TDN Writers' Room Podcast | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kentucky Downs VP Of Racing Ted Nicholson Joins TDN Writers’ Room

It's the meet that keeps getting bigger, richer and better every year. During the seven days of racing that makes up the Kentucky Downs meet, there will be 11 stakes races worth at least $1 million and it looks like the all-turf establishment is on track to set another handle record. How has Kentucky Downs done it? Ted Nicholson, the track's vice president of racing joined the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland to talk about one of the sport's great success stories. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

With so much money available for purses and with such a short meet, some wonder why Kentucky Downs doesn't add race days? Nicholson said the main reason for not doing so is to make sure the turf course is not overused.

“What's obviously on everybody's mind these days is safety,” Nicholson said. “So, if I added a day, it would have to be a day where it would be almost like a spare day. Because the reality is we run 75 races over a turf course and we have three lanes. That means you're running an average of 25 races on each lane. That's a lot of pounding. I've got the best turf guy in the business with Butch Lehr, who was at Churchill for 45 years. But even Butch would shake his head and say, 'no, I wouldn't do it.' I think we're going to be at seven days for a little while until I can figure out how I can add a fourth lane.”

Kentucky Downs has always been known for having one of the lowest takeouts in the sport, so it came as a surprise when it announced that the takeout was going to be increased by one percent in all pools this year. The horseplayers weren't happy.

“It wasn't an easy decision and it wasn't made in a vacuum,” Nicholson said. “The decision was really a tough one and the reason behind it was that I had to find a way to find some revenue. It's great to have great big purses and we had a record handle last year. But when you're running only for two weeks, you have an inordinate amount of expenses to put on a temporary show. I have a lot of tents, I have a lot of temporary expenses. I have 60 people that live here temporarily, which means I put them up in hotels to pull off this show for two weeks or three. They're here typically for three weeks. So, I have a lot of expenses. They're all going up. Even the people that you see in between the races, those folks that are on the turf and they're tamping down those divots. Those folks used to work for $10 an hour. Now it's $25. So, you can see where my expenses have gone. On top of that, you we got a bill from HISA for $650,000 for a seven-day race meet. Before I was paying the state of Kentucky $48,000 for the same exact thing. Because our expenses have been skyrocketing, I felt like had to go a little higher.”

Will Kentucky Downs ever erect a grandstand? It's unlikely.

“I can't tell you many times people have said to me, 'I love this atmosphere, so don't ever change it,'” Nicholson said. “When it comes to putting up a grandstand, I think would change the genuine feel of of what Kentucky Downs is really all about. I think people love the ability to just pull up and tailgate at the top of the stretch or pull out their folding chairs and set up on the rail. That's the essence of what this place is. We want to try to improve every year, but not lose the real true essence of what this place is all about.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms, Lane's End and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss reviewed the Saratoga meet, touching on what went wrong, what went right and the changes that may be coming to the upstate New York track. Those changes include moving the 2024 and 2025 GI Belmont S. to Saratoga while Belmont Park is being rebuilt and installing a synthetic track that would complement the dirt track and the two turf courses. Also, the team looked back at the GI Pacific Classic, won by Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo), as well as the 32-day suspension handed down to Del Mar rider Antonio Fresu for whip violations.

Click here to view the podcast video or here to listen to the audio version.

The post Kentucky Downs VP Of Racing Ted Nicholson Joins TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Mark Casse: “I’m Not Proud Of Our Sport”

Appearing as the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse grew emotional when the subject of the rash of fatalities that have plagued the sport this year came up. Believing that the industry has not done all that it can to help alleviate the situation and that tracks must embrace a return to synthetic surfaces, Casse admitted that his outlook on his profession and the sport has changed for the worse.

“This is sad to say, but I'm not as proud to be a horse trainer as I used to be,” he said. “I'm not proud of our sport. That's sad. In my opinion, it's dangerous and I'm going to do whatever I can do to help it. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn who I piss off or upset.”

Casse came on to discuss some of the opinions he expressed earlier in the week from a Q & A that ran in the TDN. Because he has stables at Woodbine, where all racing is conducted on either the Tapeta surface or turf, and at U.S. tracks where the predominant surface is dirt, Casse, perhaps more so than any other trainer, is well versed in the differences between the various types of surfaces. He has become an outspoken supporter of synthetic tracks and insists that U.S. racing needs to make the conversion from dirt to synthetic.

“I think it is,” he answered when asked if the time has come for dirt racing to be replaced. “We've got years and years of data that says it's far safer. The path we're going down right now is ugly and we have to do something and we have to do it quickly. It's going to take a drastic measure.”

Some believe that the end of dirt racing would be a huge blow to the breeding industry, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in sires and bloodlines meant to produce top-class dirt horses. Casse argues that the potential problems have been exaggerated.

“It's not as big a worry as they make it out to be,” he said. “From my experience, maybe one out of ten horses don't like synthetic. Most good horses will run on anything pretty well. And I can tell you, they'll run a lot longer and last a lot longer.”

This isn't the first time that Casse has been outspoken about industry issues. He has also been vocal about what he saw as the widespread and ill-advised use of clenbuterol. He said his only motivation is to try to make this a better, safer sport.

“I'm going to give you everything I have,” he said. “I'll go down fighting. You can only do so much but I will do my best. I'm doing my best. I'm not a good loser.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms, Lane's End and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss also tackled the subject of synthetic surfaces, an issue that drew more attention after a tragic Saturday afternoon at Saratoga, which included the breakdown of New York Thunder (Nyquist) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. All three agreed with Casse that switching to synthetics has become a necessity. There was also a look at the GI Travers. S., won by Arcangelo (Arrogate) and an admission from Moss that he underrated the horse that is now the sport's leading 3-year-old male. The team also took a look back at the remarkable career of Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, who passed away this week at the age of 82.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

The post Mark Casse: “I’m Not Proud Of Our Sport” appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Dr. Raul Bras, Gustavo Delgado, Jr. Join TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

There was a lot to cover this week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, including the upcoming GI Travers S. and last week's gut punch that was the deaths on back-to-back days of Grade I winners Art Collector (Bernardini) and Cave Rock (Arrogate), both from laminitis.

