Episodes

  • Down the Stretch for July 29, 2024

    Down the Stretch for July 29, 2024
    Jul 28 2024
    Host Peter Gross lost his voice this week, but no problem – friends and family signed on to get episode 235 off the launch pad. Garnet Barnsdale stepped in to host and his son, Nick broke down 5 OSS Golds from Mohawk Park. Jennifer Morrison filed from Ajax Downs and Jim McKenny recapped the Atlantic Womens’ Driving Challenge. Peter’s family rallied to the cause- son Roger handled the feature interview, grandson, Graham voiced the Stakes races from Woodbine and even Peter’s 101-year-old mother, Marilyn nailed the script when quarter horse trainer Lauren Spada sent out a thoroughbred winner at Fort Erie. Also saving this podcast are Saratoga race caller Frank Mirahmadi and Canadian musical star, Lu Kala.
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    24 mins
  • Down the Stretch for July 22, 2024

    Down the Stretch for July 22, 2024
    Jul 21 2024
    A huge card at Woodbine Saturday with Sahin Civaci and Sofia Vives capturing 2 Stakes races each – Vives is the first apprentice to win the Woodbine Oaks. We’ve got a winners’ circle tribute to Emma-Jayne Wilson the all-time purse earning lady jockey, and a 4-win day last week for another apprentice, Pietro Moran. Casie Coleman talks with us about winning the Meadowlands Pace with Legendary Hanover. We steal clips from Unfiltered, the definitive horse racing documentary. How smart did you need to be to bet on Mensa in the Victoria Stakes? And how devastated were bettors in Ireland when a sure winner jumped the fence just before the finish line?
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    29 mins
  • Down the Stretch for July 15, 2024

    Down the Stretch for July 15, 2024
    Jul 14 2024
    Emma-Jayne Wilson stands alone; she has broken Julie Krone’s record for most money earned by a lady jockey. James MacDonald steered Legendary Hanover to an impressive win in the Meadowlands Pace. They’re racing at Saratoga and a monster longshot shocked in the first Stakes race. We had more logical outcomes in the My Dear and Ballade Stakes at Woodbine. Trainer Josie Carroll talks with us as she inches closer to the 1000-win mark. A crazy Thursday night at Mohawk when 4 different drivers delivered daily doubles. We ‘sample’ Hot Mic’d with driver Paul MacKenzie and we go to Belterra Park for a history making win by 70-year-old Perry Ouzts. Did a horse really pay $331 to place? And just how funny was it when a horse named Ha Ha Ha won at Royal Randwick?
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    26 mins
  • Down the Stretch for July 8, 2024

    Down the Stretch for July 8, 2024
    Jul 7 2024
    James MacDonald had another sensational weekend, winning the Canadian Driving Championships at Hippodrome 3R and delivering Legendary Hanover in a Meadowlands Pace elimination, though the win in the other elim by Nijinsky was the most impressive. Apprentice jockey, Austin Adams was in a special race in Deauville, France. Trainer Mark Casse gives Down The Stretch another wonderful interview about the day he won 3 of 5 Stakes races at Woodbine - along with the disappointment of the 2 he didn’t win. It was Legends Day at Clinton and we’ve got one Hall of Famer, Frank Salive calling the win by another Hall of Famer, Randy Waples. An apprentice jockey named Kelsi Harr demolished the tote board in Minnesota producing a record daily double payoff. Brian Bell, a veteran jockey at Ajax Downs is the reason fans got a tasty treat at Wendy’s. And just how good was Friday to trainer Bill Tharrenos when his two horses dead-heated for the win?
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    33 mins
  • Down the Stretch for July 1, 2024

    Down the Stretch for July 1, 2024
    Jun 30 2024
    There were 5 Stakes races Saturday at Woodbine and Mark Casse won 3 of them. This podcast features 4 Stakes events from Mohawk’s Thursday card – 2 OSS Golds and a pair of Tompkins-Geers Grand Circuit races. Former jockey, Francine Villeneuve tells Down The Stretch how she became the agent for Justin Stein and Skye Chernetz. Villeneuve was very much an inspiration for the female jockeys of today so we have coverage of Monday’s card at Fort Erie in which 4 of 7 races were won by women. There were 2 Stakes race at Ajax Downs last week. Jockey Christian Benitez will enjoy hearing the call of both of them And, we always enjoy chatting with Ed Walton who, at 61 and 6 feet tall, is hanging up his tack.
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    28 mins
  • Down the Stretch for June 24, 2024

    Down the Stretch for June 24, 2024
    Jun 23 2024
    It was the Alywow Stakes at Woodbine for 3-year-old fillies. Jockey Rafael Hernandez talks about his 5 wins on Fathers’ Day and how that shot him to the top of the jockeys’ standings. The Dads’ Day card at Ajax Downs featured another rendition of the mixed breed competition. James MacDonald couldn’t get a flight to the Meadowlands, but that didn’t keep Hasty Bid out of the winners’ circle. Frank Mirahmadi just completed that 4-day Belmont meet at Saratoga, but we’ve got the entertaining race caller expanding on his winning appearance on the Price is Right. The price was right for anyone hitting the triactor last Tuesday at Royal Ascot and our Aussie correspondent, Ric Chapman filed a story about one punter who cashed very large on the outcome of a dog race.
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    23 mins
  • Down the Stretch for June 17, 2024

    Down the Stretch for June 17, 2024
    Jun 16 2024
    We had another great North America Cup at Mohawk on a night of big money Stakes races. Imagine being John Fielding, the owner of NA Cup winner Nijinsky and you had to watch the race from a wedding in Massachusetts. Driver James MacDonald won a pair of Stakes races Friday at the Meadowlands and scored 3 more wins Saturday at Mohawk. Jockey Rachel Slevinsky is from St. Abert, Alberta; we’ve got her winning at Hawthorne on her birthday. At Ajax Downs last Wednesday, a natural hattrick for Diego Benitez and an unusual double for his younger brother, Christian. We go to Belterra Park where Perry Ouzts, who is almost 70, won 3 times on the same card, and moments of profound relief from Grand River – one horse broke a 53 race losing streak, then another snapped off a 69-race bummer.
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    31 mins
  • Down the Stretch for June 10, 2024

    Down the Stretch for June 10, 2024
    Jun 9 2024
    We couldn’t go to Saratoga for the 4-day Belmont meet, but we have lots of content from the Spa. This podcast has the Fury and Queenston Stakes from Woodbine and the 3 North America Cup Eliminations from Mohawk. Ryan Munger tells us how riding at Woodbine is so much better than what he was doing in South Africa. We love to talk about the daily double and when one paid over $2,400, we threw it into this audio. We’ve got the 1st race on the newly built 5/8ths track at Grand River. Driver Chris Brown carried an 87-race losing streak into a Stakes race at Century Downs – guess what happened? And announcer Peter Berry got a surprise at Mountaineer when a deer interrupted his call.
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    27 mins