 Yes, so top of the sportsmax zone for this Friday top American racehorse commentator Pete Aiello is in Jamaica for Saturday's big Jamaica Cup horse race. Aiello has cold races at River Downs, Highland, Oakland Park and has been the chief commentator at Florida's Gulfstream Park since 2016. Aiello's voice has also taken him to Finger Lakes in New York, Canada and Tampa Bay Downs. Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, SVREO, operators of Jamaica's Caymanis Park say they are very excited to have Pete on team as an announcer during one of the track's most exciting race days. And we are also excited to have Pete join us live in the studio. But Pete, I can tell you that most Thursdays, our viewers hear your voice doing commentary with Gulfstream Park races, mostly because of Safi Joseph Jr's successes at Gulfstream Park. So we're thrilled to have you here. I'm glad to be here. It's a pleasure to speak with you guys. First time in Jamaica. First time outside the continental North America. For real? Canada, Mexico and the U.S., never outside the continent. So I hope you've been enjoying yourself because I hear that you've been here since midweek. Yeah, I got here on Wednesday and I've been enjoying every bit of it. There's so much culture and so much to take in that I feel like I wish I could stay a few extra days. How exciting has Gulfstream been for you because it's the latest stop in a lot of stops for you on the North American continent. Yeah, well, you know what's really special about Atlanta is that I was born and raised an hour from there. Yeah. So literally, as you said in your intro, I traversed the globe looking for a gig to call home and I ended up at home, which I would have never, ever thought was possible. So that was really, you know, that was really cool. I saw a report that suggested that when you were three years old, you were done with some joking silks. That was an idea. Clearly, clearly you had a racing family. No, I mean, only from a fans perspective. I mean, my perspective has always been from the fans perspective that, you know, my grandfather was in the Greyhound racing business for 35 years, first as a gambler and then as a operator, a kennel operator. And so, you know, we had we had the perimutual world surrounded as far as that goes. But I gravitated more towards the horses than than anybody else in the family. So just had to figure out how to make a career out of it. And I got real lucky. Can you talk to us quickly about the Arizona University racing program that you're a part of? Because in these parts, people don't attach horse racing studies to universities. Well, that's a very unique program that way. And it's one of those things that for somebody like me that was just a fan, I had no way of networking. I didn't know a trainer. I didn't know an owner. I didn't know anybody that was involved in the industry. So they were really a huge, huge level of importance for me from a networking perspective. You know, they give you the opportunities and it's up to you what you do with them. But I was fortunate that I took advantage of as many opportunities as I could. So what would you actually learn there? Well, it's more of a specialized business degree. So, you know, you're taking the general classes as monks, as well as all the other undergrads, but you take some business classes through the business college. But then you also take horse racing centric classes. So I took accounting, but then I also took race track accounting. You have a racing office class, you have a regulatory class, no race calling class, but you know, pretty much everything else to build your school. We are paying sometimes here in Jamaica, Pete, to explain to sports fans that racing isn't a normal sport. And the explanation that you've just given us with the university studies for horse racing, practically, tells you that horse racing isn't a normal sport. It isn't your regular sport. No, it's really not. And I think that one of the things that sets it apart in, you know, all sport, we have, we have emotions, but I think in horse racing, there's just so many storylines that, you know, as a fan and Mariah, I'm sure you know, just as a journalist that storylines are what people are really interested in, whether it's sports or mainstream or news or whatever. And there's never any shortage of storylines in horse racing. So, and, and, you know, the thing is, is that half of, you know, the old race track added, you only believe half of what you are, half of what is here and nothing of what you see at a race track. I think I got that back live television. Anyway, yeah, I love it. Well, Pete, you know, you're getting ready to make your debut in Jamaica for the Jamaica Cup. How excited are you? And tell me a bit about how the entire thing unfolded? Well, I'm very excited, first and foremost, I'm very excited. I got to go to the commentary box today to kind of scope out the situation. I'm a little too tall for the room. Oh, I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to either sit down or bend down to get, to get the full view. But everything else is great as far as the setup goes. You could really see really well, which is important. As far as how did it all come about? Two or three years ago, Supreme Ventures had a broker, a broker to deal with some US content providers to allow US racing fans to watch and bet on Jamaican racing. And I've always gravitated towards the road less traveled. So as soon as I saw that, I was all about at least trying it out. Yes. And I fell in love with it very, very quickly because, you know, but being, being an island nation and being an insular racing circuit, you can really focus on those storylines and you can build rivalries and you can really, you know, as a fan, you can really get dialed into everything. You know, I