Jake Delhomme Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

He's best known as a former NFL quarterback who nearly beat Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXVIII. But Jake Delhomme, who starred for the Carolina Panthers, is also a passionate horse owner who, along with his father Jerry and his brother Jeff, operates Set-Hut Stable LLC. The Delhomme clan focuses on Louisiana-breds and this year they have come up with one of the best ever. Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) is 11-for-14 lifetime and will run this weekend at Fair Grounds, either against open company in Saturday's $500,000 GII New Orleans Classic or against state-breds the next day in the Star Guitar S.

To talk about Touchuponastar, his love affair with racing and even a bit about his NFL career, Delhomme joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

The Delhommes bought Touchuponastar for $15,000 at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling sale, which has turned out to be quite the bargain as the horse has earned $708,100.

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“He's been a dream come true, to be quite honest,” Delhomme said. “I was lucky enough to purchase him at the Texas yearling sale. He was one that I followed, along with the breeders, Coteau Grove Farms. They have done a marvelous job of bringing along some fine animals. Andrew Cary is their bloodstock advisor, and I've been involved with Andrew since 2007. The first time I went to Keeneland and bought my first mare there, off of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, he was the director of sales then. We developed a friendship over the years. We'll go to Coteau Grove and see the horses. There was something about this horse I always liked and I watched him grow up. He looks very much like his sire, Star Guitar, who was a great regional racehorse here in Louisiana. So this was one that I had my eye on. I try to buy a couple of yearlings every year, try to breed a couple. We're a fairly small stable, eight to 10 horses. So we went to the Texas sale and I bid just one time. I was watching the action and I was prepared to go a lot higher. It was just one of those good deals and we were lucky enough to get him.”

While his brother Jeff is listed as the trainer, Jake is very hands-on and works right alongside his brother and father.

“I do pretty much anything and everything,” Delhomme said. “I'd like to think we're a selfless stable, to be quite honest. Set-Hut is the owner and Dad and Jeff both train. But I'll be honest, it's all of us. We're there every day. It's a family affair. Had I not played sports, I have a pretty good inclination that I would have gone into racing right away.”

Like many retired athletes that have gone into racing after their careers are over, Delhomme said that the sport fills a need in his life and keeps his competitive juices flowing.

“Racing helps fill that competitive void,” Delhomme said. “I mean I retired when I was, what, 37 or 38 years old? But I retired from football, not from real life. At that age, you're just kind of getting started, so to speak. Racing has given me that avenue. I've never looked for anything else to do once I finished playing. You need something to do because you're used to just this lifestyle of work, work, work, work. I think anyone can attest that being in the horse racing business is just that, work, work, work. It's all the time.”

In our breeding spotlight section we took a look at the Coolmore stallion Jack Christopher and the WinStar stallion Global Campaign.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, Coolmore, 1/ST Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman discussed the news that Nysos (Nyquist) has been sidelined and will probably miss all of the Triple Crown races and the latest developments in Maryland, where 1/ST Racing is donating Pimlico to the state. And they previewed the big weekend cards coming up at Fair Grounds and at Turfway Park, where 3-year-olds will vie for Derby points in the GII Louisiana Derby and the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S.

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

The post Jake Delhomme Joins 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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Ron Winchell Talks Ky Downs, Gun Runner on Writer’s Room

One of the great success stories in American racing over the last decade or so has been the emergence of Kentucky Downs, which opens its 2021 six-day meet on Sunday. Much of that has to do with the stewardship on Ron Winchell, who, along with partner Marc Falcone, purchased the track in 2019.

Thanks in large part to Historical Horse Racing machines, Kentucky Downs was already making plenty of money when Winchell and Falcone took over, but they never grew complacent. Rather, they have continually looked to make Kentucky Downs an even greater success. Part of that has included an expansion of the gaming, entertainment and dining areas, but it has also meant growing the race meet.

During his interview on the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, Winchell explained why his team has never stopped trying to grow the race meet, which now includes 16 stakes worth $10 million and three $1 million races. With many tracks affiliated with gaming, racing is an afterthought.

“Obviously, I am heavily involved in horse racing,” said Winchell, the Green Group Guest of the Week. “You don't have an ownership here that is segregated from horse racing, which sometimes happens, especially in other states. Our meet is so unique, with six days and the purse levels, with 16 stakes races and three $1 million races. Really, it has turned into this cool, boutique meet, which is fun and we do well. We don't lose money, where with many locations it's not the same and they lose money and they don't have that tie to horse racing. They really try to make the racing as minimal as they can. We're the opposite. We are willing to spend money every year to grow this into something bigger and better all the time. That's the focus we have when it comes to racing.”

A short meet clearly works for Kentucky Downs, but Winchell said he'd like to see it grow to beyond six days. He said Kentucky Downs will apply for seven racing dates in 2022 and added that management is also interested in possibly running some days in May in the future.

“At some point, we might want to do a few days in May,” he said. “We'd like to do something that would, hopefully, attract some European horses. So, there is some potential to grow more going forward. But we don't want too many days. The short boutique-style meet is what makes it special. It's never just another day at Kentucky Downs.”

Winchell is also a prominent horse owner and he and his family have campaigned a number of stars, including super sire Tapit (Pulpit) and Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}), who has gotten off to a fast start at stud.

“The Gun Runners are capable of winning races at six furlongs or shorter, and that's what we are seeing,” Winchell said. “But I think they all really want to go longer. We've shown everybody that these guys can really run, but I can't be more excited to see what the next phase will bring. He's going to have runners in the Hopeful, the Spinaway, the Sapling and I believe there are two that are going to run in the Del Mar Futurity. This weekend will be a pretty defining moment for him, to see if he can take the next step. I'm pretty excited. Gun Runner is my favorite subject right now.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds, Spendthrift Farm, Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reviewed the GI Runhappy Travers day card at Saratoga, generally giving glowing reviews to a day of racing that was among the best offered anywhere and at any time this year.

Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

 

The post Ron Winchell Talks Ky Downs, Gun Runner on Writer’s Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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