Rail Talk Podcast

By Rail TalkSports

Rail Talk Podcast episodes

December 04, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 71: From Hong Kong With Love
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green go international, as they welcome Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Englebrecht-Bresges to fill us on in on this weekend’s prestigious Hong Kong International Races. Then our friend Andrew Stewart of Arion Pedigrees joins us to provide betting tips for the HKIR.
The boys then preview the last big weekend of the year in New York racing, discuss the ongoing crisis at Woodbine and there’s a bee in Jon’s bonnet about a 2025 mating.
Don’t miss any Rail Talk content, be sure to join our family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thanks to the sponsors The Green Group, Taylor Made and Fasig-Tipton for supporting our vision!
59 min
November 26, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 70: Green Eggs & Sam
This week on Rail Talk! It’s a two-guest show, as Gulfstream Park’s excellent on-air analyst Samantha Perry stops by to preview the track’s prestigious Championship Meet, which gets underway this week. Perry also gives us insight on how to handicap Gulfstream’s synthetic-track racing, differentiating horses’ physical presence and where to go in Miami if you want to stay up all night!
Then, Rail Talk champion Len Green of The Green Group returns to the studio to talk about all the tax benefits of horse ownership and how to take advantage of them in 2025. He also reflects on being honored at this summer’s Racetrack Chaplaincy brunch in Saratoga and all the money raised that day to support the backstretch community.
Joe and Jon later give their takes on the tenuous situation in California racing and the need for cooperation between interests in the north and south before the state’s racing goes by the wayside.
Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk, join the ever-growing family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods! Thank you to our sponsors The Green Group, Fasig-Tipton and Taylor Made for making it all possible. Have a great Thanksgiving!
54 min
November 19, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 69: HISA Mythbusting
This week on Rail Talk! HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus and HIWU Executive Director Ben Mosier join Joe Bianca and Jon Green to correct some misconceptions about the new era of horse racing they’re ushering in and discuss all the progress being made to keep horses safer on the track.
How logical are provisional suspensions? Is contamination an explanation or an excuse for positive test findings? What’s being done to ensure labs are all singing from the same sheet? Lazarus and Mosier answer these hot-button questions before touching on exciting developments like Horse In-Sight, a new tool that gives veterinarians a full picture of a horse’s health before giving them the green light to race.
Joe and Jon also appreciate the war horses who competed in Saturday’s Claiming Crown before their first look-ahead to Kentucky Derby 151 analyzing notable 2-year-old performances from the weekend.
Nowhere else in racing are these kinds of substantive, consequential and honest discussions taking place. Be sure to join the ever-growing Rail Talk family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thanks as always to our sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group for making it all possible.
1 hr 3 min
November 13, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 68: Flavien Prat Takes Center Stage
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are joined in the studio by very special guest and presumptive Eclipse champion jockey Flavien Prat! The three of them discuss Prat’s winding journey from France to California to New York, his enormous victory aboard Sierra Leone in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, all of the work it’s taken to bring him to the precipice of his first Eclipse Award and much more.Joe and Jon also reflect on a huge stakes weekend for West Point Thoroughbreds and what it means for the turf male division in 2025 before discussing perplexing trends Jon is noticing in the stallion and auction market. They then touch on the precarious situation with Woodbine’s main track and whether or not Kenny McPeek has a legitimate case to be Eclipse champion trainer.Don’t miss any Rail Talk content—join the ever-growing family making us one of the leading podcasts in the industry by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, etc. Huge thank you to our dedicated sponsors Taylor Made, The Green Group and Fasig-Tipton for their support.
49 min
November 06, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 67: Yu Talking to Me?
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcome guest third host Michelle Yu to react to a star-studded weekend at the Breeders’ Cup.

An outstanding reporter and analyst for Santa Anita and NBC Sports, Yu gives us her railbird review of Sierra Leone’s Breeders’ Cup Classic score, what it means for champion 3-year-old honors, whether or not Thorpedo Anna has locked up a Horse of the Year trophy and everything else that stood out to her from racing’s most important weekend.

As someone who spends every day on the backstretch, Yu also speaks candidly about the new HISA amendments on their provisional suspension protocol and whether or not the program is catching actual cheaters.

