TDN Writers' Room

The TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland has transitioned to video over the past two weeks as the hosts record the show from home, and this week they welcomed their first video guest, none other than four-time defending Eclipse Award-winning trainer and future Hall of Famer Chad Brown. In a wide-ranging interview that touched on how the pandemic has affected his horses and family, what he looks for at sales, his feelings on clenbuterol, his thoughts on how to help smaller trainers get a foothold and his memories of...

Seventeen years ago, Jack Knowlton's band-of-buddies Sackatoga Stable took the racing world by storm when their "gutsy gelding" Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) upset the GI Kentucky Derby before adding the GI Preakness S. and becoming one of the most popular horses of his generation. Things look much different for Sackatoga these days, with almost all new faces, but Knowlton remains the constant, and now he and his partners have another top Kentucky Derby contender to get excited about in GI Curlin Florida Derby victor Tiz the Law (Constitution). Knowlton joined...

As the overseer of two of the biggest tracks still running races in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, The Stronach Group's CEO Craig Fravel has a lot of responsibility right now. As Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream nears and the GI Santa Anita Derby follows next weekend, Fravel stopped by the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk with Bill Finley about this tumultuous time. "Things seem to change on an hourly basis," Fravel said. "I think I was in Florida a week and a...

Dennis Albaugh didn't want to spend $1 million to acquire Thousands Words (Pioneerof the Nile) at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. Albaugh is among the wealthiest people in the sport, but even he has a comfort zone, and says he normally doesn't go beyond $400,000. But, if you want something special, you have to pay for it. And Albaugh and his team of advisors thought Thousand Words was the kind of can't-miss prospect every owner yearns to have. "Normally, we try to find horses in the $200,000 to $400,000 range,"...

Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Pat Cummings's comment on Pa. Governor Tom Wolf's plan to divert the bulk of funding from the Race Horse Development fund (representing about 90% of all purse monies in the state) was both courageous and spot on. For too long Pennsylvania racetracks and horsemen's organizations alike have focused their efforts almost exclusively on procuring annual revenues from slot machine proceeds, while doing little or nothing to build the racing business or promote the sport. In the long run, no state is going to prop up a dying...

This week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN's Writers' Room Podcast, Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Executive Director Pat Cummings, implored the racing industry to learn from what has happened in Pennsylvania and to end what he sees as decades of complacency. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has submitted a budget that calls for $204 million to be diverted from the state's Race Horse Development Fund and used for a program that would provide college scholarships for Pennsylvania residents. Should the money, which comes from slot machines proceeds, be taken...

Drew Mollica started his career in racing as a jockey agent, but had an epiphany at the age of 47: he was miserable. While keeping his day job, Mollica enrolled in law school, and today, is the most popular and affable lawyer on the New York Racing circuit. Mollica joins Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Brian DiDonato and Jon Green to talk about Ahmed Zayat and other legal issues in this edition of the Writers' Room. Listen to this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast here.