Intro:
This episode's a little different. I was at this years Breeders’ Cup. One of the biggest races in the world!! Big shoutout to the media relations team for letting me be around the barns at Del Mar. I just was walking around, casually met the folks who make the sport run every day, and had some quick, honest conversations. These are the people who muck stalls at 4:30 a.m., ride babies before the sun comes up, and know every twitch and snort of the horses they care for.

It made me think about what this podcast has become. At the core of it all is the same question: why do we love horses the way we do?

Key topics we discussed in 5 bullet points:

1. Eddie Figueroa talks about staying calm in the starting gate and yelling at jockeys when he needs to

2. Lisa Conway shares how grooming horses is like being a mechanic with a lot more emotion

3. Raul Alejandro explains how exercise riders have to know their horses and also have a mental stopwatch

4. Got to talk to Steve Asmussen, who grew up in a racing family and still believes it all comes down to love of the horse

5. What it feels like to be back behind the barns, hearing stories from the real heartbeat of horse racing