That's why this week's podcast had two Green Group Guests of the Week.

Dr. Raul Bras, a specialist in laminitis who practices at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, explained why laminitis remains such a serious problem and gave an update on the efforts being made within the veterinary community to combat the condition.

With a victory in the GI Kentucky Derby on his record, Mage (Good Magic) has already had a standout campaign. But his connections are looking for more and will be looking for a second Grade I win on the year in Saturday's Travers. To get the latest on Mage, assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado, Jr. shared his thoughts on the 10-furlong feature. He said the entire Mage team was very pleased with the colt's second-place showing in the GI TVG.com Haskell S., pointing out that he wasn't fully cranked.

“We really were aware that he wasn't 100% for the Haskell,” Delgado said. “Not even close. So we were happy with the effort.”

Mage has proven he can win at the highest level, but he has not proven that he can beat Forte (Violence), the morning line favorite in the Travers. He finished behind him in both the GII Fountain of Youth S. and the GI Curlin Florida Derby. Why might it be different this time?

“The thing that has changed the most is the lack of experience he had before,” Delgado said. “He was in the Fountain of Youth in only his second start. That's what we had to do. We had to do that in order to gain the points to get into the Derby. If we hadn't done that we probably wouldn't be talking about a Derby winner because he got 10 points in the Fountain of Youth and then 40 in the Florida Derby. He's more experienced now. He's not just a baby. He's more mature and we got to know him better, too.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored byhttps://coolmore.com/https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms, Lane's End and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss took a look back at the GI Alabama S. and the front-running win by Randomized (Nyquist) and the impressive debut of the latest foal from Beholder (Henny Hughes), Tamara (Bolt d'Oro). The filly earned 'TDN Rising Star' status when she broke her maiden Aug. 19 at Del Mar. The team also took a moment to remember owner and breeder Anthony Manganaro of Siena Farm, who passed away last week at the age of 79.

To listen to the audio of the podcast, click here; to watch the video, click here.

The post Dr. Raul Bras, Gustavo Delgado, Jr. Join TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bobby Montano, The Star Of The Play “SMALL,” Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Growing up in Queens, Bobby Montano eventually became an actor and a dancer, a career he was happy to follow. But before that, his path took him in an entirely different direction. Montano, who was so small as a child that he was bullied, discovered horse racing and decided he wanted to be a jockey. On March 2, 1977, his dream came true as he rode in his first race at Aqueduct. He only rode in seven races and did not have a winner, but he left the sport with a story to tell. That story has turned into the Off-Broadway play “SMALL,” which Montano wrote and stars in. It's coming to New York and the 59 E. 59 Theater on Aug. 12 and will run through Sept. 2.

In advance of SMALL's run in New York, Montano joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk about the play and what has been a fascinating life full of ups and downs. Montano was the Green Group Guest of the Week.

Looking at those jockeys riding in New York, he saw people who were as small as he was, but instead of being bullied they were respected athletes, admired by thousands of racing fans. That's what he wanted for himself.

“I was tired of getting picked on,” he said. “But when I saw these little men coming out into the paddock area I saw that they were getting respect. It would get quiet and I would ask my mother what was happening and she said, 'The jockeys have come. That's called respect.' I was just so in love with the whole pageantry of it all. My mother was there to bet on her jockey friend Roberto Pineda. He reminded me of Bruce Lee and I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee.”

Nothing ever came easily for Montano on the racetrack. After a growth spurt, he became too big to be a jockey and his weight was the reason why he couldn't get any mounts. He rode for just five months. He resorted to using laxatives, amphetamines, cocaine and pills called Black Beauties. He would run 17 miles a day.

“I couldn't get there. I was just getting bigger and bigger, and I just didn't know what to do with my life,” he said.

Yet, Montano said he wouldn't trade his time on the racetrack for anything.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he said. “There are people who have made it work. I look at people like Trevor McCarthy, who I love. He's a wonderful rider and he's five-foot-ten. There were others, like Marco Castaneda. But they all had thin bones. I was born with thick bones. I just was fighting Mother Nature and there was just nothing I could do about it.”

After giving up on his dream to be a jockey, Montano saw Saturday Night Fever, went to the famous disco, the Rafters and discovered the world of dancing and acting. On television, he has appeared as one of Kim Cattrell's lovers, “We William,” in Sex In The City. He has guest starred in, CSI: Miami, Third Watch, Six Degrees, Law & Order, New York Undercover, Law & Order: SVU, Harrison – Cry Of The City, numerous soaps, and as Resto in the HBO film Undefeated, directed by John Leguizamo.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored byhttps://coolmore.com/https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman discussed the tragic breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) in the GI Test S. Like virtually everyone else in racing, the team tried to come up with answers to what is a horrible problem for the sport but admitted that they had none. The GI Whitney S. was a major topic of discussion, from the huge performance by winner White Abarrio (Race Day) to the lackluster third-place finish by Cody's Wish (Curlin). Looking ahead at the weekend, the focus was on the GI Arlington Million and the other stakes formerly run at Arlington Park that will be run at Colonial Downs. Finley said the Million has lost its mojo since Arlington has closed and said it may be time to simply discontinue these races.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

The post Bobby Montano, The Star Of The Play “SMALL,” Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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