S8E15: Pegasus, Eclipse, Dasha ... and Rufus
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the multimillion-dollar stakes card that supports it Saturday at Gulfstream Park are front and center this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. XBTV racing analyst Zoe Cadman will be in Florida this weekend. She provides snapshots of the Grade 1, $3 million feature, including thoughts about post-time favorite Locked being drawn wide for the 1 1/8-mile race. She also has some ideas about the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) and some value plays who otherwise might get lost in the glare of the bigger races. Saffie Joseph Jr., the...
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S8E14: Kentucky Derby prep at Fair Grounds + Florida future
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The immediate present on the road to Kentucky Derby 2025 and the long-term future of horse racing are front and center this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. FanDuel TV’s Andie Biancone discusses the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, a next-level points prep for the Derby. She offers her prediction about the pace of the race and her top pick to win. She also gets into the recent trend of Fair Grounds stakes playing a vital role in shaping the results of recent runnings of the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Wayne Catalano gets into specifics about Built, his colt who is favored in the Lecomte despite...
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S8E13: How to bet Kentucky Derby futures
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Inside of four months before Kentucky Derby 2025, what are the dos and don’ts of futures betting on America’s biggest race? A panel with plenty of experience making and taking those wagers is front and center this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Michael Beychok won the 2012 National Horseplayers Championship, and Jody McDonald is a host on Infinity Sports Network, WFAN in New York and WIP in Philadelphia. Both have had their successes and failures with long-range handicapping of the Derby, and they share those tales. Based in Las Vegas, Paul Zilm wrote futures odds for five years...
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S8E12: Kentucky Derby 2025 preps & NOLA reaction
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From Kentucky Derby 2025 points preps to other weekend stakes to Fair Grounds moving forward after the New Orleans terror attack. All these topics are discussed this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. New Orleans-based trainer Neil Pessin discusses the racing community’s reaction to the Bourbon Street tragedy and his thoughts about Fair Grounds proceeding with its New Year’s Day program. Trainer Michael McCarthy talks about two potential Derby horses. His undefeated colt Bullard races Saturday against Bob Baffert’s $3.2 million debut winner Barnes in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes...
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S8E11: 2004 racing year in review with Bredar, Cherwa, Paquette
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From Thorpedo Anna’s charismatic campaign to Mystik Dan’s unlikely Kentucky Derby victory to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s return to Churchill Downs. The racing year 2024 is reviewed by a media panel on this episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Racing analyst Caton Bredar of FanDuel TV, track announcer Jessica Paquette of Parx Racing and turf writer John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times go over the top stories, memories and personalities of the year. The panel has its opinions about the horse of the year between Thorpedo Anna and Fierceness as well as the top 3-year-old male...
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S8E10: Hold all presents: a holiday with Collmus, Allen, Nelson
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The eighth annual holiday episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even Festivus with three racetrack announcers. Larry Collmus, the longtime voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup on NBC, checks in on the heels of his assignment as the autumn announcer at Del Mar as well as his year-round appearances as a racing analyst on FanDuel TV. Paul Allen not only discusses his work at Canterbury Park but also some of his experiences as the play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Vikings, a job that won him praise as a “national treasure” from none...
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S8E9: Snake, Eoin, Prince, Bidwell & Waskesiu
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
A football star-turned-horse owner, a trainer having a renaissance in Kentucky Derby preps, a Pick 5 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and the botched pronunciation of a horse are topics on the table for this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Former Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme talks about his love of the game, and that would be Thoroughbred racing. He discusses a little football and his 12 years as a stable owner but also the two horses he has running this weekend on Louisiana Champions day. Touchuponastar and Mangum could be returning with Delhomme to a familiar place for all of them,...
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S8E8: Light up a robust, flavorful Cigar Mile
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Four Grade 1 winners. Five millionaires. One big race. This weekend’s Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct is punching above the weight of a December race, and it is the feature of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Fox Sports and New York Racing Association racing analyst Richard Migliore will discuss the build-up to the race and how it came up so big. He also will talk about the other graded stakes on Saturday’s card, including the Remsen Stakes (G2), a Kentucky Derby prep that last year produced championship contenders Dornoch and Sierra Leone. Trainer Rodolphe Brisset, who will...
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S8E7: Guess who’s coming to Churchill Downs
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The long Thanksgiving holiday brings the traditional changing of the Thoroughbred seasons in Kentucky, and that is the focus of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod from Churchill Downs. TV analyst Kaitlin Free provides insight into the Clark Stakes and the Kentucky Jockey Club as well as her overarching thoughts on the fall meet that ends this weekend. She also offers some handicapping thoughts about the Turfway Park synthetic-track season that starts next week. Horse Racing Nation handicapper Mark Midland has tips for the Clark, the Mrs. Revere, the Kentucky Jockey Club and the Golden...
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S8E6: Oscar Gonzales: From groom to Calif. Horse Racing Board
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
In the second of two episodes featuring politicians who are friends of racing, California Horse Racing Board vice chairman Oscar Gonzales is the guest this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. As the leading proponent to protect racing in Northern California, Gonzales has helped in the launch of the Golden State Racing meet this fall at Pleasanton, the track that is filling the void after the closing of Golden Gate Fields five months ago. He discusses the challenges the meet faces and why he is optimistic that it and the rest of the state can succeed with concurrent calendars in both halves...
info_outlineCovering someone racing at Saratoga and someone who covers horse racing from the site of the Paris Olympics. They are part of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
Jockey Jaime Torres talks about his ride Saturday on Preakness winner Seize the Grey in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. He talks about having to go against Sierra Leone and Fierceness in a race that could shape next month’s Travers (G1). He also tells the story of a personal rivalry with a long shot in the Jim Dandy field as well as the ambitions that could have had him in France right now.
Turf writer Scott Burton of Racing Post has been based for 17 years in Paris, where he will get to treat the Olympics as a home game. He talks about some of the experiences he already has had dealing with the games being in his back yard. He also has some tips for the King George (G1) on Saturday at Ascot, England.
Horse Racing Nation handicapper Mark Midland will handicap weekend races, and John Cherwa helps Ron sift through feedback about last week’s interview with Mike Repole and the end of Bob Baffert’s three-year suspension by Churchill Downs.
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.