Down The Stretch Podcast

We have coverage of the Breeders’ Cup from Del Mar – great finishes, big payoffs and European dominance on the grass, though little Cancon to brag about. Emma-Jayne Wilson was back at Woodbine after a 3-month layoff; she didn’t win, but Rafael Hernandez took down 3 races and Fraser Aebly won 4. This podcast features 3-year-old Brooks Ratchford cheering on dad, Todd to a Breeders Crown win and Todd talks with us about the greatest night of his life. Jody Jamieson won a race Monday night with a horse that paid off at 80-1 and Garnet Barnsdale told you in the Mohawk Journal that The Bear a Cuda would win and when it did, the win price was $81.30 and do the rules at Keeneland allow a horse to be ridden by a rider…with no head?

The Breeders Crown Finals at Mohawk included the still unbeaten Beau Jangles, driver Todd Ratchford winning in his Crown debut and a guest appearance by 3-year-old Brooks Ratchford. On Saturday night a 68-1 shot dead heated with a 1-5 favourite and there was more magic from Scott Zeron who miraculously produced a 62-1 bomb that everyone’s Bubbe will love. At Woodbine it was Austin Adams and Little Teddy capturing the Eternal Search. Trainer Bill Tharrenos has been winning Stakes races at a lucrative clip and he talks with us about his very good year. On the last card of quarter horse racing at Ajax Downs, 4 jockeys doubled up, fans got free ice cream, and we have Jennifer Morrison to help wrap up the 25 days of racing. And you won’t need a medical autopsy to understand why we have a race from Hawthorne in which a horse won with surgical precision.

It was a weekend full of eliminations for next week’s Breeders Crown at Mohawk and the standouts were Beau Jangles, Brandon Drive, Delaney Hanover, Miki and Minnie, Ervin Hanover and many more. Kings Plate Champion, Mansetti was nailed just before the wire in the Ontario Derby at Woodbine. He won the jockeys’ crown and the Sovereign Award last year; now Sahin Civaci has taken his tack to New York. His agent, Leroy Trotman breaks down the reasons. Friday night celebrated lady drivers at Western Fair Raceway and veteran Marie Claude Auger put on a clinic. Driver Travis Henry cracked open the 300 win plateau and tells us what it means to him. It was the penultimate card of racing at Ajax Downs and once again, free ice cream for the fans, and we have a race from Australia where the announcer nearly loses his mind when an unbeatable favourite, gets beaten.

There were 8 $300,000 OSS Gold Superfinals at Mohawk. The great 2-year-old pacer Beau Jangles is now 10 for 10, but is he concerned that a filly went faster? From Woodbine, fillies and mares were front and centre in the Ontario Damsel and Fashion Stakes. Two great jockeys help us celebrate episode 300. Mike Smith, now 59, is still winning stakes races and he talks about Zenyatta, Justify, Arrogate and Chantal Sutherland. Rafael Hernandez leaped to the lead in the Woodbine riders’ race. He informs us why his grand slam mattered coming on the same day as a grand slam by Vladimir Guerrero.

Just 2 racing dates left at Ajax Downs and last Wednesday was brilliant for jockey J B Botello - he had 4 mounts and he own with each of them. And Bill Galvin Alliance Youth Derby Award winner, Olivia Schiedel treats us with a rendition of her first-place poem.

We have the $750,000 Canadian International Stakes from Woodbine along with the Nearctic and the Dance Smartly Stakes as well. Let’s just say Woodbine were very good hosts to visiting horse people. There were fireworks at Mohawk Park earlier in the week - on Monday, Doug McNair took down 3 OSS Golds - then on Tuesday, Bob McClure did the same thing.Tom’s Magic won the Breeders’ Stakes. His owner, CJ Johnson is from Texas but tells us why he loves racing at Mohawk and how important it is to lower the takeout for bettors. You might expect the best horses to break track records, but last Monday, a $9,000 claimer shattered the mark for 6 ½ furlongs at Fort Erie. And, as the quarter horse season winds down, we’ve got races from last Wednesday’s card at Ajax Downs.

