TDN Writers' Room

After a historic weekend where Godolphin swept the worldwide classics, including a Kentucky Derby win with Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the colt's trainer Bill Mott appeared on the TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland, as the Gainesway Guest of the Week. For Mott, it was his second Kentucky Derby win, following the promotion of Country House in the 2019 Derby after the disqualification of Maximum Security, and he admitted that this one was a big one. "It's pretty special, I've got to tell you," he said. "We really enjoyed Country...

Steve Kornacki is more than the political junkie who, for years, has had a way of explaining things when it comes to elections that help make everything make sense. He does so by turning statistics into an easy-to-understand formula and displaying his findings on an interactive map that is known as the big board. But Kornacki sometimes needs a break from politics, and he has found one in horse racing. It's been his passion since his uncle started taking him to the harness races at Scarborough Downs in Maine. He...

NBC Racing analyst Steve Kornacki joins the TDN Writers' Room's Kentucky Derby Show. Plus, our hosts participate in a Derby-Oaks draft.

Griffin Johnson is one of the internet's most popular influencers, and as a 2.5% owner in Sandman, he has now turned his attention to the Kentucky Derby, where Sandman will go off as one of the favorites. He joins the TDN Writers' Room to talk about young people and horse racing.

Jockey Umberto Rispoli will take on his third Kentucky Derby this year, but this time it will be with one of the likely favorites among the contenders in Michael McCarthy trainee Journalism. Rispoli discusses the promising 3-year-old in this week's TDN Writers' Room.

There are more than three weeks to go before the running of the GI Kentucky Derby, but it wasn't too early for the TDN Writers' Room Podcast team to dive into last weekend's preps and look ahead to the first Saturday in May. The Gainesway Guest of the Week was TDN European and International editor Emma Berry, who talked about how Donald Trump's proposed tariffs might affect European and U.S. racing.

Len Green was this week's Gainesway Guest of the Week on the TDN Writers' Room, joining us to discuss his GI Arkansas Derby winner Sandman and share some tips on how to save money on taxes.

Damon Thayer is leading the fight against the decoupling movement in Florida, and appears on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast to discuss what is happening with the effort.

On this week's TDN Writers' Room, owner and breeder David Anderson discusses the potential impact of tariffs on the Canadian Thoroughbred industry.

In the 25 years that she worked overseeing Todd Pletcher's racing stable, Maggie Sweet only had to concern herself about horses from the time they were two until around five. In the one year that she has been executive director of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, the nation's oldest Thoroughbred retirement facility, she has learned that inspiring the industry to spend the money to care for them for the next 25 years is a much harder part of the bargain. The TRF currently provides permanent lifetime homes for 400 horses, primarily...

Maggie Sweet has been in her job at the TRF for a year now, after leaving Todd Pletcher Racing, and she has learned a lot--chiefly, that the racing industry isn't focusing enough on the need to provide lifetime dignified retirement for its athletes. She appears on the TDN Writers' Room to discuss the issue.

Aron Wellman, the president and founder of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, has had big days, buy maybe nothing quite like the one he had last Saturday. Horses owned in part by Eclipse won the GI Santa Anita Handicap, the GII San Felipe and the GIII Herecomesthebride Stakes. And while that was going on he was putting the finishing touches on an agreement for his Big Cap winner Locked (Gun Runner) to stand at stud at Gainesway. With many subjects to cover, Wellman was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room...