The Friday Show | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Friday Show: Delayed Opening At Woodbine

Saturday was supposed to be opening day of the Thoroughbred meet at Woodbine racetrack near Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Instead, just as the 2020 season was halted prematurely by government order in the midst of a spike in the coronavirus pandemic, so too is the 2021 opening.

Jennifer Morrison, a longtime Ontario-based handicapper and turf writer (you can read her at www.canadianthoroughbred.com), joins publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills in this week's Friday Show to discuss how horsepeople are reacting to the latest setback – a lockdown, or stay-at-home order that has temporarily derailed live racing.

The Canadian lockdown comes at a time when more U.S. tracks are able to open to limited attendance and many Americans see light at the end of the dark COVID-19 tunnel.

We've also got our star of the week and a Toast to Vino Rosso that looks at another first-crop foal by the Breeders' Cup Classic-winning son of Curlin standing at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky.

Watch this week's Friday Show below:

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The Friday Show: Moonlighting On The Back Of A Pony

News editor Chelsea Hackbarth may be best known to readers of the Paulick Report for her feature stories and outstanding coverage of major races, but around Kentucky racetracks she's respected for her skills as a pony person escort, taking valuable Thoroughbreds out for morning training or afternoon races.

In this edition of the Friday Show, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills coaxes Chelsea to talk about some of her favorite moments in her “other” job, which she describes as taking horses to the starting gate “in as calm and safe a manner as possible with a 1,200-pound animal that is sitting on go. So it can be a bit of a challenge now and again.”

Chelsea took two-time European Horse of the Year Enable to the track for morning training at Churchill Downs and to the starting gate for her stirring victory in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf. She also recalls the “amazing amount of sound” she experienced ponying Uncle Sigh in the 2014 Kentucky Derby post parade after the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home” ends and the crowd erupted in a massive cheer. And of course there were those times she got to ride one of the most famous of the racetrack ponies, Harley.

We're sticking with the “homer” theme for Star of the Week, a 3-year-old Daredevil filly who won a $16,000 maiden claiming event recently at Gulfstream Park and is entered in the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track's third race on Friday.

A $16,000 claimer is Star of the Week, really? What we didn't say is that Sister Is Devil was the first pinhooking project for Chelsea and her business partner, Steph Settles, who joins Joe and Chelsea to talk about that experience buying the Daredevil filly as a January yearling and selling her for a modest profit nine months later. Joe rounds out the show with our weekly Toast to Vino Rosso and a profile of one of the arriving foals from the first crop of the son of Curlin.

This is one episode any horse lover won't want to miss. Watch below.

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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Feeling Preppy

The Kentucky Derby is less than one month away and this weekend's Big Three prep races – the G2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and G1 Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita – figure to sort out the leading contenders and help fill the Churchill Downs starting gate on May 1, as each race awards 100-40-20-10 qualifying points to the top four finishers.

Join Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick, news editor Chelsea Hackbarth and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills for a lively discussion on these key races and their historical significance in terms of serving as a launch pad for Kentucky Derby winners. Two of the three races – the Wood and the Santa Anita Derby – are seen as wide open, while unbeaten Essential Quality, last year's 2-year-old champion, appears to tower over the field in the Blue Grass.

The Star of the Week is recognized for his influence in American classic races and in the two most recent Derby preps at Gulfstream and Turfway Parks, and Nevills makes his latest Toast to Vino Rosso taking a look at first-crop foals sired by the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic-winning stallion standing at Spendthrift Farm.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Diamond B Farm's Rowayton.

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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Ponying Up

Trainers Mike Maker and Wesley Ward aren't the only horsemen who have encountered Thoroughbred owners who have been slow to pay their bills. In their cases, the two trainers filed suit against owners Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey alleging nearly $1 million was owned to each of them for past due training bills and purse earnings. Ken Ramsey has said he'll make good on both cases and that the lawsuits will be dropped.

In the case of Ahmed Zayat and his family's Zayat Stables – now going through bankruptcy – a host of trainers and other businesses are owed a significant amount of money.

It begs the question of how many other trainers have had to “carry” owners for extended periods of time, negotiate fees after the fact or put liens on bloodstock in order to get paid.

Watch this week's Friday Show for a discussion on this subject with Ray Paulick and Paulick Report editor in chief Natalie Voss. Bloodstock editor Joe Nevills joins the show for a retrospective on the late Sheikh Hamdan of Shadwell Stables, a Toast to Vino Rosso and some news about a new product coming next week that covers the auction front.

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