Down The Stretch Podcast

Race callers Robert Geller, Ken Middleton, Frank Ferrari, Frank Salive, Peter Aiello, John Imbriale, Larry Colmus, Dan Loiselle and even Earl Lennox help us this week remembering the greatest races of 2021 and the events that touched, inspired and disturbed us. From Safe Conduct to Weyburn to Munnyfor Ro to British Royalty and Pink Lloyd, Essential Quality, Medina Spirit and Knicks Go. From Venerable to Desperate Man to Monte Miki to Bob Loblaw, the biggest races and the most stunning finishes of the year.

To celebrate the 100th podcast, we present 30 minutes of the craziest, funniest, most touching and most unusual moments in horse racing in 2021. A wonderful interview with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, a woman dq’d because her brother claimed foul, the night Garnet Barnsdale went 10 for 10, a horse named Ho Ho Ho that didn’t have anything to laugh about, Punxatawney Phil winning on Ground Hog Day and what could possibly go wrong if you bet a horse called Whacudposblygowrng? Imagine being a race caller and there’s only 3 horses in a race. How do you make it sound interesting? There was a night at Mohawk when the number 7 just kept coming in and how did we mix the Kennedy assassination and a classic episode from Seinfeld into this podcast?

Is Patrick Husbands retiring? We go straight to the great jockey and we get trainer Mark Casse’s take on it as well. Pink Lloyd has settled into his new life at LongRun’s Farm and Vickie Pappas reveals how you can own the bridle he wore in all his wins. We chat with standardbred owner, promoter, and horse racing visionary Adriano Sorella, and ask why he’s bringing Jimmy Freight back to the races. Bill Tharrenos is off to a sizzling start at Gulfstream. Geriatric horses are still finding the wire in the last year of their career. We present the argument for Chantal Sutherland as Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year, and a bet that only Garnet Barnsdale was brave enough to place.

Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson talks about a completed thoroughbred racing season, single game betting, the best date for the Queen’s Plate and whether or not a podcast host can be comped at the new hotel on the racetrack site. Braiden Reibeling chose the best time to score his first harness racing win – he did it on his 21st birthday. Emma Christoforou is only 19, but she trained a winner at Mohawk. Jack Darling tells us how his great and versatile pacer, Bulldog Hanover is going to manage racing and reproducing at the same time. New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President Joe Applebaum explains how his state passed a bill banning horse slaughter. How did a dog get into a horse race at Monticello? And there was a great and emotional night at the Meadowlands when brilliant race caller Larry Lederman returned to the announcer’s booth.

Thank you Pink Lloyd for scripting our lead story. The amazing sprinter won the final race of his career. Jockey Rafael Hernandez, trainer Bob Tiller and owner Frank DiGiulio heap praise on the incredible 9 year-old. Writer Jennifer Morrison talks about her book, Run With a Mighty Heart, about the 2020 Queen’s Plate Champion. Trevor Henry was great last Thursday at Mohawk winning 5 races. Twenty-two year-old Austin Sorrie is on the verge of greatness and we will tell you why. This podcast also presents the strongest argument you will ever hear for betting the daily double, and Ajax Downs race caller Frank Ferrari provides his rendition of the most outrageous race of the year – The Massive Ego Stakes.

This week, there’s a new race secretary at Mohawk Park and we find out why Tony O’Sullivan is a good choice for the job. We have a beef with Santino DiPaola, not because his training stats are improving every year, but because his video essays keep bumping this podcast off the Sovereign Award eligibility list. What’s it like to be one of the jockeys at the bottom of the statistical ladder? We talk with Corey Jordan, whose win last week was his 2nd of the year. Also, we have Stakes races from Woodbine, Jody Jamieson and Sylvain Filion winning in bunches at Mohawk Park, and two driving brothers hitting an unprecedented plateau.

Amazing accomplishments, thrilling finishes and bizarre outcomes are the varying themes this week. Pink Lloyd won again – it was his 25th Stakes conquest. Trainer Robert Tiller expresses his love for the great sprinter. Jockey Patrick Husbands scored win #3501. Driver Ross Battin steered home his 5,000th winner. Jonathan Drury and Carmen Auciello teamed for a huge night at Mohawk. Chantal Sutherland was booting home winners at an awesome rate at Gulfstream. Brad Grant loves his amazing trotter Atlanta, so he and partner Howard Taylor ponied up large for a full baby sister. A horse owned by Bruno Schickedanz won a Stakes race at Aqueduct at 44-1, and where were you when the lights went out... at Grants Pass, Oregon?

In a week in which so much happened in horse racing, what they did to the bettors on Friday at Del Mar was astonishing, as in astonishingly stupid. It tarnished what was otherwise a great Breeders’ Cup weekend. Pink Lloyd can still rock 6 furlongs at Woodbine - he won a Stakes race for the 25th time. His jockey Rafael Hernandez talks about another fine season and how he ended up riding a quarter horse at Ajax Downs. There was a frightening spill Friday night at Mohawk and drivers Doug McNair, Nick Boyd and Bob McClure were all fortunate not to be seriously injured. Ajax Downs completed its season of quarter horse racing and Jennifer Morrison wraps up the year for us. We sample a brilliant version of harness racings Mic’d Up and Ric Chapman files from Australia on the $6 million Melbourne Cup. By the way, wasn’t it a great week to be called James MacDonald?

This week, Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson talks about where horse racing in Ontario is at after a long and difficult 18 months, what racing fans complain to him about and his favourite races. And we have races. Stakes events at Woodbine Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the Breeders’ Crown from the Meadowlands - it was a good weekend for Scott Zeron. Have you ever heard of a horse winning a race, then being disqualified because it had no medication in its system? Find out why Colleen Dalos is so frustrated. We have the second last card of racing from Ajax downs, and what was Rafael Hernandez doing there Wednesday? And while were at it - what was Irad Ortiz doing at Rideau Carleton harness track on Thursday? We go to Melbourne Australia; ok we don’t actually go there, but we do have a report from our correspondent Ric Chapman, who tells us who is going to win the $8million Melbourne Cup.

This week’s podcast features Stakes races from Friday and Saturday at Woodbine and Canadian content from the eliminations at the Meadowlands for next week’s Breeders’ Crown. Two stories that originated in the OSS Superfinals: Race caller Ken Middleton tells us what it was like to describe his own horse stunning the field in the 2 Year-Old Pace and we talk with all 4 owners of Desperate Man, the $20,000 purchase who won both the North America Cup and his Superfinal.

As the quarter horse season winds down, there was a race at Ajax Downs that took less than 7 seconds. Jennifer Morrison’s recap is worth the price of admission.

Moira Rose, the incandescent star of Schitt’s Creek makes a guest appearance and how, you may ask, does a classic Seinfeld episode get into our podcast? Not going to give it away, but we can say that trainer Darryl Ezra has a unique argument as to why his horse should not have been disqualified from 1st in a race at Fort Erie.