S9E24: Long and short of Triple Crown
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Two Grade 1 points preps for Kentucky Derby 2026 and a long-range view of the Triple Crown are on offer this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. The $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn and the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park will send their winners and probably their second-place finishers to run for the roses May 2. Gustavo Delgado Jr., a co-owner and assistant trainer of The Puma, talks about his colt’s chances in the Florida Derby and his return to the trail that got Mage into the winner’s circle three years ago at Churchill Downs. Handicapper David Levitch analyzes...
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S9E23: Baffert splits, DeVaux preps
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The news of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s decision to split his deep stable between two states is a dominant topic this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Co-hosts John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times and Keith Nelson of Fairmount Park discuss the news that Baffert will have a string of horses during the entire spring meet at Churchill Downs. It will have repercussions in California, where Santa Anita scrambles to fill cards three days a week without an auxiliary gambling source of added revenue. Readers’ feedback about Baffert also is on this episode. The Grade 2 Louisiana...
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S9E22: Live again, sort of, from Las Vegas
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
From the National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas, past winners discuss present issues for the sport on the first live-ish episode since January of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. David Harrison, Mike Gillum and defending victor Dan Piazza, three of the last four NHC winners, gather in a roundtable to talk about the secrets to their successes. They also weigh tournaments against everyday play in racing and the impact of computer-assisted wagering on their handicapping. Back at the track, trainer Will Walden discusses maiden winner High Camp, who tries to extend his one-turn acumen...
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S9E21: With a Y and an f-stop
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Two media professionals who have chronicled their love of the Thoroughbred game are featured this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Tommy Smyth with a Y, who has been a longtime sports personality in New York, discusses his ongoing trips to tracks both in the U.S. and his native Ireland. Smyth voices his concerns about computer bettors and how they have impacted his playing. He also advocates for fixed-odds wagering to be lined up alongside pari-mutuels. Alex Evers, one of racing’s top photographers, talks about his frequent trips overseas to shoot races, especially in Hong Kong. He...
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S9E20: Legendary turf writer Andrew Beyer
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Andrew Beyer is the most important pioneer of analytics in horse racing. The legendary turf writer and the creator of Beyer Speed Figures is the featured guest this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Beyer talks about why he made the decision to take his closely guarded formulas and figures that gave him a player’s advantage and sell them for public use. He also discusses how his speed figures are best used and perhaps misapplied in modern-day racing. The conversation also turns to how his figures have changed over the years, how they have inspired more analytics and the impact of...
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S9E19: Buglers’ call to post
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
They are as much a part of racing as the horses and the bettors. Buglers have been a track tradition for more than 140 years. Four of the best-known convene for an episode full of stories and laughs on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Retired New York Racing Association bugler Sam Grossman, Santa Anita’s Jay Cohen, Kentucky’s Steve Buttleman and former Arlington Park fixture Monica Benson compare notes about their craft, their other gigs and even some stories of betting on horses. Their challenges of playing in bad weather and trying conditions are combined in this episode with the...
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S9E18: Racing celebrates Black History Month
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Former NBA player and coach Avery Johnson has been a horse owner and continues to be a racing ambassador. Terry West was a trail-blazing jockey who holds a seat on the Maryland Racing Commission. In celebration of Black History Month, both Johnson and West are featured this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Johnson talks about growing up in New Orleans and what he learned from his father on their weekend trips to Fair Grounds. He also discusses his role as an ambassador for the Breeders’ Cup and racing’s need for central leadership. West recounts her lifelong love of horses and how...
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S9E17: Reunion of racing media alumni
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
Familiar names one day are gone the next. It long has been a reality of the ever-transient nature of media work. Four people who had memorable horse-racing chapters in their careers are reunited this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. Former TV analysts Candice Hare, Joanne Jones, Rich Perloff and Jason Portuondo exchange stories of their days covering racing, including highlights they would put on their sizzle reels and those unintended moments in live reporting that turn into funny memories. They also talk about where they are now and how they got there. Hare is a TV news reporter at...
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S9E16: Kentucky Derby 2026 mock draft
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
With a little more than three months before the run for the roses, a mock draft for Kentucky Derby 2026 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 who won last year’s draft by picking Sovereignty in the second round. Five others take part, including Churchill Downs analyst and Turfway Park host Kaitlin Benson, 2012 National Horseplayers Championship winner Michael Beychok, Betting on Horse Racing...
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S9E15 Pegasus flies again
The Ron Flatter Racing Pod
The Pegasus World Cup Invitational has evolved from a bold experiment to a decade-long fixture on the South Florida racing scene. The 10th running Saturday is the focus of this week’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. FanDuel TV’s Christina Blacker checks in from Gulfstream Park to set the scene for the Grade 1, $3 million race that serves as both a punctuation mark on the preceding season and a springboard to the coming year. Hall of Fame jockey John Velázquez rides Captain Cook in the Pegasus from post 9. He talks about the statistical perception that it is difficult to win a 1 1/8-mile...
info_outlineFamiliar names one day are gone the next. It long has been a reality of the ever-transient nature of media work. Four people who had memorable horse-racing chapters in their careers are reunited this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
Former TV analysts Candice Hare, Joanne Jones, Rich Perloff and Jason Portuondo exchange stories of their days covering racing, including highlights they would put on their sizzle reels and those unintended moments in live reporting that turn into funny memories.
They also talk about where they are now and how they got there. Hare is a TV news reporter at WKYC in Cleveland, Jones started a family in Los Angeles and is returning to the sport, Perloff is also in Los Angeles and has returned to his theater roots, and Portuondo is a steward based in suburban Toronto.
Co-hosts John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times and Keith Nelson of Fairmount Park discuss the big sports events this month, including their predictions for Super Bowl LX.
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.