Writers' Room

This week NYRA's VP Martin Panza joins the TDN Writers' Room to talk racing at Belmont and Saratoga.

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.

The TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented each week by Keeneland, was a strange affair this week, conducted in an otherwise empty TDN office, with Bill Finley and Jon Green sitting six feet apart, and host Joe Bianca calling in from home. "We need to march on, just like the world does," said Jon Green. "We're just a small part of what's going on out there, but I've been implementing social distancing for just about all of my 50 years." That led Bianca to crack, "All of those nights without a...

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...

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.

As the writers came on the air, the Breeders' Cup released a 25-page report on Mongolian Groom's injury, ushering in what may be a new era of transparency in horse racing. The writers talk about that, and have owner Willis Horton on as a guest. That and more on this week's Writers' Room podcast.