TDN Writers' Room Podcast

Mark Casse is among the hottest trainers in America, was recently named Chairman of the Board of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company, and continues to help lead the fight to save racing in South Florida. So, there was plenty to talk about when the Hall of Fame trainer joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Casse was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. Casse will head into the weekend with 17 wins from 38 starters at Oaklawn, good for a win rate of 45%. He bolstered his...

These are not easy times for Illinois horsemen, who have already lost Arlington Park and may soon see the area's remaining Thoroughbred track go under. After the Illinois Racing Board, citing financial instability, which included the bouncing of checks, pulled the plug on the track's Standardbred meet in January, there's no telling whether or not a reeling Hawthorne will be able to open its doors when the Thoroughbred meet is supposed to start March 29. Chris Block, the president of the local horsemen's group, is fighting the good fight to...

It was a good year for the new management team at the Maryland racetracks, where the average daily handle at Laurel was up 13.49 percent and average per-race handle increased by 14.29 percent. To talk about what went right for Maryland racing last year, the future of the GI Preakness Stakes, the decision to form a circuit with Colonial Downs, and to report on the rebuild of Pimlico, Bill Knauf, the president and general manager of the nonprofit Maryland Jockey Club, joined the team for this week's TDN Writers' Room...

The TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland returned this week with its first podcast of 2026, and the guest was John Sikura, the owner of Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa. Sikura was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. While there were several subjects to discuss with Sikura, the prominent farm owner largely focused his attention on racing in California, its problems and what he sees as the industry's obligation to improve the situations at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos. "We need to fix this today," he said....

Despite a successful career in which he won 1,871 races, jockey Trevor McCarthy announced his retirement in April. He admitted that he was "miserable" and that the many problems that come with being a jockey, especially one who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, had caused him serious mental health problems. In November, it was announced that McCarthy had taken on a new job as HISA's Jockey Wellness Consultant. To talk about his battles, his new job, his current state of mind and why he walked away from the sport...

Dale Romans is among the most successful trainers in the history of Kentucky racing. He's the all-time leading trainer in terms of wins at Churchilll Downs, has won the GI Preakness Stakes and upset Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) with Keen Ice (Curlin) in the 2015 GI Travers S. But he's looking for a career change. Last week, trainer Romans announced that he'd like to become U.S. Senator Romans, representing Kentucky. He announced his candidacy and has entered the Democratic primary. To discuss why he is running...

Damon Thayer has retired from his job as the Senate Majority Floor Leader in the state of Kentucky, where he was one of horse racing's staunchest and most important allies. Thayer may no longer be walking the halls of the Capitol in Frankfort, but he is still working hard to help the sport he loves. He is now a senior advisor with Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI), a group devoted to stopping decoupling efforts at Gulfstream Park and to see to it that racing in South Florida remains a vital part...

Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman handicap the Breeders' Cup races for 2025, offering their selections and analysis.

Brook Smith doesn't own many horses, but when he gets involved with one, things always seem to go right. The latest example is Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), the winner of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic and a top contender for this year's $7-million race. Along with the same ownership group that is dominated by Coolmore, Smith also owns a piece of the fast 2-year-old Schwarzenegger (Not This Time), who is pre-entered for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. To talk about such things as his Breeders' Cup horses,...

Trainer Will Walden has come a long way in a short period of time. Training only since 2022, through Tuesday, he had 35 wins on the year from 141 starters for a win rate of 25%. His stable's earnings stood at $3.384 million. It's been a good year, in part because of a very good day. Walden won his first Grade I race last Saturday at Keeneland when the New York-bred Rhetorical (Not This Time) won the GI Coolmore Turf Mile. It was an important step for a trainer who...

After years as the COO of his family's Three Chimneys Farm, which was bought by the Borges Torrealba family in 2013, Case Clay was ready for a change. So in 2022 he moved full-time to his own business, Case Clay Thoroughbred Management Since then, he has also become the racing manager for Wathnan Racing, which is the Emir of Qatar's stable. On the racetrack, Wathnan is one of the fastest-growing racing operations in the world. Racing in the U.S. for less than two years, Wathnan has won the GI Dubai...

Chris Heyde is the founder of Blue Marble Strategy and is a Washington D.C. lobbyist who has dedicated his career to animal welfare issues. Along the way, he has had some important successes, including effectively ending horse slaughter in the U.S. But one main goal remains and has been elusive. Heyde has been fighting for passage of the Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, which would prohibit the slaughter of horses in the U.S. as well as ban the shipping of them to slaughterhouses in the Mexico and Canada. Heyde...