The Ron Flatter Racing Pod

Who are some of the movers and shakers in racing whose names might be known to fans and horseplayers, but their work might have been taken for granted? Two politicians who are friends of racing are featured this week and next on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Retiring Kentucky state senate floor majority leader Damon Thayer, a Republican from Georgetown, has been considered on both sides of the aisle a friend and advocate of racing. He has been a guiding prod for tax breaks and other financial incentives to promote breeding and ownership in his home state, the spread of historic horse-racing machines that have stoked race purses as well as the advent of penny-breakage reform that has put money back in the pockets of horseplayers.

This episode goes beyond a listing of Thayer’s accomplishments in his 22 years since there is plenty of talk about racing memories that turned him into such a fan of the sport.

Next week, California Horse Racing Board member Oscar Gonzales, a Democrat from Rosemead, will be featured.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

The annual Breeders’ Cup hangover episode featuring a stream-of-consciousness or unconsciousness review of the 14 championships comes to pass this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Co-host John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times joins Flatter to go over each race in the hours after Breeders’ Cup wrapped up at Del Mar. Of course this is done over a couple glasses of wine, perhaps explaining how many times the two of them use the phrases “good guy” and “great guy.”

This episode includes discussions about the likelihood of Thorpedo Anna being horse of the year and a debate over whether $7 million Classic winner Sierra Leone rose to the level of top 3-year-old male of 2024. The usual domination of Europe horses in turf races is fodder for conversation, and so are the disappointing results for Japan horses as well as City Of Troy in the Classic. The emergence of some new faces among the winning trainers brings to mind all the good and great men and women whom Cherwa and Flatter reference, inspiring what could be a whole new drinking game.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

Not quite a thousand stars, but that is the aim from Del Mar for the latest Breeders’ Cup episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

FanDuel TV’s Mike Joyce leads off to discuss what he has learned this week hosting breakfast shows during training for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. He offers some analysis of finer points for the championship tests.

A cavalcade of trainers comes next with D. Wayne Lukas discussing Seize the Grey in the Dirt Mile, assistant Justin Atkins outlines the reasons dirt stayer Next was aimed for the Classic and not the Turf, Brad Cox looks back on the career of Idiomatic and forward to his four horses who will race Friday and Saturday, and Todd Pletcher gets into specifics about Fierceness in his bid to win the $7 million Classic.

Australia sports and entertainment reporter Brad Blanks, who is based in New York, offers his viewpoint as a horseplayer and man about town on this week’s social and racing scene.

Paddock Prince handicapper David Levitch has an emphasis on the Classic and says which two horses he is leaning toward in his betting.

Co-host John Cherwa helps distill the feedback on last week’s column about potential future sites for the Breeders’ Cup.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

For the eighth year in a row, the Breeders’ Cup is featured on a hard-core handicappers episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

The show is anchored from the press box at Del Mar, where cool weather is forecast for the championship cards Friday and Saturday. Each of the 14 races will be analyzed in depth by a panel of three expert handicappers.

Mark Midland and Ed DeRosa provide their expertise from Horse Racing Nation’s home in Louisville, Ky. DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello offers his tips from the office of DK Horse in Las Vegas.

The panel will take turns offering individual views on the five races Friday and nine Saturday with a discussion between them when the debate warrants. They also will have tips on each of the championships as well as a summation of their best bets at the end of the episode.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Google and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

Breeders’ Cup handicapping, a controversial column and even the presidential election are the topics on this week’s seventh-anniversary episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Steve Kornacki from NBC Sports and NBC News is not only providing  analysis from his big board for the championships next week, but he also discusses his day job that has him absorbed in the Nov. 4 election. Battleground states and battleground horse races get the once over, especially his thoughts about Thorpedo Anna vs. Idiomatic in the Distaff.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen offers insights about his five Breeders’ Cup entrants, including Turf Sprint standout Cogburn and how he will do against leading Europe contender Bradsell.

Super Screener creator Mike Shutty not only handicaps Saturday’s Mother Goose Stakes at Aqueduct, he has some angles he will be pursuing next Friday and Saturday when the two big days will unfold at Del Mar.

Feedback is about the column last Friday calling out over-the-line criticism of jockey Luan Machado’s finish line mistake last week at Keeneland and the idea that it could be the start of a more troublesome trend that has mushroomed in sports gambling.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

Breeders’ Cup renewals past and future and the richest turf race in the world are the main topics this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

TV’s Amy Zimmerman and photographer Skip Dickstein are among the very few people who have been to every Breeders’ Cup since the championships began in 1984. They reminisce about the inaugural running at Hollywood Park and some of their experiences since, including how their streaks were not interrupted by COVID in 2020.

