Rail Talk Podcast

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green bring down the curtain on their 2025 season by discussing one of the hottest topics of the year—the future of Florida racing. Thoroughbred Racing Initiative releases a comprehensive feasibility study for a variety of future alternatives and Jon, co-founder of TRI, expounds on each option while giving his take on which he thinks would work the best....

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back together, on the heels of the last major racing weekend of the year and an eventful racetrack symposium. The boys first touch on the breakout performance of Zany in the Demoiselle at Aqueduct—where does her dominant win put her in the 3-year-old filly discussion? They also react to the sudden closure of Hastings Park in Vancouver—what does...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca is joined once again by guest co-host Nick Tammaro to react to a controversy-filled holiday week in the ever-messy world of horse racing. NYRA’s jockeys made headlines when walking out on Sunday’s card at Aqueduct after the first race, citing a variety of issues with management. As always, the engines of the game—owners and bettors—get the shaft. Joe and Nick dis...

This week on Rail Talk! It’s almost Thanksgiving, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green are in the holiday spirit, looking forward to a great long weekend of racing and welcoming several special guests. First, Chairman of The Jockey Club Everett Dobson stops by for a state-of-the-industry discussion, covering the increased fan engagement among 20-somethings in 2025, the declining foal crop, how we manage t...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are reunited and it feels so good, as they catch up after an eventful few weeks that included their respective trips to the Breeders’ Cup, Jon’s week in Kentucky and his resulting illness. Joe makes the Eclipse case for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Super Corredora, Jon gives his take on the ongoing vet scratch controversy, and the boys col...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca is back from an unforgettable Breeders’ Cup, and is joined by guest co-host, Sam Houston racecaller and outstanding handicapper Nick Tammaro to break it all down from every angle. Forever Young takes a classic Classic, a monster upset in the Turf, and Joe tells us all about the best day of his racing life thus far, as Super Corredora takes the West Point Thorough...

This week on Rail Talk! The Breeders’ Cup is finally upon us, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green can barely contain their excitement. The boys take you into the mind of a participant in the World Championships, with West Point Thoroughbreds sending out Intricate Spirit, Super Corredora and Vahva and DJ Stable’s Nitrogen attempting to lock up an Eclipse Award. Joe and Jon then pore over a Classic for the...

This week on Rail Talk! Breeders’ Cup pre-entries are out, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green are here to guide you through the 200+ horses entered for a spectacular 42nd running of the World Championships at Del Mar. That list includes over 50 international entries, and a star-studded lineup for this year’s Classic, which stacks up with any renewal of the $7-million centerpiece. Joe and Jon react to it...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green start to look forward to the Breeders’ Cup and share the perspectives of readying participants for the World Championships at Del Mar. That leads into a deeper conversation filled with gratitude about the ups and downs of competing to win races and being around special horses. They also bestow a new Rail Talk Citation after a historic win at Keenela...

This week on Rail Talk! The last round of major Breeders’ Cup preps is in the books, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to all of it: Nitrogen’s narrow second in the Spinster, a fitting win for Rhetorical in Keeneland’s Turf Mile, Ted Noffey’s continued dominance in the Breeders’ Futurity, Intricate Spirit punching his ticket to Del Mar for West Point and much more. The boys are then joined by leg...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green give their takes on the major controversy surrounding jockey Paco Lopez’s six-month suspension by HISA: Does the punishment fit the crime? What effect should Paco’s extensive prior record of being unable to follow the rules have? What’s the significance of his fellow riders standing so uniformly behind him? The boys also react to the first of two hu...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green sit down with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus to answer horsemen’s questions about the regulator’s proposed $78 million budget for 2026. How much is going to drug testing? What are some ways we can be more efficient going forward? And what is the intrinsic value of racing on a more level playing field compared to the cheater-infested landscape we had pre-HISA...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back after a week away grinding for their day jobs and react to the seemingly nonstop fireworks at the Keeneland September sale. The market is, like, so hot right now, and Joe and Jon break down what the staggering numbers mean for the industry, the jaw-dropping success of Flightline’s first crop in the sales ring, the latest West Point-DJ Stabl...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to a Labor Day weekend full of controversy and superstar performances as we enter the home stretch of the championship hunt. First, the boys dissect the scary bumping incident in the roughly-run Jockey Club Gold Cup, which caused Irad Ortiz, Jr. to fall off Mindframe. Thankfully, disaster was averted, but how can we avoid situations like this...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to a star-studded Travers Day at Saratoga, headlined by Sovereignty‘s dazzling 10-length romp in the ‘Midsummer Derby’. Where does he rank in the pecking order of elite 21st century 3-year-olds? And what does it say about this year’s sophomore class that Journalism could still potentially overtake him in the championship hunt if he beats elder...