Don’t miss any Rail Talk content—join our ever-growing family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thank you to our industry-leading sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group for their unwavering support.
53 min
October 31, 2024 Breakaway Rail Talk Episode 12: Breeders’ Cup Bets w/Jim Politano
This year’s Breeders’ Cup is so spectacular we had to drop two episodes of Rail Talk in two days, this time providing a betting companion to the 41st World Championships! On the latest edition of Breakaway Rail Talk presented by Arion Pedigrees, Joe Bianca is joined by friend of the show, owner and excellent handicapper Jim Politano to put together Breeders’ Cup tickets in hopes of making our subscribers some money this weekend.
The two cashed a Rail Talk Pick 5 and a Pick 4 at last year’s BC, and they try to build on that success, putting their heads together to construct a Pick 5 ticket for Future Stars Friday, another Pick 5 culminating in the Classic on Saturday and finally, a Pick 4 for the last quartet of Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday. They also find time to reminisce about a fun but frustrating Saratoga meet full of chasing Pick 6 carryovers.
Don’t miss any Rail Talk content, be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Major thanks to Breakaway sponsor Arion Pedigrees, and best of luck betting the Breeders’ Cup!
48 min
October 30, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 66: A Scary Good Breeders’ Cup
This week on Rail Talk! We are on the eve of Breeders’ Cup XLI, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green can barely contain their excitement. Starting with the intrigue of the Classic, the boys touch on what they’re most looking forward to in Friday and Saturday’s 14 combined championship races.
Then, ace international handicapper and “Longshot Lad” Kev Humphreys joins the show to clue the audience into who’s hot and who’s not from the stout European and Japanese contingents descending upon Del Mar. Which horses should you be leaning on or playing against this weekend? And who are some big prices who can outrun their odds and spice up exotic payouts?
It’s a great week to be a racing fan, but that’s the case every week when you’re a Rail Talk subscriber. Join the ever-growing family by subscribing on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thank you as always to our industry-leading sponsors Taylor Made, The Green Group and Fasig-Tipton for their phenomenal support.
1 hr 7 min
October 23, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 65: Tinky Returns
This week on Rail Talk! Our good friend and wise sage Tony Cobitz, a.k.a. Tinky, returns to the studio for another fascinating conversation with Joe Bianca and Jon Green on the state of racing and breeding.The three discuss the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Classic and its international flavor with main contenders City of Troy and Forever Young shipping in from all over the world. Has the City of Troy hype train run off the tracks? Will there be enough speed to set up Forever Young? And where does top domestic hopeful Fierceness fit into the race?The conversation then turns to the world of stallions, and Tink brings observations and graphics aplenty. Why are even today’s top sires producing relatively few graded stakes winners and fewer horses who stick around longer than a dozen or so starts? What, if anything can be done to reverse this trend?Don’t miss any of this illuminating and thought-provoking Rail Talk content. Join the ever-growing family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thanks as always to our sponsors, Fasig-Tipton, The Green Group and Taylor Made for their support.
1 hr 11 min
October 17, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 64: Union & Reunion
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca returns to the mic from his honeymoon in Greece to catch up with Jon Green on all the latest happenings in racing, breeding and sigh HISA litigation. The two appreciate Irad Ortiz, Jr. after the jockey’s 4,000th win and discuss the effort by the IBEW to unionize the backstretch at Belmont.
On the HISA legal front, their outside counsel John Roach joins the show to break down the next steps in the fight over constitutionality and what will happen to the sport if the current system is struck down. Then the boys are joined by Claiborne president Walker Hancock to talk about a new effort to protect older mares, their new stallions for 2025 (including a new stallion exclusive announcement here on the show!) and the future of the historic farm.
Don’t miss any Rail Talk goodness, join the ever-growing family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your pods. Thank you to our sponsors The Green Group, Fasig-Tipton and Taylor Made for their support.
1 hr 14 min
October 08, 2024 Rail Talk Episode 63: Of Sales and Storms
On this week’s episode of Rail Talk, Jon Green and fill-in co-host Ren Carothers discuss some of the weekend’s WIN AND YOU’RE IN races including the three-way head bob in the Jessamine, the awesomeness of IDIOMATIC and CITIZEN BULL’S gate to wire victory. They also dive into the explosive 1-x family and which juveniles benefit from those potent genes.
OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski discusses how they are preparing for Hurricane Milton in advance of their current two-day yearling sale. He also discussed how the three major US-based sales companies banded together to implement an updated medication testing protocol in an effort to promote safety for all involved. Tod also provides the hosts with exclusives about eminent changes in OBS sale offerings.
Finally, Jon shares some inside information about one of his Breeders’ Cup bound fillies VIXEN as the show hears from Eclipse Thoroughbreds’ Aron Wellman.
Don’t miss any Rail Talk content and be sure you are part of the ever-growing family by subscribing to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Special thanks to our industry sponsors – Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group for making our dream come true.
1 hr 12 min