mean, the great storyline going into the Jamaican Cup, runaway algo against Atomica. I mean, that's a, that's a storyline that anybody in the racing world would love to have. Yeah. Well, what's for sure is fans usually become very attached to their commentators and announcers because you are the person that, of course, brings the race to life for them. So your time at Kimana Spark so far, how was your reception been? Well, it's been, it's been really nice. And it's a very, very good important point that you raise and I'm so appreciative of it. And at the end, as much as the fact that I'm a horse racing announcer, I like to tell people that I'm really in the emotion business. Yeah. Because if I'm not connected, I'm sure you guys feel the same way. If you're not connecting with your viewers or your audience, then you're probably not doing something right. But if you are connecting with your viewers and your audience, it's on an emotional level, either because they're part of your, your everyday life or you're part of their everyday life, and you're telling them something that makes them feel good. So it's really an emotional type situation. And it's been, it's been really cool to see. Yeah, one more before I give you back to Lance because, you know, he's the horse racing man and I can't take that away from him. What has been your most memorable moment covering the sports so far? Do you remember? I do. It was the very first Pegasus World Cup. It was January of 2017. Because, you know, I had a lot of pressure that day because I had, at that point, I'd only called one grade one race. So Lance knows, but you maybe don't. The grade one races are the upper echelon races in North America. I'd called one up until that point and it was the worst call of my life. I don't ever want it to be played ever again. So going into that, I mean, think about that from a sporting perspective that the only time you were in that championship match, you choked. It doesn't give you a whole lot of confidence going in. Couple that with the fact that I was taking over for arguably one of the best in the industry in Larry Comas. And I really needed to prove myself. So there was just so much, it's the world's richest race. It's the first race of its kind. There's a huge storyline between Aragate and California Chrome. California Chrome had won the Kentucky Derby the year before, but Aragate beat him in the Breeders Cup. I mean, it's just anything that could involve pressure, it was pressure. And I didn't mess up. That was my only goal in the whole of the big races. That's always your only goal. Don't mess up. I didn't. And as soon as I shut off the mic, I cried very, very hard. So it was a hugely emotional moment. It was like, you go from the first race I ever called, which was in Arizona, $1,000 maiden race going half a mile that nobody heard, other than the people that were there to having a worldwide audience and some of the best horses on the planet. I mean, that's a huge leap. Yeah, I get in the picture because apart from the grade one aspect of the occasion for you, this was your home trap, Florida and Gulf Stream Park. But now the whole world is tuned into Gulf Stream Park. So your home base now becomes a global space for you and your job. Yeah. And you know, the thing about it was is that, you know, there was just so much going into that. And I needed to, I think as much as anything to be honest with you, I needed to prove to myself that I belonged. I mean, because I never honestly and truly, I never really thought of myself as the upper echelon guy ever. And I still really don't. But the fans say otherwise, which I'm very appreciative of. But, you know, going into that, it really kind of made me think, you know, wow, you know, because for me, I was content making my whole career in the minor leagues. That was completely fine with me. So to get to go to the major leagues and broadcast on a big stage was really special. And then I just got the proverbial cherry on the Sunday last week getting to go to San Anita for the Breeders Cup and getting to call some Breeders Cup races and then not messing those up either. So you're fine. All right. We are glued into Gulfstream Park partially because a lot of Caribbean personnel, racing men are doing well there. Staffid Joseph, of course, Rowan Crichton, one of the top trainers there as well. He's Jamaican, Safi's Barbadian. We're going to play your commentary on the May 17 Mr. Steelsteaks. Staffid Joseph running one, two there. We'll take that now and talk to Pete Aiello on the call and the Safi's successes there after that. Getting started ahead of him is Max Kayo. So Safi Joseph Junior now going to be one, two and about four strides driven next at the rail. Me and Mr. C value proposition is after him and they're at the top of the stretch. Yeah. So that was he ended up finishing one, two there, Safi and with Max Kayo and Saratoga Flash. Talk to us about Safi's success at Gulfstream Park. He's only 36 years old and a trainer, that's young for a trainer, being as successful as he is and it almost came overnight because he left Barbados sort of just hoping that things would work for him in Florida and there were people advising him against the move. I'm not sure if you know. I didn't know that part of it but I know that he started out kind of quiet and made a reputation for himself as being a good horseman but I think the key with Safi's successes, the key with a lot of our successes in life, he took advantage of all the opportunities that were given to him and he capitalized on those opportunities and when you do that in the position that he's in, success breeds success. So when he got winning with 10 horses then he had 20 horses and then when he was winning with 20 horses he had 30 horses and then when he went from claiming horses to stakes