The self-proclaimed commissioner of racing, Mike Repole faces off with Ray Paulick of the Paulick Report after a social media tiff. They are joined by the president of the National Thoroughbred Alliance (NTA), Pat Cummings. Repole founded the NTA to tackle horse racing's most existential problems. Repole, Paulick and Cummings discuss The Jockey Club, thoroughbred aftercare, HISA and many more hot...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to a seismic win for DJ Stable’s Nitrogen in the Alabama, as the superstar filly proves she can handle dirt as well as turf. Jon reflects on what the homebred’s victory means for his family’s program, Mark Casse’s stable and their sophomore filly’s chances of a year-end championship. Speaking of stars, elite racing broadcaster Laffit Pincay, J...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back in their home studios and kick off their second hundred episodes with plenty to discuss, chief of which was the embarrassing gate misplacement in Saturday’s finale at Saratoga. How does this keep happening? What steps will be taken to ensure it never happens again? The boys also look forward to the 1 1/4-mile (we hope) Alabama, which featur...

This week on Rail Talk, it’s Episode 100, on scene from the center of the racing world, Fasig-Tipton at Saratoga! Joe Bianca and Jon Green take the set and the sales grounds by storm with an array of highly influential guests, starting with Taylor Made president Mark Taylor, who was followed by Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning and director of client relations Anna Seitz to talk all about the r...

TOBA Breakaway Rail Talk | August Member of the Month: Steve Duncker Presented by Rail Talk in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA)This month on Breakaway Rail Talk, we sit down with Steve Duncker, TOBA’s August Member of the Month—a lifelong racing enthusiast, former NYRA chairman, and a passionate advocate for ownership partnerships in the Thoroughbred industr...

This week on Rail Talk! We’re knocking on the door of our milestone 100th episode by digging fully into the madness of late odds drops caused by computer-assisted wagering groups, which reached its breaking point over the weekend at Del Mar. A long-time frustration for regular horseplayers, CAW action cut several winners’ odds by more than half at the track on Saturday, and track officials were fo...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca is joined by guest co-host and Gulfstream Park TV analyst Samantha Perry as the 3-year-old class turns for home in the championship hunt. Joe and Sam react to another thrilling Grade I victory by Journalism in the Haskell and debate whether or not he should come back East once more for the Travers or stay home and take on elders in the Pacific Classic.  They then...

This week on Rail Talk! It’s Haskell Week, so Joe Bianca and Jon Green shine their spotlight on beloved Monmouth Park, where the signature $1 million Grade I for 3-year-olds will be contested for the 58th time. Will Journalism prove too classy for his rivals, or is there an upstart ready to ascend to the upper echelon of the competitive sophomore division? Joe and Jon also welcome Monmouth general...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to a monster holiday weekend of racing at Saratoga and celebration for the team downstate. An array of exciting stakes races boosted handle at the Spa above $83 million for the four-day festival, a 121% increase over last year at Aqueduct. Plus, Ewing dazzles in his debut, earning the first-ever Rail Talk Citation, Jon celebrates his 55 1/2 bi...

This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green fire up the take cannon and react to a star-laden Stephen Foster day at Churchill. Where does Mindframe rank in the older horse division coming off of consecutive Grade I wins? Is Thorpedo Anna back, or did she just beat up on weak competition in the Fleur de Lis? The boys then welcome Morplay Racing and Rich Music founder Rich Mendez to talk all ab...