S8E12: Kentucky Derby 2025 preps & NOLA reaction
Release Date: 01/03/2025
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...
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S8E22: Yes, Virginia, there is a Kentucky Derby prep
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
A new Kentucky Derby 2025 prep, how racing is reacting to tariffs and decoupling and the National Horseplayers Championship are the subjects in the spotlight on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Colonial Downs hosts this weekend’s $500,000 Virginia Derby, a qualifier for the run for the roses May 3. Churchill Downs Inc. vice president of racing Gary Palmisano Jr. talks about the race, the ongoing rise of the sport in Virginia and his family legacy that continues to drive him. From federal tariffs to the proposed decoupling of racing and slot machines at Gulfstream Park, National Thoroughbred...
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S8E21: Proposal for world racing event + Ky. Derby prep
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Seizing on the momentum of eye-catching events the Grade 1 Saudi Cup and the Four Nations hockey tournament, is the timing right for the World Riding Championship of Thoroughbred Racing? The concept catches the spotlight this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Leon Nichols and Calvin Davis, the founders of the Project to Preserve African-American Turf History, return to the podcast in their roles with Bet the World Entertainment. The proposal to bring together an international cast of horses, trainers and riders has received endorsements at the same time as it faces obstacles. Nichols and...
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S8E20: 3 Kentucky Derby preps + 1 rant
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
At least three more spots in the Churchill Downs gate are likely to be decided this weekend with important Kentucky Derby 2025 points races at Gulfstream Park, Aqueduct and Santa Anita. They get the spotlight on this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Racetrack personality Eddie the Hat Wilson checks in from Los Angeles to talk about Barnes’s return to the Derby trail for trainer Bob Baffert in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes. He also discusses the future of racing in California, Baffert’s return to Churchill Downs and an overarching view of the Derby trail. In Florida, trainer Ian...
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S8E19: A day late, but still worth a Rebel yell
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
It may have been postponed a day, but the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn should be worth the wait. With a full field of 14 horses, the virtual win-and-you’re-in qualifier for Kentucky Derby 2025 is the focus this week of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Trainer Lonnie Briley, who never has had a graded-stakes victory, is on the doorstep of that and his first Derby horse with three-time stakes winner Coal Battle. He talks about the colt’s journey and his own from the oil fields of Louisiana to a career with Thoroughbreds. Oaklawn announcer Matt Dinerman discusses the...
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S8E18: Risen Star, East Avenue and Hard Yakka
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The first of the virtual win-and-you’re-in qualifiers for Kentucky Derby 2025 arrives Saturday with the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. That is where the spotlight is focused for this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Trainer Brendan Walsh discusses morning-line favorite East Avenue, who carried two open-lengths victories into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That was where a stumbling start doomed him to finish off the board. Walsh discusses how the 3-year-old Godolphin homebred colt has been doing since his disappointment at Del Mar and how he hopes East...
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S8E17: Kentucky Derby 2025 mock draft
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
With less than three months before the run for the roses, a mock draft for Kentucky Derby 2025 brings together seven handicapping minds for this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Horse Racing Nation hard-core handicapper and fair-odds author Ed DeRosa will be joined by Chip Gehrke, the Doctor Derby curator of weekly division rankings. Five other media horseplayers take part, including Sara Elbadwi from Fox Sports and the New York Racing Association, Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies author Richard Eng from Las Vegas, Churchill Downs analyst and Turfway Park host Kaitlin Free, turf...
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S8E16: Issues, answers, Derby preps & Von Guapo
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Kentucky Derby 2025 points preps at Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita have the floor this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. From California, longtime horse owner and public handicapper Jon Lindo offers his thoughts about north-state racing coming to an end, decoupling proposals in Florida and Virginia and small fields for stakes this weekend at Santa Anita. He also previews the Robert B. Lewis, one of Saturday’s Derby points preps. Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo, who won the Kentucky Derby two years ago with Mage, is back with Ferocious, the favorite to win the Grade 3 Holy Bull,...
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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...
info_outlineFrom 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 at Santa Anita. He also has Journalism, who won last month in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) on the way to being the winter-book favorite in Las Vegas futures for the Derby.
Handicapper Ed DeRosa has analysis and picks for the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct and Smarty Jones at Oaklawn, the two Derby points preps scheduled for Saturday. He also looks at the Turfway Prevue Stakes, which itself might produce a would-be runner for the roses.
John Cherwa is along to help distill listener and reader feedback and discuss some of the goings-on during the holidays.
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.