horses and he started to win stakes races. Well now he's got more stakes horses so it's really just been a snowball and a positive direction for him and it's really something to say. Yeah at the last seven or eight seasonal titles he has won all of them. He hasn't lost a seasonal championship at God's Dream Park I think since 2021 somewhere around there but he's being challenged this time for this meet heading into the the championship meet and it looks pretty tight. Yeah well you know he again he had such a juggernaut of an operation. He just overwhelmed people with numbers and I think he's kind of changed his focus a little bit. I think he's going more on the upper echelon side of things. He wants more stakes horses. He wants more quality horses to get on the triple crown trail so he's sacrificing some of those overnight wins by going after some of the bigger races. Yeah and Rowan Crichton another Jamaican trainer representing the Caribbean doing well at God's Dream Park as well. Your thoughts on Rowan? He's great. I'm a huge Rowan Crichton fan especially winning with the new acquisitions. He can move them up as good as possible so I understand he's got rough entry down here a horse that I'm very familiar with getting ready for the Mute mile. There's a couple of other horses down here already that I've called American Tap. She runs tomorrow. What a great race she's in tomorrow. Unbelievable I'm very excited. That's simple as that this stuff. What a race. Renny Bengala against Desert of Malibu and American Tap. I only hope Spuddy lets me get behind the mic for that one. Spuddy is a great commentator as well. Jamaicans love Rickman but I'm really great to have you here Pete and we're looking forward to hearing you. I'm not sure if you're already designated which which races you will do but we expect that you'll be calling a couple of races. I'll be I have the binoculars. The binoculars made the trip with me and so they'll be put to use tomorrow. Yeah Anthony Thomas three time Jamaica champion jocking no at Goldstream Park for the past couple of months and he has won twice already. A very smooth rider. I like his seat in his saddle. Do you think he'll do well there? I think he needs to get rolling. I think it's a tough it's a tough time. He's a friend by the way. I speak to him on a very regular basis and I've done it. Tell him hi for us. I will definitely do that. He's and I think the key is that when you come anywhere new you have to get rolling. You have to establish yourself but I'll tell you a story but real quick before we run out of time when he started it at Goldstream. He had that reputation as being a champion rider in Jamaica. So the stewards knew that I had follow racing in Jamaica. So one of the stewards came over and said what about this kid does he belong. I said he belongs and he rode a couple of 50 to one shots. They were nowhere but the steward came over after the second one and he said you're right he belongs. Just because like you say he is so smooth and when you watch a race you know when you watch any race whether it's a bottom level race or a top level race. If you know what you're watching you can tell the good riders from the bad riders. And if you're not very talented you get exposed real quick and he fits right in with everybody. I really like him. He's a good he's a good rider. Would you be back with a multi mile. I will not unfortunately we have two four hundred thousand dollar races at Goldstream. That's opening weekend of our championship. That's right. Finals of the sire stakes. They move the sire stakes a little bit later on. Safi Joseph is defending champion trainer at the championship meet. Yeah and he has a filly that will be heavily favored in that race. Our Harper Rose for a friend of mine Rich Averill. She has got to go two turns though and she might need some help but she is a very very good filly. I just don't know if she wants to go long. A quick comment before you go Pete on Safi Joseph's troubles at Kentucky Derby Churchill Downs last summer when a couple of his horses died and he was suspended didn't receive and they didn't take entries from him. New York did the same. White Abario because of that had shifted trainers to Richard Dutrell won the Breeders Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita and I just saw White Abario winning and I said well that that's Safi's horse but he's the trainer now. I mean I think you go from bad PR to bad PR there. I mean the industry took steps maybe unfairly so to try to mitigate some of the high pressure situations that were from a public perception standpoint. Both the ending result was is that the Richard Dutrow whether he's a great horseman or not I don't know him his record speaks for itself but he still has controversy associated with his name so you go from controversial to controversial. White Abario is a good horse though at one that Florida Derby with your call at Goldstream Park last early last year in the built up to the Kentucky Derby. Good horse though. He is a very very good horse I think he I think to be completely honest with you I think he took advantage of a week a week in the division. Don't necessarily think he's the best dirt horse in the world but he's a very very good horse who got good at the right time. Yeah Pete it really is a pleasure having you here on the Sports Mac Zone and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it down to the track tomorrow but I'll be watching I'll be watching. All right we got to get you down there. He will make himself down then. He loves those things. I should get there. Pete Ayelo top commentator at Goldstream Park in Florida great to have him on the Sports Mac Zone and if you're it came out of spark tomorrow you'll be near where he is. I can tell you that back with more of the Sports Mac Zone after this.