S8E6: Oscar Gonzales: From groom to Calif. Horse Racing Board
Release Date: 11/22/2024
S8E32: Preakness pop-up with hard-core handicappers
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From Pimlico in Baltimore, deep analysis of every horse in Preakness 2025 is ready to hear now from the hard-core handicappers in their latest pop-up episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Horse Racing Nation handicappers Mark Midland and Ed DeRosa are joined by DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello. They go through the entire field from 1 to 9, including morning-line favorite and Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism. How will they play Journalism, and how short is too short to bet him to win or even in exotics? Will the social-media popularity of Sandman skew his odds? How about...
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S8E31: Taking lessons from Derby to Preakness
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Lessons learned from the Kentucky Derby are applied to Preakness 2025 on this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. A familiar voice in the tri-state area, Mike Francesa talks about his successful exacta play pairing Sovereignty and Journalism last week in the Derby. He also talks about his relationship as a horse owner with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and the decision to leave Sovereignty out of the Preakness. He even has some thoughts about the election of Pope Leo XIV. The nation’s leading workout analyst Bruno De Julio reviews some of the clues he saw in the morning that he applied to...
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S8E30: A Kentucky Derby cast of thousands, or 13
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From Churchill Downs, a big lineup of guests discusses Kentucky Derby 2025 on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. FanDuel TV’s Caton Bredar, who lives in Louisville, Ky., tees up the show with her overarching view of the Derby and some of the horses she is looking at for her tickets. Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners talks about Derby favorite Journalism. He also discusses 4-year-old Locked, who will take on Fierceness on Friday in the Grade 1 Alysheba Stakes. Wayne Lukas trains American Promise, the Virginia Derby winner, for new owners John Bellinger of Texas and Brian Coelho of...
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S8E29: Pop-up with Kentucky Derby hard-core handicappers
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Deep analysis of every horse in Kentucky Derby 2025 is ready to hear now with the hard-core handicappers pop-up episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Horse Racing Nation handicappers Ed DeRosa and Mark Midland and DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello in Las Vegas go through the entire field from the favorite Journalism to the longest of long shots. They evaluate every horse from 1 to 20 plus no. 21 Baeza, who could add to the four also-eligibles who have shown up in the superfecta since the Derby points era began 12 years ago. How will they play the favorite Journalism? Will Sovereign...
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S8E28: You are listening live to 2 HofF’ers
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Two Hall of Famers and a successful handicapper line up to preview Kentucky Derby 2025 this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Six-time Derby winner Bob Baffert discusses his Grade 2 Wood Memorial winner Rodríguez, 2024 champion juvenile male Citizen Bull and his return to Churchill Downs with a lineup of horses for more than just the Derby. Brent Musburger, who was just announced as the Pete Rozelle Award winner by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, talks about some of his memorable visits to the Derby as well as his handicapping thoughts for next Saturday. Super Screener creator Mike...
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S8E27: Kentucky Derby talk with Cox, Hazelton and Midland
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby 2025 talk intensifies on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox discusses Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Tappan Street and Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) victor Final Gambit, his two horses for the Derby. He also talks about undefeated Good Cheer, who will be the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). FanDuel TV’s Scott Hazelton offers his early thoughts on handicapping the Derby, especially the horses he has watched in the flesh as well as Luxor Café and Admire Daytona, the two colts from Japan who he will be seeing for the...
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S8E26: Look who's back: Zipse with Casse, DeRosa and Derby talk
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Three weeks before Kentucky Derby 2025, America’s biggest race dominates the discussion on this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Brian Zipse, the longtime co-host of HorseCenter, makes his first appearance since he was sidelined with severe hearing loss. Thanks to technology, he is able to field questions about the Derby, his trip Saturday to see Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn and how he has been doing. U.S. and Canada hall of famer Mark Casse talks about the horses he is training in the Derby and the Kentucky Oaks (G1), namely Arkansas Derby (G1) victor...
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S8E25: Dutrow, Jaime and Shutty & 3 Kentucky Derby preps
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
With only four weeks left until Kentucky Derby 2025, the last three major qualifying preps have the attention of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow discusses Captain Cook, one of the top contenders in what is expected to be a wet running Saturday of the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Dutrow talks about whether the weather will benefit his colt and how the race will be run. He also talks about the two years he has been back in racing after his 10-year suspension ended. FanDuel TV analyst Joaquin Jaime looks at the overall Kentucky Derby picture,...
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S8E24: Fla. & Ark. derbies + a tribute to Bryce Miller
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Handicapping of Kentucky Derby 2025 qualifiers this weekend and a tribute to the late San Diego columnist Bryce Miller take center stage on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Del Mar president Joe Harper offers a tribute to Miller, whose turf writing took him from the seaside track to Triple Crown races to Breeders’ Cups. Colleagues reminisce about a newspaper career that took Miller from his native Iowa to USA Today to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Former sports editor Jay Posner and podcast co-host and Los Angeles Times contributor John Cherwa share stories about their working with Miller. ...
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S8E23: Big Kentucky Derby preps and, sigh, Florida
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
On the track, off the track and at the window. They are the three stages for this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. The biggest preps for Kentucky Derby 2025 begin Saturday. Reigning champion jockey Flavien Prat has the ride on John Hancock, the undefeated colt who is the morning-line favorite for the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Prat discusses that race and his assignment on Eclipse Award winner Sierra Leone in the New Orleans Classic (G2). This week’s vote in a legislative committee to advance the potential decoupling of Gulfstream Park’s racing and slot-machine licenses is discussed by...
info_outlineIn 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 of California.
A former assistant secretary of agriculture under President Joe Biden, Gonzales is a lifelong Democrat who also served on the department’s staff in the Obama administration. His career in politics came after he worked at racetracks and farms around California. “Once a groom,” he said, “always a groom.”
Gonzales talks about the horses he has laid his hands on, the ones that grew his love for the game.
Last week, retiring Kentucky state senator Damon Thayer, a Republican from Georgetown, was 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.