Chuck Simon, a trainer for two decades in horse racing who previously worked for legends of the game like H. Allen Jerkens and D. Wayne Lukas, has reinvented himself in racing. After being squeezed out of the training game in part due to the rise of the “super trainer”, Simon has become one of the most articulate critics of racing and advocate for the sport's reform, both on Twitter and the Going in Circles podcast, which he co-hosts with handicapper Barry Spears. Wednesday, Simon joined Bettor Things with Joe Bianca for an expansive discussion on his handicapping and training roots, the challenges and shortcoming of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, the important role of racing Twitter in holding the industry accountable and much more. Later on, Bianca's Breeders' Cup Challenge betting series shifted to the excellent action on opening weekend at Keeneland, as Bianca handicapped and laid out plays for six intriguing Win and You're In qualifiers across a variety of divisions.

There has never before been an effective, institutional advocate for horseplayers in North American racing, but Pat Cummings and the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation have emphatically changed that in the past several years. As the TIF's executive director, Cummings has brought to light many of the myriad issues and injustices facing horse bettors like no one has before, and Tuesday, Cummings joined Bettor Things with Joe Bianca for an illuminating conversation about the progress made on behalf of players in recent years and how much work there still is left to do.

On this week's episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca, the host welcomes Seth Merrow, a public handicapper for the industry-leading Capital OTB channel and administrator of Equidaily, a popular racing news aggregation and handicapping site. Merrow talks about growing up a half-hour from Saratoga and the way he's seen the track change over the years, the challenges of being a public handicapper, the current state of racing journalism and more.

The race is not always to the swift. Pretty old news, by this stage: it's right there in Ecclesiastes and, nearly as long ago now, you could see as much when More Than Ready cut the last corner in the Kentucky Derby. He transparently didn't get home, flattening into fourth behind Fusaichi Pegasus.

Joe Bianca talks to handicapper, owner/breeder and former racetrack executive CJ Johnsen about betting, sports, music and more, then Joe lays out plays for Saratoga's Jockey Club Gold Cup and Flower Bowl, two Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” challenge races.

Barry “The Sniper” Spears, a successful handicapping tournament player, public handicapper, podcast host and influential voice in the world of horse racing Twitter, joined the latest episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca this week for a wide-ranging conversation on topics inside the sport and out. Later in the show, following up a profitable first week of his handicapping segment sponsored by the Breeders' Cup in which he gave out $17.60 Haskell winner Cyberknife (

Michael Beychock, the 2012 National Handicapping Championship winner, has made plenty of headlines this year. A well-known, outspoken horseplayer, Beychok joined the latest episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca this week to talk about his class-action suit against Bob Baffert surrounding the since-vacated 2021 Kentucky Derby victory of Medina Spirit, his vow to move his handle to sports betting in response to drug issues in racing, the approach to tournament play that helped him win the NHC, his day job as a political consultant and more.

Nick Tammaro has been known in public handicapping and tournament circles for nearly a decade now, but he took on what he calls the “biggest professional challenge” of his life earlier this year at his hometown track, Sam Houston Race Park, when he started his first job as a full-time racecaller. He caught up with Joe Bianca on the third episode of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca.

TDN podcast hosts Joe Bianca and Bill Finley break down the 2022 Kentucky Derby from a variety of angles to try to provide clarity and insight for Derby bettors.

Racing reporter Randy Moss joins the second edition of Bettor Things with Joe Bianca.