The Everest, a Group 1 sprint worth US$13 million, will be run late night Friday into Saturday morning U.S. time at Royal Randwick in Sydney. Bella Nipotina is one of the top contenders in the race. She is owned by partners led by her breeder Michael Christian. Also a media personality and Australian-rules football executive, he discusses the race and why it has been able to prosper using the template established by the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1).

Horse Racing Nation handicapper Ed DeRosa takes an early snapshot of next month’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar and also handicaps weekend graded stakes at Keeneland and Woodbine.

Listener and reader feedback is focused on last week’s column about why City Of Troy will not win the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

The Breeders’ Cup is only three weeks away, and it is the focus of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

With City Of Troy, Forever Young, Ushba Tesoro and Derma Sotogake being flown to Del Mar to challenge the top U.S. horses in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, how might they fare? NBC Sports’ Nick Luck checks in from England to offer a scouting report on those horses as well as other international contenders for the other championship races Nov. 1 and 2.

She Feels Pretty got to the Breeders’ Cup last year. This weekend she is the morning-line favorite for the Grade 1, $750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on the turf at Keeneland. Her trainer Cherie DeVaux offers her thoughts about the race and her possibilities to race at Del Mar next month.

With weekend racing in his sights, Horse Racing Nation handicapper Ed DeRosa offers his tips for the QEII Cup as well as the Sands Point (G2) at Belmont at the Big A and the Breeders’ Classic for West Virginia-bred 2-year-old fillies at Charles Town.

Listener feedback about Mike Repole’s latest call for racing reform will be sampled with guest co-host Louie Rabaut.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

The last 15 U.S. qualifiers for the Breeders’ Cup will be run before the weekend is over, and they are the focus this week as the Ron Flatter Racing Pod originates from Keeneland.

Track executive and hall-of-fame horseplayer Jim Goodman offers a snapshot of Grade 1 races including the Breeders’ Futurity, the Turf Mile and the Spinster. He also offers an overarching view of the win-and-you’re-in races at Keeneland, Belmont at Aqueduct and Santa Anita.

Trainer Gustavo Delgado, who won the Kentucky Derby last year with Mage, discusses Ferocious, the morning-line favorite for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity on Saturday at Keeneland.

Paddock Prince handicapper David Levitch will have tips on part of the big menu this weekend, including three graded stakes at Keeneland and two at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet.

John Cherwa joins in to field listener and reader feedback about last week’s small fields for big races.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

The inaugural California Crown day at Santa Anita on Saturday is the focus of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

XBTV’s Zoe Cadman checks in from California to preview the Grade 1, $1 million race, which features Bob Baffert-trained Muth and National Treasure. She also discusses some of the highlights on the undercard as well as some Breeders’ Cup possibilities who will be competing for trophies at Del Mar in just five weeks.

Trainer Todd Fincher has Señor Buscador in the California Crown. He talks about the run his horse has had for owner Joe Peacock, including his victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) and how he has brought the 6-year-old back from that trip to the Middle East.

Super Screener creator Mike Shutty, who is based in California, offers his handicapping insights on the California Crown plus three other stakes at Santa Anita, Belmont at Aqueduct and Churchill Downs. He also clues us in on a social-media influencer in his family.

John Cherwa joins in to sample listener and reader feedback on this upcoming stakes weekend as well as last week’s column that praised the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority for its role in exposing the wrongdoing of a testing laboratory at the University of Kentucky.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Xpressbet, host of the inaugural California Crown Betting Championship on Saturday. For details on how to enter, go to xpressbet.com/tournaments.

The Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion Stakes are the last Grade 1 chances for 3-year-old dirt routers to compete in their own divisions. With Thorpedo Anna among them, they will race for $1 million in each of those races Saturday at Parx. That is the focus of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Track announcer and sometimes handicapper Jessica Paquette provides local insight into what could be a wide-open running of the Penn Derby featuring red hot Dragoon Guard, Santa Anita Derby (G1) victor Stronghold and Preakness winner Seize the Grey. She also will discuss Thorpedo Anna in the Cotillion and staying phenom Next in the 1 1/2-mile Greenwood Cup (G3). There also may be some talk about human marathons.

Trainer Phil D’Amato talks about Stronghold, who was a troubled second to Dragoon Guard last out in the Indiana Derby (G3). He also has an update on his undefeated filly Iscreamuscream.

Horse Racing Nation handicapper Mark Midland weighs in with betting advice for four stakes on the Penn Derby card, including the two Grade 1s. John Cherwa discusses the disgraced University of Kentucky testing laboratory and helps distill the feedback about last week’s interview with Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen.

One never knows, too, what may play after the closing credits, especially since Cherwa had a hard time believing what costs 73 cents.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Xpressbet, host of the inaugural California Crown Betting Championship next Saturday. For details on how to enter, go to xpressbet.com/tournaments.