It was the Breeders’ Stakes, 3rd leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine. Trainer Dr. Ian Moore talks about his wonderful 2-year-old pacer, Beau Jangles and disagrees when host Peter Gross tries to make a comparison with the great Somebeachsomewhere. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. won the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, but is now in hospital after a life-threatening fall at Churchill Downs. Despite his severe injuries, Hernandez tells Down The Stretch he is planning on riding in the Breeders’ Cup. Ajax Downs had a 7-race card last week, but produced 8 winners, and in a race last week at Parx, jockey Mychel Sanchez decided it was more important to save a fellow jockey whose reins had snapped than to try and win the race. Race caller Jessica Paquette fills us in on this bizarre event.

A huge night of harness racing at Mohawk – the $Million Metro Pace featured two unbeaten horses. The Mohawk Million had a mild upset. At Woodbine, a 17-1 shot surprised in the Durham Cup. Norm McKnight scored his 1,000th thoroughbred training win (behave when you hear the horses that comprised the exactor). At the Delaware Fairgrounds, the 80th Little Brown Jug produced a very low paying winner. The 3-year-old Sovereignty, winner of the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont, the Jim Dandy and the Travers will be Horse of the Year in the U.S. We talk with Neil Poznansky, the Canadian ingredient in this super horse. Also, highlights from last Wednesday’s card of quarter horse racing at Ajax Downs, and was that winner of the 5th race Friday at Laurel Park a shoutout to one of the great Toronto Maple Leafs?

On Turf Champions Day, there were 5 Stakes races at Woodbine, including the $1 Million Woodbine Mile. Lots of action at Mohawk Park – on Friday there were 2 Champlain Stakes and an Elegant Image warm-up that produced a $100 winner: on Saturday, Beau Jangles and Frantic Hanover dazzled as Sylvia Hanover and Twin B Joe Fresh renewed their rivalry. A Canadian horse – Lexus Kody won the $1 Million International Trot at Yonkers Saturday. We’ve got the Prince of Wales from Fort Erie; let’s just say Ryan Munger was happy to be reunited with Runaway Again. Harness driver Gilles Barrieau figured out how to get on the podcast – just win 9 on one night at the Charlottetown Driving Park. Ismael Mosqueira moved closer to winning the riders’ title by having a good day at Ajax Downs. And we remember one of our favourites, Zippy Chippy, who warmed our hearts by losing every one of his 100 races.

We’ve got the Wonder Where Stakes and the Singspiel Stakes from Woodbine and let’s just say jockey Rafael Hernandez had a good day. There were 5 Grand Circuit Stakes at Mohawk on the weekend – we have the stretch calls of all of them. At Truro Raceway in Nova Scotia, veteran driver Claire MacDonald won 4 of 8 races on a recent card, but that wasn’t the most unusual result for her that night. We have the uplifting but disturbing story of a pacer named Tyler, who raced over 200 times, but had to be rescued hours before being slaughtered out of a kill pen. Jockey Kirk Johnson has been fully vindicated. The AGCO says there was no bad behaviour in the unusual finish of a race at Fort Erie. Jockey Alexis Sanchez pulled off the natural hat trick at Ajax Downs last week, and when Pretty Runaway won the Maturity Stakes, we learned this speedball has a unique appreciation of heavy metal music. We were on the phone to race caller Frank Miramahdi, who wraps up the summer meet from Saratoga. When he learned that Peter Gross didn’t get to the spa this year, he got his friends to lay into him pretty good. And we have a race from Laurel Park in which a flock of geese flew right into the horses as they came into the stretch.

We lead off with a monster card from Mohawk, including the Maple Leaf Trot and the Canadian Pacing Derby. From Woodbine we have a 22-1 shot winning the Toronto Cup Stakes. Beau Jangles, Canada’s brilliant 2-year-old pacer ran his perfect win streak to 6. We have John Sikura telling us why his Hill n Dale Farms bought half of the sensational filly, Thorpedo Anna, though he doesn’t reveal how much this cost. From Saratoga, an emotional win by a horse named Attfield over a horse named Schwarzenegger. Curtis Stock talks with us about Ron Turcotte, the great jockey who died last week. Races from Ajax Downs. It was Family Fun Day and the Robertson family probably had the most fun. And we have ladies – Lauren Tritton and Natasha Day - winning harness races at the Meadowlands and at Mohawk, but we wonder why it doesn’t happen more often.