TDN Podcast | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kentucky State Rep. Adam Koenig Discusses Breakage Bill On Writers’ Room

Breakage, the practice of rounding down bettors' payouts to the nearest 10 or even 20-cent number rather than paying the deserved amount to the penny, has long been a thorn in horseplayers' sides. Kentucky state representative Adam Koenig, an avid horseplayer himself, is trying to do something about it in his state. Wednesday morning, Koenig joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the bill he's sponsoring to eliminate breakage in Kentucky, as well as his proposed sports betting legislation, the successful effort to protect historical horse racing in the Bluegrass and more.

“Breakage laws go so far back that we can't even figure out when they were passed in Kentucky, but there was a time 100 years ago when the only place to go and legally make wagers was the racetrack,” Koenig explained. “The lines were deep and it was something done to make it easier to cash people out. They didn't have computer to figure out how much was being wagered. They were counting the money in the back and figuring out the odds by hand in real time. But obviously those days have come and gone, and it's time for our laws to reflect today's reality. Now we have an opportunity to do something about it, and this is going to be a comprehensive parimutuel wagering modernization bill.”

Koenig added that, especially in Kentucky with skyrocketing purses and the lucrative historical horse racing machines, accurately paying winning horseplayers is a matter of fairness.

“I live five minutes from Turfway,” he said. “Churchill Downs is building a beautiful facility there. They've got multiple facilities in Louisville. They've got a harness track in Hopkinsville. They're making plenty of money on the HHR facilities and I think, certainly on the breakage front, they can stand to help the bettors. We've taken care of the tracks. We've taken care of the breeders and the trainers and the jockeys. We need all of them to make the show run. But we also need bettors to make the show run. And by God, I'm going to take care of the bettors, not just because I am one, but because we need to take care of those folks without whom we don't have an industry.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders and Legacy Bloodstock, Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and special guest co-host Randy Moss of NBC Sports touched on Michael Beychok's decision to stop playing the horses, the beginning of the trials in the doping scandal, the proposed four-race campaign of Flightline (Tapit) and more. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Beem Talks Racecalling, Anxiety, on Writers’ Room

Jason Beem was just 23 years old when he had his first panic attack, but remembers it in excruciating detail to this day. “I was in law school at Gonzaga University. I was in constitutional law class and I didn't know what it was and walked out of class and freaked out in the hallway.” That episode was the beginning of over a decade-and-a-half struggle with anxiety and depression that caused him to leave racing for a period, and be hospitalized several times. The popular racecaller and podcast host talks openly about mental health on the TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland, with hosts Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green, as the Green Group Guest of the Week.

He said that at times, the depression was so bad that he would have to lie down on an air mattress in the announcer's booth at River Downs because the effort to stay upright was too overwhelming. “My second year at River Downs, I really struggled,” he said. “And that was like the first time I had ever had a real depression and I didn't know what it was. I was in line at Chipotle one day, just crying and I didn't know why. And so I hadn't done a lot of therapy up until then, and so I started doing that and kind of learned what I was dealing with and also that it wasn't uncommon. I think that for me was one of the biggest helps early on was realizing that mental health issues are things that a lot of people struggle with.”

Currently the announcer at Tampa Bay Downs, he talks about being out of racing for a year and half and working as an Uber driver when BetAmerica saw his “Beemie Awards” on Twitter and reached out to see if he was interested in doing something with them. “I said I would love to do a daily podcast,” he recalled. “And that was that was literally like Christmas and we were up and going two weeks later. It really kind of came together pretty fast and, you know, just kind of took the model from what a lot of podcasts were doing; 20 minutes of chat, 25 minutes of interview and then you were out. And we've been really fortunate.”

In other segments on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horse Breeders, West Point Thoroughbreds, Legacy Bloodstock and XBTV, the writers discuss the news of the week, including: the ongoing story of California veterinarian Jeff Blea, the 2021 handle figures and how much of that could be from computer bettors, and the continuing legal battles between Bob Baffert and Churchill Downs.

Watch the video version of the podcast here.

Listen to the audio version here, or on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

The post Beem Talks Racecalling, Anxiety, on Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Flavien Prat Talks Flightline, SoCal Dominance On Writers’ Room

Saturday at Santa Anita, Flavien Prat, the perennial leading rider in California, racked up six wins and didn't finish worse than second on any of the day's mounts. It was the third time in the past year that Prat has won a half-dozen races at the Arcadia oval; in the previous 30 years, it only happened twice altogether. With that backdrop, Prat joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his star turn since coming over from his native France, what it feels like to ride superstar Flightline (Tapit), whether he would consider a move to riding in New York and more.

