Rail Talk Podcast

This week Joe Bianca and Jon Green talk stallion fees as farms begin to release their 2024 rosters. Three at $250,000 still hold good value while another’s doubled fee is clearly ‘justified.’ Some second-year sires see reduced fees but not reduced quality.

While on the topic of breeding Joe and Jon welcome Bret Jones to catch up on Airdrie Stud’s roster and a lot more including growing up (and raising kids) in the business.

And what would we be without another contest? Instead of true or false, it’s Joe or Jon. Winners guessing the most correct answers will be invited to be in the virtual studio for next week’s record. Is that a “win”? Time will tell, but it is always a lot of fun. See behind the curtain and witness the nonsense.

Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk or any of our ever-growing library of fun, insightful content. Get notified as soon as new episodes drop by subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible or at RailTalkMedia.com. Special shoutout to our wonderful sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made, The Green Group, Arion Pedigrees and Black Dog Bloodstock for their love and support.

Does racing need a new association of owners and trainers to confront its challenges? Should there be an increase in the Kentucky Derby purse? Just how many words can a person fit into one tweet?

Those are all questions ultra-successful Thoroughbred owner Mike Repole attempted to answer this week, and it provided fuel for a fascinating discussion this week on Episode 13 of Real Talk. Joe Bianca and Jon Green dissected Repole’s rants, which they said contained a number of great, actionable ideas that need the kind of attention Repole is providing, but also wondered whether or not a new organization would be helpful or harmful in an era of racing that *finally* has a central governing body.

Later, Joe and Jon welcomed FanDuel/TVG host Scott Hazelton to talk about what makes racing at Keeneland so irresistible, and celebrated some monster performances on the racetrack during the last big tuneup weekend for the Breeders’ Cup.

Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk or any of our ever-growing library of fun, insightful content. Get notified as soon as new episodes drop by subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible or at RailTalkMedia.com. Special shoutout to our wonderful sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made, The Green Group, Arion Pedigrees and Black Dog Bloodstock for their love and support.

This week on Rail Talk, the boys go guest-less because there was simply too much news to discuss, starting with the ultimate confrontation between Horse Racing Twitter™ and the sport’s institutional giants. Bob Baffert is suing two of racing’s most well-known social media firebrands/instigators/rabble-rousers for alleged defamation and extortion, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green break it down from every angle.Joe and Jon then ask when is enough enough re: Paco Lopez and his irresponsible riding style, and analyze the findings from a Blood-Horse investigation into the seemingly preventable death of New York Thunder. Finally, they look forward to a monster weekend of racing across the country, as the last round of tickets to the Breeders’ Cup will be punched.Don’t miss out on any of Rail Talk’s ever-growing library of content, including the main show, Breakaway Rail Talk (which has two new episodes!), Off the Rails blooper reels and more. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible and at RailTalkMedia.com. As always, thanks to Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made, The Green Group, Arion Pedigrees & Black Dog Bloodstock for being real ones and championing us with their sponsorship.

This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcome Terry Finley, the founder and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds, for an illuminating discussion on racing, auction strategy, the brave new world of HISA and much more.Fresh off of a huge three-week span of graded stakes successes, West Point was also extremely active at the Keeneland September Sale, including taking a piece of the $3-million topper. Finley takes the audience behind the curtain and let us in on how those million-dollar deals come to fruition. He also talked about how special it was for Carson’s Run, named after a WPT partner’s son who has a rare disease, to win a Grade I to punch his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup, and laid out the significant early accomplishments of HISA.Piggybacking off that, Joe and Jon later talked about how mind-explodingly great it is to finally have a unified voice to respond to industry crises with both strong words and action. They also paid tribute to racing/breeding legend Brereton Jones and touched on the latest track to close in Turf Paradise.Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk. Subscribe on our YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and RailTalkMedia.com to get each new episode delivered to you as soon as they drop. You can also find our Off the Rails blooper series, 1-on-1 interview series Breakaway Rail Talk and much more on all of those platforms. Thanks for tuning in, and as always, major shoutout to our sponsors Fasig-Tipton, The Green Group, Taylor Made and Arion Pedigrees for riding with us.

Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back at their mics for a late-night record of Rail Talk, with Jon reporting from the September Yearling Sale with lots of good news and big numbers.

Joe then welcomes one of his racing heroes, illustrious journalist Jay Privman, who recently retired from his post as the excellent National Correspondent for the Daily Racing Form. Joe and Jay cover the topics and challenges of racing today, including renewed safety concerns, the implementation of HISA, Bob Baffert, the progress of California racing and much more. We couldn’t get enough of Jay, so we asked him to join us again leading up to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita for more insights and for some reason he said yes.

