Down The Stretch Podcast

Is Patrick Husbands retiring? We go straight to the great jockey and we get trainer Mark Casse’s take on it as well. Pink Lloyd has settled into his new life at LongRun’s Farm and Vickie Pappas reveals how you can own the bridle he wore in all his wins. We chat with standardbred owner, promoter, and horse racing visionary Adriano Sorella, and ask why he’s bringing Jimmy Freight back to the races....

Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson talks about a completed thoroughbred racing season, single game betting, the best date for the Queen’s Plate and whether or not a podcast host can be comped at the new hotel on the racetrack site. Braiden Reibeling chose the best time to score his first harness racing win – he did it on his 21st birthday. Emma Christoforou is only 19, but she trained a winner at Mohawk. Jac...

Thank you Pink Lloyd for scripting our lead story. The amazing sprinter won the final race of his career. Jockey Rafael Hernandez, trainer Bob Tiller and owner Frank DiGiulio heap praise on the incredible 9 year-old. Writer Jennifer Morrison talks about her book, Run With a Mighty Heart, about the 2020 Queen’s Plate Champion. Trevor Henry was great last Thursday at Mohawk winning 5 races. Twenty-t...

This week, there’s a new race secretary at Mohawk Park and we find out why Tony O’Sullivan is a good choice for the job. We have a beef with Santino DiPaola, not because his training stats are improving every year, but because his video essays keep bumping this podcast off the Sovereign Award eligibility list. What’s it like to be one of the jockeys at the bottom of the statistical ladder? We talk...

Amazing accomplishments, thrilling finishes and bizarre outcomes are the varying themes this week. Pink Lloyd won again – it was his 25th Stakes conquest. Trainer Robert Tiller expresses his love for the great sprinter. Jockey Patrick Husbands scored win #3501. Driver Ross Battin steered home his 5,000th winner. Jonathan Drury and Carmen Auciello teamed for a huge night at Mohawk. Chantal Sutherla...

In a week in which so much happened in horse racing, what they did to the bettors on Friday at Del Mar was astonishing, as in astonishingly stupid. It tarnished what was otherwise a great Breeders’ Cup weekend. Pink Lloyd can still rock 6 furlongs at Woodbine - he won a Stakes race for the 25th time. His jockey Rafael Hernandez talks about another fine season and how he ended up riding a quarter h...

This week, Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson talks about where horse racing in Ontario is at after a long and difficult 18 months, what racing fans complain to him about and his favourite races. And we have races. Stakes events at Woodbine Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the Breeders’ Crown from the Meadowlands - it was a good weekend for Scott Zeron. Have you ever heard of a horse winning a race, then bein...

This week’s podcast features Stakes races from Friday and Saturday at Woodbine and Canadian content from the eliminations at the Meadowlands for next week’s Breeders’ Crown. Two stories that originated in the OSS Superfinals: Race caller Ken Middleton tells us what it was like to describe his own horse stunning the field in the 2 Year-Old Pace and we talk with all 4 owners of Desperate Man, the $2...

It’s amazing how many terrific things happen in horse racing in a week. How about 8 $225,000 OSS Super Finals at Mohawk? You have to hear Ken Middleton’s call of the 2 Year-Old Colts and Geldings Pace. We have the E.P.Taylor and Nearctic Stakes from Woodbine. Is Ironstone the best two year old thoroughbred in Canada? Will he give his trainer, Willie Armata his first Queen’s Plate contender and wil...

On consecutive days at Woodbine, they ran the 3rd leg of the Triple Tiara for fillies and the 3rd leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. One went to the favourite, one went to a long-shot. We pay a sad farewell to trainer Ashlee Brnjas, who passed at 40. Conditioner Blake MacIntosh won a harness race for the 1,000th time and tells us about it. Jody Jamieson is always a good quote. He’s suffering from b...

The richest trot of the year in Canada – the Mohawk Million – is featured in this week’s podcast, along with several other harness racing and thoroughbred Stakes races. Leading jockey Kazushi Kimura came out of the weekend with a 25 race lead on Emma-Jayne Wilson. We talk with him and his agent Jordan Miller. What was it like for Brandon Greer to win the Ricoh Woodbine Mile with a horse he bred, o...

Has horse racing in Ontario ever looked better? It was a week full of huge Stakes races – The Pattison International and the Ricoh Mile at Woodbine, the Canadian Trotting Classic and the Elegant Image among a buffet of Stakes races at Mohawk and the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie. Kevin Attard and Gary Boulanger talk about winning the second jewel of the Triple Crown with Haddassah....

The favourites were upset in the $1Million Pepsi North America Cup at Mohawk and the back story of the winner is wonderful. This podcast has a monster package of Stakes races from Mohawk and a few more of the thoroughbreds from Woodbine. Fort Erie’s Frank Salive handicaps the Prince of Wales Stakes and irrepressible trainer, Darryl Ezra, explains why his wild longshot just might win. Chantal Suthe...

