Friday Show | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Giving Horses And People A Second Chance

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is our industry's oldest charitable organization devoted to aftercare, launched in 1982 by Monique Koehler and providing sanctuary or second careers to thousands of horses in the decades that followed.

Aftercare has grown significantly since the TRF's founding, in the number of organizations that provide opportunities for retired Thoroughbreds and in awareness among many in the industry that it is simply the right thing to do,

TRF's Kim Weir joins publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth in this week's edition of the Friday Show to talk about the TRF's Second Chances program that teams ex-racehorses with incarcerated men and women as part of a rehabilitation and vocational effort to get those individuals prepared for life outside of prison.

Weir is especially excited about an upcoming Horse Show on Oct. 21 that will be streamed live to showcase some of those inmates and the horses they care for. Go to www.trfinc.org for details.

Hackbarth had the opportunity recently to see real-world results of the program, writing about former Blackburn Correctional inmate Josh Ison, now working at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. (Read the story here.) “The TRF Second Chances program at Blackburn taught me patience with horses, and people,” Ison said.

Paulick and Hackbarth review Woodbine Star of the Week God of Love, Mark Casse's third consecutive Cup and Saucer Stakes winner. The 2-year-old colt is the 99th stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbreds, a partnership that had its first runner 10 years to the day before the Oct. 10 Cup and Saucer.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:

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The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Casse Bullish On Synthetics

“Horses were not bred to run on the dirt,” said trainer Mark Casse. “They were bred to run on the grass, and Tapeta is as close to grass as you can get.”

Casse – inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame this year after a 2016 induction in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame – is this week's special guest on the Friday Show, joining Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills to share his extensive knowledge and strong opinions about track surfaces. This week, Gulfstream Park in South Florida became the first facility in North America to have three unique racing surfaces: dirt, turf and the Tapeta Footings synthetic track.

Other tracks could follow suit, Casse said. “I think New York may be flirting with synthetic tracks somewhere down the line,” he said. “And I think it would be great and I think it would pay for itself in no time.”

What about the anecdotal contention by some horsemen suggesting that, while synthetics may result in fewer fractures or fatal injuries, more soft-tissue problems develop on a synthetic track?

“That is the biggest bunch of hogwash that I've ever heard,” said Casse. “That's the most ridiculous statement. I can tell you we have far more soft tissue injuries on dirt than we ever do on synthetics. That's somebody saying things and they don't know what they're talking about. Whenever I hear that I just laugh.”

Casse also brings viewers up to date on some of his stable stars, including two-time Grade 1 Fourstardave Stakes winner Got Stormy.

This week's Woodbine Star of the Week is Pink Lloyd, the Canadian sprint superstar who scored his 24th career stakes win last week in the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:

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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Talking Thoroughbred Makeover

Just as there are “baby” races at the track, off-track Thoroughbreds have their own kind of competition restricted to newcomers — the Thoroughbred Makeover, scheduled for Oct. 12-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington, Ky.

The event, offering $100,000 in prize money and consisting of 10 different disciplines, brings together Thoroughbreds that are in their first year transitioning from the racetrack to a second career.

Jonathan Horowitz, who calls the races at Colorado's Arapahoe Park, has been the announcer at the Thoroughbred Makeover since 2015. Since January 2020, he's been documenting his new avocation in a series of articles at the Paulick Report, “Horowitz On OTTBs,” highlighting the challenges and triumphs that come with working with off-track Thoroughbreds.

“I appreciate that it's not easy to do,” said Horowitz, who joins publisher Ray Paulick and editor in chief Natalie Voss on this week's Friday Show. “I appreciate that when you get it, it's one of the most rewarding feelings. It's a sport where … imagine if you're a basketball player and the basketball had a mind of its own.”

While Horowitz will not be competing at this year's Thoroughbred Makeover, Voss will be in the dressage ring at the Horse Park with her off-track Thoroughbred, Underscore (fondly known as Blueberry around the barn). She's a tireless advocate for giving ex-racehorses the best chance possible for a second career that can be just as rewarding for the horse as a trip to the winner's circle.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Kenny McPeek On Swiss Skydiver

Kenny McPeek admits he's not the most conventional trainer in America. Peter Callahan's multiple Grade 1 winner Swiss Skydiver, who McPeek is sending out against colts for the third time on Saturday in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs. N.Y., is Exhibit A.

“European racing they don't think twice about doing this. In Australia they don't think anything about it,” McPeek said. “American racing tends to 'stay in your lane,' per se. You're not supposed to get out of your lane. Well, I'm not always that. I've been known to do things differently anyways, so what the heck.”

McPeek joins Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills to talk about the Eclipse Award-winning filly's career and how he decided to run her in the Whitney. He also reveals how he approaches the yearling sales with a limited budget and manages to find some of the hidden gems that have led to his career 100 graded stakes wins.

Paulick and Nevills also review the Woodbine Star of the Week, Munnyfor Ro, winner of the Woodbine Oaks, who poses a serious challenge for the Queen's Plate, a race that fillies have performed very well in over the last 20 years.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

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