There were also updates on the ill-fated NFL bet between the hosts that included a debate over whether or not Jon is a witch, after his eerily accurate prediction of Aaron Rodgers’s injury, plus a discussion of Churchill’s new claiming restrictions some are calling “The Linda Rice Rules”.

They're back! Joe Bianca welcomes Jon Green back from his European adventures as Mark Casse brings some sanity to the mix. There's a lot of catching up to do.

Reflections on the Saratoga meet, the (preventable?) tragedy of New York Thunder, synthetic tracks, wearable biometrics and a look ahead to the Breeders' Cup are all on the table this week.Celebrated trainer Mark Casse offers expert insight on keeping horses safe. Spoiler alert: synthetic tracks are at the top of the list. We are so grateful Mark took some time to spend with us. He has more experience than most with synthetic surfaces, and we learned a lot from the discussion.

See video of the naming contest yearlings along with some of Jon's personal stash of vacation pictures.

Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk or any of our ever-growing library of content, including Off the Rails, Breakaway Rail Talk and Odds-On Favorites. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and find us at RailTalkMedia.com. As always, thanks to our sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made, The Green Group and Arion Pedigrees for their early belief in us. They are all the best at what they do, and we are honored to have their names alongside ours. 

It seems like yesterday that Ramón Dominguez, the three-time defending Eclipse Champion Jockey, was forced to walk away from racing after several bad falls put him on the precipice of catastrophic injury.

In reality, it was 10 years ago, and if anything, Ramón’s legend has only grown since. A regular at New York racetracks since his retirement, he’s become one of the game’s top ambassadors and one of the most revered people in the industry, for good reason.

This week, the always engaging Dominguez sat down for a fun and enlightening conversation with Joe Bianca and Jon Green on Rail Talk. In it, he touched on the most exhilarating feeling he ever experienced on a horse, the importance of mental health support for jockeys, his charity work with the Race Track Chaplaincy, and how his passion for the game always keeps a smile on his face.

We could’ve talked to Ramón for hours, he’s just that good of a dude, but Joe and Jon also found time to preview a star-studded Travers and Personal Ensign, visit with jockey-turned-theatre-star Robert Montano for a sneak peek at his off-Broadway play “Small”, and announce the winner of their latest yearling naming contest.

Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk or any of our ever-growing library of content, including Off the Rails, Breakaway Rail Talk and Odds-On Favorites. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and find us at RailTalkMedia.com. As always, thanks to our sponsors Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group for their love lifting us up where we belong.

It’s a new era in racing. Long clamored for, the sport finally has an umbrella organization to unify its rules and regulations—most significantly, its anti-doping policies.

The woman at the top of that organization, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, is CEO Lisa Lazarus. This week, she joined Joe Bianca and Jon Green on Episode 7 of Rail Talk to answer questions about the successes and missteps of HISA’s early days, reveal how the industry has reacted to the new sheriff in town and project what the path forward looks like for all of racing’s stakeholders.

Elsewhere on the show, Joe relived his visit to sweltering Colonial Downs for Arlington Million Day and Joe and Jon came to grips with the inevitability of the Triple Crown changing forever.

Don’t miss an episode of Rail Talk, Breakaway Rail Talk or an Off the Rails blooper reel. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and RailTalkMedia.com. As always, shoutout to our sponsors, Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group for being the wind beneath our wings.

It was an incredibly difficult weekend for horse racing at Saratoga. Emotions were as raw as they’ve ever been, particularly over the soul-crushing breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel as she was just a few strides from winning the Test Stakes. Incidents like that make us fundamentally question the sport we all love so much.

This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green held an informal therapy session to cope with the devastating losses of Maple Leaf Mel, Ever Summer and Sopran Basilea at Saratoga. They also gave appreciation for how, through tragedy, the outpouring of support for the fallen and their affected caretakers displayed the best of this community, and hoped that kind of love will help light the way forward.

We still found time to smile and laugh, too, discussing the Whitney Stakes, analyzing the electrifying results of Fasig-Tipton Saratoga and struggling to remember how our yearling naming contest worked, even as we announced the winner.

Let us know if there’s anything you need to say in the wake of this heartbreaking week. We’ll bring you on the show.

You can find Rail Talk on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to receive new episodes in your inbox at RailTalkMedia.com. Thanks as always to our sponsors, Fasig-Tipton, Taylor Made and The Green Group.

Road shows are always the most fun. With the intersecting buzz of Whitney weekend, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the upcoming yearling sales, there was no better place to be Friday morning than Fasig-Tipton in Saratoga. With buyers inspecting horses in the and the enshrinement after-party in the background, thats exactly where the Rail Talk crew set up shop, recording Episode 5 of the growing podcast featuring an array of illustrious guests.