S8E7: Guess who’s coming to Churchill Downs

The long Thanksgiving holiday brings the traditional changing of the Thoroughbred seasons in Kentucky, and that is the focus of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod from Churchill Downs.

TV analyst Kaitlin Free provides insight into the Clark Stakes and the Kentucky Jockey Club as well as her overarching thoughts on the fall meet that ends this weekend. She also offers some handicapping thoughts about the Turfway Park synthetic-track season that starts next week.

Horse Racing Nation handicapper Mark Midland has tips for the Clark, the Mrs. Revere, the Kentucky Jockey Club and the Golden Rod stakes, including advice for how to play the races as part of multi-race wagers.

This episode also features a special segment on Wednesday’s debut of $3.2 million colt Barnes, who won by a head taking his first step toward a possible date back at Churchill Downs on May 3 for Kentucky Derby 2025.

Listener and reader feedback also gets the once-over with Los Angeles Times turf writer John Cherwa providing perspective.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E6: Oscar Gonzales: From groom to Calif. Horse Racing Board

In the second of two episodes featuring politicians who are friends of racing, California Horse Racing Board vice chairman Oscar Gonzales is the guest this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

As the leading proponent to protect racing in Northern California, Gonzales has helped in the launch of the Golden State Racing meet this fall at Pleasanton, the track that is filling the void after the closing of Golden Gate Fields five months ago. He discusses the challenges the meet faces and why he is optimistic that it and the rest of the state can succeed with concurrent calendars in both halves of California.

A former assistant secretary of agriculture under President Joe Biden, Gonzales is a lifelong Democrat who also served on the department’s staff in the Obama administration. His career in politics came after he worked at racetracks and farms around California. “Once a groom,” he said, “always a groom.”

Gonzales talks about the horses he has laid his hands on, the ones that grew his love for the game.

Last week, retiring Kentucky state senator Damon Thayer, a Republican from Georgetown, was featured.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E5: Damon Thayer, the gentleman from Kentucky

Who are some of the movers and shakers in racing whose names might be known to fans and horseplayers, but their work might have been taken for granted? Two politicians who are friends of racing are featured this week and next on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Retiring Kentucky state senate floor majority leader Damon Thayer, a Republican from Georgetown, has been considered on both sides of the aisle a friend and advocate of racing. He has been a guiding prod for tax breaks and other financial incentives to promote breeding and ownership in his home state, the spread of historic horse-racing machines that have stoked race purses as well as the advent of penny-breakage reform that has put money back in the pockets of horseplayers.

This episode goes beyond a listing of Thayer’s accomplishments in his 22 years since there is plenty of talk about racing memories that turned him into such a fan of the sport.

Next week, California Horse Racing Board member Oscar Gonzales, a Democrat from Rosemead, will be featured.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E4: Post-Breeders’ Cup drinking game

The annual Breeders’ Cup hangover episode featuring a stream-of-consciousness or unconsciousness review of the 14 championships comes to pass this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Co-host John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times joins Flatter to go over each race in the hours after Breeders’ Cup wrapped up at Del Mar. Of course this is done over a couple glasses of wine, perhaps explaining how many times the two of them use the phrases “good guy” and “great guy.”

This episode includes discussions about the likelihood of Thorpedo Anna being horse of the year and a debate over whether $7 million Classic winner Sierra Leone rose to the level of top 3-year-old male of 2024. The usual domination of Europe horses in turf races is fodder for conversation, and so are the disappointing results for Japan horses as well as City Of Troy in the Classic. The emergence of some new faces among the winning trainers brings to mind all the good and great men and women whom Cherwa and Flatter reference, inspiring what could be a whole new drinking game.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E3: This Breeders’ Cup episode includes gifts

Not quite a thousand stars, but that is the aim from Del Mar for the latest Breeders’ Cup episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

FanDuel TV’s Mike Joyce leads off to discuss what he has learned this week hosting breakfast shows during training for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. He offers some analysis of finer points for the championship tests.

A cavalcade of trainers comes next with D. Wayne Lukas discussing Seize the Grey in the Dirt Mile, assistant Justin Atkins outlines the reasons dirt stayer Next was aimed for the Classic and not the Turf, Brad Cox looks back on the career of Idiomatic and forward to his four horses who will race Friday and Saturday, and Todd Pletcher gets into specifics about Fierceness in his bid to win the $7 million Classic.

Australia sports and entertainment reporter Brad Blanks, who is based in New York, offers his viewpoint as a horseplayer and man about town on this week’s social and racing scene.

Paddock Prince handicapper David Levitch has an emphasis on the Classic and says which two horses he is leaning toward in his betting.

Co-host John Cherwa helps distill the feedback on last week’s column about potential future sites for the Breeders’ Cup.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E2: Breeders’ Cup hard-core handicappers pop-up

For the eighth year in a row, the Breeders’ Cup is featured on a hard-core handicappers episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

The show is anchored from the press box at Del Mar, where cool weather is forecast for the championship cards Friday and Saturday. Each of the 14 races will be analyzed in depth by a panel of three expert handicappers.

Mark Midland and Ed DeRosa provide their expertise from Horse Racing Nation’s home in Louisville, Ky. DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello offers his tips from the office of DK Horse in Las Vegas.

The panel will take turns offering individual views on the five races Friday and nine Saturday with a discussion between them when the debate warrants. They also will have tips on each of the championships as well as a summation of their best bets at the end of the episode.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Google and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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S8E1: Breeders’ Cup & was it something I wrote?

Breeders’ Cup handicapping, a controversial column and even the presidential election are the topics on this week’s seventh-anniversary episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Steve Kornacki from NBC Sports and NBC News is not only providing  analysis from his big board for the championships next week, but he also discusses his day job that has him absorbed in the Nov. 4 election. Battleground states and battleground horse races get the once over, especially his thoughts about Thorpedo Anna vs. Idiomatic in the Distaff.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen offers insights about his five Breeders’ Cup entrants, including Turf Sprint standout Cogburn and how he will do against leading Europe contender Bradsell.

Super Screener creator Mike Shutty not only handicaps Saturday’s Mother Goose Stakes at Aqueduct, he has some angles he will be pursuing next Friday and Saturday when the two big days will unfold at Del Mar.

Feedback is about the column last Friday calling out over-the-line criticism of jockey Luan Machado’s finish line mistake last week at Keeneland and the idea that it could be the start of a more troublesome trend that has mushroomed in sports gambling.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

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