“He's just a great, great animal,” Prat said of scintillating runaway GI Runhappy Malibu S. winner Flightline. “Really athletic, powerful, he has about everything you want in a runner. It seems like he has stamina as well. It's a pleasure to ride him. I try to enjoy every moment. You never know what the future could bring for him. The sky's the limit.”

Asked if it feels like he's going faster aboard Flightline than other horses, Prat said it's actually the opposite, “because it's like driving a car. When you're driving a good car and you're on the freeway going 80 miles an hour, it feels like you're going slow, right? With good horses, it's pretty much the same because it's so effortless.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Hill 'n' Dale, Three Chimneys, Lane's End, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reacted to the news of USADA not reaching a deal with to handle drug policy and enforcement for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, bid a not so pleasant farewell to Jorge Navarro and debated where Flightline stacks up with the great talents of the past 50 years. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The post Flavien Prat Talks Flightline, SoCal Dominance On Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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New NTRA President, CEO Tom Rooney Joins Writers’ Room

It's a hell of a time in racing to become the new head of one of the sport's foremost national organizations, but new National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Tom Rooney says he's ready for the challenge. Wednesday morning, the former U.S. congressman joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland's final show of 2021 as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss what the NTRA's top priorities will be under his stewardship, how his previous experience on the Hill can benefit the industry, what he thinks the NTRA's role should be in racing's ongoing public relations battle and much more.

“One of the things I think the board of directors wanted when they brought me on was to really sharpen our focus in Washington, D.C.,” Rooney said. “So much so that we're going to be opening an office there to make sure that I'm back in front of my old colleagues on a daily basis to make sure they don't forget about this issue or that issue. Specifically, the big issues that we deal with are the tax code, immigration–H-2A and H-2B visas for both at the farms and at the track–those are hugely important issues for keeping the trains running on time. And one of the things that I'm very excited about and looking forward to working on very closely is sports betting as it becomes more and more legalized across the United States and includes more sports. We used to be the only game in town when it came to legalized gambling, but now horse racing is separate from the other sports you might find on DraftKings or FanDuel, so if my son, who's in college, is putting a $20 bet on the 76ers and the Packers and wants to boost with a bet on the Breeders' Cup Classic, he can't necessarily do that because of the way everything is set up. We have to make sure–and I'm not sure this is a legislative fix yet–to be in that ballgame if we want to have a new generation of horseplayers. I think I would be neglectful in my job if I wasn't making sure that the one sport that was legal [to bet on] all along continues to be at least part of that game going forward, so I'm going to be working hard on that.”

Asked what he thinks the NTRA's role will be in trying to win the narrative in the court of public opinion when catastrophe strikes, as it so often has recently, Rooney said, “I think it's going to be absolutely huge. Publications and media outlets look for a response from somebody, and we just hired a new communications director who is going to be starting this month, and we are hopefully going to be one of the go-to voices in response to [crises]. For all those people who get up at God knows what hour every day and go down to the racetrack or the farm barn or cover this stuff like you do and want the sport to be successful and something we can be proud of, I think they're sick of being lumped in with this idea that we're all a bunch of cheaters who are drugging horses and don't really care about them and are just using them for our personal benefit. I just don't believe that, and I'm looking forward to being the voice to push back against that. Now, if something went wrong, there also has to be accountability on our side, which is a good thing. [Calfiornia] Senator [Dianne] Feinstein wrote a letter saying she wants transparency and thoroughness in the process [of investigating Medina Spirit's death]. Great. We agree. We want that too. One of the first things I learned in Congress was that you cannot let an accusation that harms you or your constituency go [unanswered], because if you do, it's almost an admission that what they're saying is right. You have to respond. And sometimes the response is tough love. But I think it's incumbent upon groups like the NTRA to make sure that the public has the other side of the story.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, Lane's End, Three Chimneys, Hill 'n' Dale and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers discussed the impending sentencing of the Jorge Navarro and, in their year-in-review segments, picked their favorite races and biggest stories of 2021 as well as what horses they're most looking forward to seeing in 2022. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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