Episodes

  • Down the Stretch for November 25, 2024

    Down the Stretch for November 25, 2024
    Nov 24 2024
    We take the good with the bad this week – 5 horses down and 3 jockeys to the hospital after the first race Thursday at Woodbine. The good refers to Sahin Civaci, who won the Shady Well Stakes on Saturday and it was one of his 6 wins on the card. Another jockey, Austin Adams has been piling up the wins and taking advantage of being the go-to apprentice. Driver Mark MacDonald talks to us about the challenge of leaving the New York circuit and coming to Mohawk where he just might funnel some wins away from his brother James. Have you ever seen a horse pay over $400 to place? It happened at the Meadows and we’ll tell you why. And those of us who feel strongly about racial equality had to be cheering when Rosa Parks took the lead at Del Mar and refused to give it up.
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    25 mins
  • Down the Stretch for November 18, 2024

    Down the Stretch for November 18, 2024
    Nov 17 2024
    Saturday was an amazing day at Woodbine. The longest shot, Wicked Django won the Autumn Stakesat 24-1. A horse called Nobals won the Kennedy Road Stakes and needed huge cahones to get past Patches O’Houlihan. Earlier in the card, Sahin Civaci won 3 races as he has virtually clinched the riders’ title at Woodbine. The 12th race was a mandatory Super Hi-5 payout. The winner was 79-1, and when no one correctly bet the first 5 horses, the payout for 4 was spectacular. Emma-Jayne Wilson joins us on the phone to talk about the terrible accident she sustained in October. Wilson, 43, vows she will ride again. Woodbine’s Bill Ford explains the abundance of caution that the track employed, cancelling races after 3 horses died on November 9. At Chelmsford Race Course in England, how close did jockeys and horses come to catastrophe when the starting gate could not be moved off the track? And 71-year-old Keith Ballard, Australia’s oldest jockey, wrote a Hollywood ending to his 55-year career.
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    25 mins
  • Down the Stretch for November 11, 2024

    Down the Stretch for November 11, 2024
    Nov 10 2024
    A dreadful day at Woodbine – 2 horses died and a Stakes race was cancelled. Kevin Attard talks about Moira, her win in the Breeders Cup, his stretch run exuberance, and the emotion of selling her 2 days later. Also, Korina McLean, the woman who has ridden Moira more than any jockey - she was also at Del Mar to witness the great mare’s spectacular win. There was a monster upset in the $10 million Melbourne Cup in Australia, and a great back story for the winning jockey Robbie Dolan, who dazzled tv viewers on the Australian version of The Voice. The Ontario-bred pacer, Southwind Amazon is now the winningest standardbred of all time. This episode has Tony Randall and Jack Klugman from a classic horse racing episode of The Odd Couple and continuing a sitcom theme – Lucille Ball winning at Aqueduct.
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    27 mins
  • Down the Stretch for November 4, 2024

    Down the Stretch for November 4, 2024
    Nov 3 2024
    Of course, we lead this week with Moira’s great win in the Breeders’ Cup Fillies and Mares Turf. Comments from Donato Lanni and Kevin Attard. Rik Chapman called in from Sydney, Australia on the Golden Eagle Stakes and the Melbourne Cup. Trainer Angus Buntain talks about 8 great days in his career. We have an amazing result for an Ontario-bred pacer named Southwind Amazon, a 14-year-old who has now won 137 times. Did you see that Count Dracula won at Churchill Downs on Halloween? From the final day of racing at Ajax Downs, we give props to Cassandra Jeschke, Rachel Isaacs, Brian Bell, Diego Benitez, Jason Pascoe and James Bogar. And visa vis the Presidential race in the U.S., we tell you why a horse race is better than an election.
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    27 mins
  • Down the Stretch for October 28, 2024

    Down the Stretch for October 28, 2024
    Oct 27 2024
    This week we have a complete breakdown of Canadian interests at the Breeders Crown., featuring James MacDonald and Scott Zeron at the Meadowlands and from Woodbine, a first for Leo Salles, Saul McHugh and Robyn Brohman. The Tour de Fort ended the racing season at Fort Erie and many of the horses wanted out much earlier. Is Fraser Aebly a likely candidate for apprentice jockey of the year? He says he’s not thinking of it, but we are. Driver Doug McNair tells us that his November appearance at an international race in Paris next month will be a return to the scene of the crime. We had 5-win nights last week for both Travis and Trevor Henry and Rik Chapman called in from Australia voicing a stunning and unlikely win in the Cox Plate.
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    30 mins
  • Down the Stretch for October 21, 2024

    Down the Stretch for October 21, 2024
    Oct 20 2024
    This podcast covers all 3 genres of horse racing in Ontario and beyond. We have the Ontario Derby Stakes from Woodbine and a nice chat with veteran jockey Eswan Flores who recently scored his first Stakes win of the year. It was Breeders Crown elimination weekend at the Meadowlands and we tell you how Canadians did and how a couple horses blew up the tote board. At Western Fair last week, Sugar Doyle, Ghislain Paquet, Melissa Keith and even...James MacDonald called races. You can decide who did it best...and worst. How much legal trouble did Jody Jamieson get into? The law firm of Hopple, Hopple, Hopple and Fetlock represent the trotter Paquet who was hurt by Jamieson’s post-race comments. The quarter horse season at Ajax Downs is nearing its finish line. Did Diego Benitez wrap up the jockeys’ title by winning 3 times on the 3rd last card? And a bizarre finish at Keeneland as the jockey on a 13-1 shot thought the race finished at the 16th pole. It didn’t and a lot of pick-5 bettors were badly burned.
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    32 mins
  • Down the Stretch for October 14, 2024

    Down the Stretch for October 14, 2024
    Oct 13 2024
    A horse racing podcast should have horse races and this one does! We have all 8 OSS Gold Super Finals from Mohawk Saturday night. We have Sahin Civaci winning 5 times at Woodbine and Fraser Aebly sweeping both Stakes races on Saturday. Driver Doug McNair had a 6-win night at Mohawk Friday and we tell you why former jockey, Francine Villeneuve had maybe her best day of the year at Woodbine. Have you ever watched Unfiltered, the horse racing doc produced by Ontario racing Management? We sample several minutes of the latest episode that looks at the rivalry between trainers Mark Casse and Kevin Attard. We have all 7 races from the Wednesday card at Ajax Downs, and 15-year-old Alexandra Homorcean scored 1st place in the Bill Galvin Alliance Youth Literary Derby and she thrills us with a rendition of her award winning harness racing poem.
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    34 mins
  • Down the Stretch for October 7, 2024

    Down the Stretch for October 7, 2024
    Oct 6 2024
    There were 4 Graded Stakes races - all on the grass – at Woodbine Saturday. Patches O’Houlihan won the Nearctic, so we’re touting him as the Sovereign Award winner as the next Canadian Horse of the Year. Owner Frank Di Giulio and trainer Bob Teller disagreed about Patches being in the race. Last Thursday, the final leg of the Woodbine Turf Sprint Series was run, and the overall champion was a horse that didn’t win a single leg. Jockey Jose Campos is from Mexico and he tell us what it was like winning the Prince of Wales in Fort Erie. Harness horse owner Dave Byron talks about buying a filly for $3,000 then winning the $75,000 Grass Roots Final at Mohawk We have 7 races from Ajax Downs this week as we try and figure out who the leading jockey and trainer will be and Garnet Barnsdale turned 60 last week, so instead of co-producing this podcast, he went to Las Vegas; we do get to participate vicariously as he sends us his breakdown of a day in Sin City
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    27 mins