This podcast features millions of dollars of Stakes races Friday and Saturday at Mohawk. We find out from trainer Phil Serpe why Queen’s Plate Champion Safe Conduct won’t run in the Prince of Wales. There’s a great conversation with jockey Isabelle Wenc. She’s beaten the odds just to be a professional rider and most of her winners beat the odds as well. Her agent Alan Raymond tells us about her ‘i...

There was a huge Sunday card at Woodbine – 4 Stakes races, all for horses that went through the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society sales. And this came the day after Mohawk presented 7 Stakes races. All these in this podcast. Host Peter Gross speaks with Mitchell Kursner, who didn’t really think he was breeding a Queen’s Plate horse when he took his mare, Duchess Dancer to Bodemeister. We also ha...

We put a lot of miles on the podcast with Stakes races at Mohawk and Woodbine, Mighty Heart running in West Virginia, an historic mark for Steve Asmussen at Saratoga. The Whitney Stakes, Industry Day at Grand Ravine and where will Chiefswood Stables’ Weyburn be on Queen’s Plate day? Eurico Rosa da Silva, James MacDonald, Emma-Jayne Wilson, Ake Svanstedt, Tom Patton, Antonio Gallardo and Shaun Brig...

With less than 3 weeks until the Queen’s Plate, how come only 4 horses ran in the Plate Trial? Weyburn, the best Canadian-bred 3 year-old skipped the Trial to take on bigger fish in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga. The Woodbine Oaks produced a brilliant 3 year-old filly. Two year-olds trotted for big money at Mohawk. Ever seen a dead-heat between a father and daughter in a trot? That happened to Roy and...

One continuing theme of this podcast is that horse racing is the only professional sport in which women compete with and regularly defeat the men, and we have ample proof this week. Natasha Day and Maggie Jones talk about the Womens’ Driving Championship. Chantal Sutherland had a monster 4 win day at Gulfstream. Harness owner Sydney Weaver expresses the joy of winning with a horse she bred. Fillie...

Canadian connections won a big race at the Meadowlands, but they needed a disqualification to get there. We have Stakes races from Woodbine and Mohawk and a stimulating lunch with jockey Ademar Santos. We feature Justin Stein’s 4-win Thursday and Gary Boulanger, who won 4 races a week ago tells us how his new-born son Christian pulled him out of a dangerous funk. Women harness drivers were feature...

Queen’s Plate candidates ran in two Stakes races on Sunday designed to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Kevin Attard, Gail Cox and Robert Landry assess their horses. There were 4 $100,000 OSS Gold races midweek at Mohawk. Driver Tony Kerwood hits a big number in Minnesota. We have this week's races from Ajax Downs. Ariane Milligi-Fuller tells us why Racing City Realty will find you a r...

Actual people at the track and we talk with them. Josie Carroll played it perfectly with Mighty Heart and Belichick. Jockey Keveh Nicholls gives us the emotional back story to his breakout year. Jockey Josh Scott tells how he won on his first thoroughbred ride. There were 6 OSS Gold races at Mohawk, all for more than $100,000. Hippodrome’s race caller Guy Lafontaine makes his task twice as hard an...

Horse racing is sometimes predictable and sometimes not. In this 75th Down The Stretch Podcast, jockeys Keveh Nicholls and Josh Scott surprised the bettors and drivers James MacDonald and Jody Jamieson shared the Saturday night hilites at Mohawk. Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson explains why he has stopped tearing his hair out. Trainer Bill Tharrenos is enjoying a good start and Chiefswood Stable’s Rob Lan...

This is the first Down The Stretch Podcast this year with racing hilites from all three genres in Ontario. We have Stakes races from Woodbine as Pink Lloyd was trying to win the Jacques Cartier for a 4th time. It was a mind-boggling week at Mohawk. Driver James MacDonald had two 5-win nights and a 4-bagger as well. Jody Jamieson, Doug McNair and Sylvain Filion also put together 4-win nights. But m...

Harness racing and thoroughbred racing resumed in Ontario and we have hilites from the first cards. There’s a new slanted starting gate at Mohawk and Bill McClinchey, Woodbine’s Director of racing explains the change. We chat with veteran driver Jody Jamieson who hated it when the 10-horse started behind the 1, and trainer Carmen Auciello gives us 5 horses ready to win, but it’s the one he didn’t...

Both standardbred and thoroughbred racing resume in Ontario over the next two weeks and Queen’s Plate winning jockey Daisuke Fukumoto finally has his license approved, thanks to the diligent work of his agent Pram Seebah. The 153rd running of the Belmont may have proved that Essential Quality is the best three year-old in North America. Medina Spirit’s second test came back positive and there was...