsletter for any real period of time, you know I am no fan of Slimy Salesman Sam Kennedy.
Last week on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show, host Greg Hill asked the Sox CEO about Roman Anthony’s injury. Greg said he heard that maybe Anthony actually had a tear in something in his hand, and the injury might be worse than the team and the media reported.
Sam (In a dickhead voice): “There’s no evidence of a tear. The imaging is negative.”
Roman Anthony six days later: “It’s a partially torn ring finger ligament.”
Now, here’s how it will play out Friday. The team will “get on the same page” and say that they’re both talking about the injury. You can spin it that a tear and a Grade 2 sprain are the same thing, I’m sure.
But this was so unnecessary. The Red Sox continue to mess up the PR with injuries. It’s 100% what Michael Holley was talking about a few weeks ago - the thing Jarren Duran pushed back on! The Red Sox try to sugarcoat these injuries, and it always backfires. In this case, you made your star player look like a puss, and people started to talk about pain tolerance and ask why he’s not playing through it. The damage is done - in the minds of many fans, Anthony is now injury-prone and too much of a baby to play through it. Thanks a lot, Sam.
The CEO had to be a dink about it for no reason, other than to make sure fans know that if they buy tickets for later in the season, don’t worry, Roman is healthy! Buy tickets! So dumb. I hope it was Roman who leaked his actual injury to Greg whoever, just to make Kennedy and the team look stupid.
I’ve seen people defend Kennedy because he has to talk for the owner. Bullshit. He makes things worse, not better, for the team. And his unlikeability and smarm are off the charts.
The team looks dumb. And for no reason, Anthony comes across looking soft.
Idiot. Kennedy, not Anthony, obviously.
On the two books I bought this week…
Now, I have been TERRIBLE at reading books this year. Smart people like my friends Kirk and Hogdale are reading new books every week. I know I should be reading more vs. scrolling on my stupid phone. I know that. I’ve been stuck on Horse Trader for two months. I’m hoping that buying these books gets me going here.
My Boss Dave wrote a book, which I preordered this week. You should too. It’s out June 30th, so I have some time to work on these other books. I imagine much of Dave’s book is dedicated to his acquisition of MutStack.com. Can’t wait!
This one arrived Thursday, so no review yet of Tom Durkin’s A Life’s Calling: The Voice Behind the World’s Greatest Horse Races. But I plan on starting it this weekend.
Tom Durkin is the greatest race caller of my lifetime. I drove to Saratoga on August 31, 2014, to make sure I was there for his final call. It was a monsoon; just a gross, wet, disgusting day at Saratoga. But I had to be there.
I was not alone. Thousands of fans showed up to say goodbye to Durkin. Hundreds of us stood on the track apron to hear Durkin speak after he called Condo Commando’s win in the Spinaway. That group, which included two now lifelong friends I met at Saratoga, Ron and Ed. They made the trip from Connecticut for the same reason I did.
You can search YouTube for Durkin’s best calls on your own - there are many. This one of him calling a race in the fog is one of my favorites because it shows his sense of humor.
Durkin was the best on the big stage, and it was no wonder he called Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races. But his ability to make even a 20K claiming race sound important was just as impressive. Listening to him call races…I don’t know, it made you feel like being a diehard horseplayer wasn’t such a bad thing. But a Durkin moment I think about often was his goodbye at Saratoga.
Given the mic to speak, he didn’t thank any racetrack executives. Or drone on about his career accomplishments. He didn’t thank any friends or family. He only spoke for two minutes, and he only thanked one person - the horseplayer.
It was incredible. Racing is a sport that NEVER rewards or acknowledges the horseplayer. CAWs, high takeout, stupid decisions - you get the sense racing would be happy to run the races without anyone betting on it! But here was Durkin, the Voice of racing, singling them out on his final day.
“Long live horse racing. And long live Saratoga!”
What a sendoff.
I don’t think I’d be as big of a racing fan/horseplayer as I am today if Durkin had not been the voice of NY racing when I started going to Saratoga. He’s as responsible as Andy Beyer, Andy Serling, Steve Crist, or my buddy Geoff’s Uncle Mike, who explained the beauty of a $2 exacta box, for my love of handicapping and racing.
Can’t wait to dig into his autobiography this weekend. It sounds like Durkin will come out of retirement to call the final day of racing at Aqueduct on June 28th. It’s a safe bet if I’m not there, live I’ll be watching along at home.
On your Friday MutStack Notes…
⚾ I’ll give us credit - we try and laugh through the suck. The Red Sox are bad, but the show goes on in Episode 36 of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. Hogdale, Ed Hand, and I try and explain the unexplainable. Like why are the Red Sox so bad at ABS? And in what world is this team SOOOO bad at home? Watch and subscribe on YouTube and then listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
🎙️At least they're making an effort, I guess.
Getting embarrassed in the ratings by rival 98.5 The Sports Hub, Sports Radio WEEI changed up their hourly format late this week. They’re doing just one quick update at the top of the hour, terribly titled “What’s in our feed.” Seriously. Like your social media feed, I guess? Classic radio consultant bullshit. Again, atrocious name. But before that, they’re pushing that it’s “just a quick two-minute break.” Same for the first break of the hour, “back in two minutes.” Sounds like the other breaks are the same?
It’s been years since any change like this on the station. Big impact? I doubt it. Especially in afternoon drive, which continues to sound like a parody of a sports radio show. But I am awarding Mike Thomas credit points for the effort, even if “What’s in our feed” sounds like something one farmer might say to another.
🎙️ Speaking of WEEI, the dumbest segment I heard on Boston radio this week was Jermaine Wiggins trying to defend Michael Jackson. It got pretty heated with Chris Curtis.
🏇🏻 If you’re a DK Horse user in Massachusetts, you’ll notice the app is no longer available the next time you go to log in. And that’s okay.
In Massachusetts, California, and many other States, DK Horse is now DraftKings Racing. The revamped horse betting platform can be found directly in the DraftKings Sportsbook App. You just scroll to the 🏇🏻 symbol, or click on ‘Horse’ at the top of the page to access it. From there, you’ll see Promos, Featured Bets, and Featured Tracks. The betting menu is easier to read and use than other ADWs, for sure.
This is a great thing for horseplayers - and not just because you’ll see my handsome face with some Featured Bets next week for Belmont at Saratoga 👀👀👀.
No more toggling between the two different apps. Now you can share a wallet between sports and horses. And they have other ideas and plans that players will love.
Fully expecting some great promos for Belmont Week, and we’ll make sure to highlight and explain them here. Of course, full coverage of Belmont at Saratoga here, on socials, and the Barstool Blog.
🏀 I’ll be either rooting for former UConn basketball manager and Leominster Blue Devils Alum Mark Daigneault, or former UConn star Stephon Castle in the NBA Finals. I will not be rooting for Coleman’s New York Knicks.
🏈 MassLive has a Friday Jerod Mayo update. Crazy we have not heard from him about what happened in New England.
🎉 Congrats to former At A Theatre Near Me host and current Barstool teammate Chris Klemmer on the announcment he and and his wife are expecting their first child in September. We’ll be sure to toast with him next week in New Hampshire.
👀 I am very excited for Laconia.
That feels like plenty of Stack this week.
Next week is Belmont at Saratoga week. And KMS Live in Laconia. A big week, indeed.
Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And thanks for reading. And watching.