S8E11: 2004 racing year in review with Bredar, Cherwa, Paquette

From Thorpedo Anna’s charismatic campaign to Mystik Dan’s unlikely Kentucky Derby victory to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s return to Churchill Downs. The racing year 2024 is reviewed by a media panel on this episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Racing analyst Caton Bredar of FanDuel TV, track announcer Jessica Paquette of Parx Racing and turf writer John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times go over the top stories, memories and personalities of the year.

The panel has its opinions about the horse of the year between Thorpedo Anna and Fierceness as well as the top 3-year-old male between Fierceness and Sierra Leone.

Favorite moments of the year range from the Triple Crown to the Breeders’ Cup, and top contenders for the human Eclipse Awards are in the conversational mix.

Off-the-track matters are also discussed, including the end of Baffert’s suspension by Churchill Downs Inc., the decline of racing in California and the growing pains of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

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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S8E10: Hold all presents: a holiday with Collmus, Allen, Nelson

The eighth annual holiday episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even Festivus with three racetrack announcers.

Larry Collmus, the longtime voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup on NBC, checks in on the heels of his assignment as the autumn announcer at Del Mar as well as his year-round appearances as a racing analyst on FanDuel TV.

Paul Allen not only discusses his work at Canterbury Park but also some of his experiences as the play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Vikings, a job that won him praise as a “national treasure” from none other than LeBron James.

Keith Nelson is familiar to racing fans in the Midwest as the caller at FanDuel Sportsbook and Racing, the track formerly known as Fairmount Park. He talks about his coming up as an announcer and the decades he has known host Ron Flatter going back to their early days in the ’70s in Northern California radio.

The stories run the gamut from best calls to strangest announcing experiences and even to favorite movies from which they often recite familiar dialog.

John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times offers his perspective on the holiday season, comparing odd tales of what they have witnessed in all their years and miles of flying on commercial airlines.

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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S8E9: Snake, Eoin, Prince, Bidwell & Waskesiu

A football star-turned-horse owner, a trainer having a renaissance in Kentucky Derby preps, a Pick 5 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and the botched pronunciation of a horse are topics on the table for this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Former Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme talks about his love of the game, and that would be Thoroughbred racing. He discusses a little football and his 12 years as a stable owner but also the two horses he has running this weekend on Louisiana Champions day. Touchuponastar and Mangum could be returning with Delhomme to a familiar place for all of them, namely the winner’s circle at Fair Grounds.

Trainer Eoin Harty has won Kentucky Derby preps this fall with First Resort in the Grade 1 Kentucky Jockey Club and Poster in the Remsen (G2). He discusses the path to perhaps his first Derby starter in 14 years and how Godolphin has helped him get some 2-year-old standouts in his barn.

Paddock Prince handicapper David Levitch has weekend handicapping for the last five races Saturday at Gulfstream Park along with some thoughts about the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), a Derby points prep the same day. He and Flatter also serve up a creative way to say the name of a horse who Levitch likes.

Co-host John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times will offer his highlights and perspective from the Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, Ariz., and he will help digest a sad chapter this week involving a fire in Flatter’s hometown Chico, Calif.

Oh, yes. There will be a word or two about the Kentucky Derby points preps, namely the Remington Springboard Mile in Oklahoma and the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in California.

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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S8E8: Light up a robust, flavorful Cigar Mile

Four Grade 1 winners. Five millionaires. One big race. This weekend’s Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct is punching above the weight of a December race, and it is the feature of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Fox Sports and New York Racing Association racing analyst Richard Migliore will discuss the build-up to the race and how it came up so big. He also will talk about the other graded stakes on Saturday’s card, including the Remsen Stakes (G2), a Kentucky Derby prep that last year produced championship contenders Dornoch and Sierra Leone.

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset, who will saddle morning-line favorite Mullikin in the Cigar Mile, will look ahead not only to this weekend’s feature but also to Liam in the Dust’s bid to win the Demoiselle (G2), a points prep for the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Super Screener creator Mike Shutty will handicap the Remsen, the Demoiselle and, of course, the Cigar Mile.

Co-host John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times will offer his perspective on the newly filed lawsuit by Churchill Downs Inc. and NYRA against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. He also will help go through listener and reader feedback.

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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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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