podcast

Oaklawn Park owner and president Louis Cella discusses the challenges and logistics of running a race meet in the coronavirus era.

He might not want to answer the question, but among his 1-2-3 Derby prospects, Nadal, Charlatan and Authentic, who is the best? Bob Baffert joins the writers on the Writers' Room podcast to try to answer that question.

"There's still a lot of anxiety," says Chaplain Humberto Chavez, whose ministry helps thousands of backstretch workers every day. "But in the midst of that, I get to see men and women that love their jobs, and come in every day to take care of these beautiful horses."

Santa Anita and Gulfstream are only two of the six tracks still racing in the U.S. This week, we check in with Craig Fravel from the Stronach Group to talk about the precautions they're taking. Also, the writers talk about the latest developments in horse racing with the coronavirus, and the challenges horsemen face.

It's hard to talk about anything else these days. Just a week after what we thought was the biggest story in horse racing history, the Coronavirus outbreak has overshadowed the horse doping scandal. Today, Joe Bianca (from home), along with Bill Finley and Jon Green (six feet apart in the studio) talk about how the pandemic has stopped racing in many places around the world, how others are persevering, and what will become of the Triple Crown. In this special podcast with host Joe Bianca calling in from home, we...

Two days after writing an Op-Ed for the TDN calling for a ban of Clenbuterol, trainer Mark Casse continued his campaign against the use of the drug in the Thoroughbred racing industry when appearing as the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast. The Writers' Room podcast is sponsored by Keeneland. Casse said he believed that numerous trainers are abusing Clenbuterol because it can act like a steroid and is therefore a performance-enhancing drug.  He called trainers that abuse Clenbuterol the "Lance Armstrongs of...

There was a time when radio host Jim Rome poked fun at horse racing, demeaning it as a sport. "It's not a sport, it is a bet," he said. Today, he is not only a fan and an owner and breeder but he has become an ambassador for horse racing, sharing his love affair with the game with his audience of 2.5 million and anyone else who will listen. Rome's transformation from critic to an advocate happened virtually over night. The credit, he told the panel on this week's TDN...

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation was formed to cultivate and put forth independent ideas for the benefit of Thoroughbred racing. In this edition of the TDN Writers' Room podcast, TIF Executive Director Pat Cummings talks to Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Jon Green and Alan Carasso about their new white paper on the sustainability of racing.

Trainers who run on the New York circuit tend to have the best horses in the country and compete for some of the highest purses in North America. But attorney Drew Mollica, whose expertise is equine law, said that investigations conducted by the New York Sate Department of Labor have put many New York horsemen in a precarious position. Mollica made his comments on this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room podcast in a segment sponsored by The Green Group. Several prominent New York trainers have been hit with...

Drew Mollica started his career in racing as a jockey agent, but had an epiphany at the age of 47: he was miserable. While keeping his day job, Mollica enrolled in law school, and today, is the most popular and affable lawyer on the New York Racing circuit. Mollica joins Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Brian DiDonato and Jon Green to talk about Ahmed Zayat and other legal issues in this edition of the Writers' Room.

The Breeders' Cup-commissioned investigation into the death of Mongolian Groom (Hightail) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic was among the main subjects tackled this week in the TDN Writers' Room podcast, and the crew questioned whether or not the horse should have been scratched. Click here to listen.  The report revealed that examining veterinarians determined during pre-race examinations that Mongolian Groom was "stiff" and "choppy" behind, the reasons why he among 73 Breeders' Cup entrants put on a "watch list" and was one of 24 horses selected for "extra scrutiny"...

Taylor Made Farm will offer the largest consignment at next week's Keeneland January Sale and today, Mark Taylor is our Green Group Guest of the Week on the Writers Room horse racing podcast. The possible closing of Arlington Park, economic indicators for racing and Eclipse Award finalists are among the topics we discuss.