Down The Stretch Podcast

The biggest night at Mohawk featured multiple Stakes races including the $1 Million North America Cup. On the thoroughbred side, after almost 2 months of racing at Woodbine, the leading Stakes winning trainer is Dale Desruisseaux. He talks with us about his 4 Stakes wins. The 4-year-old Conn Smythe won again to become the first horse to capture 3 races this year.Which Canadian-born trainer has won the most races in the last decade at Saratoga? Her name is Melanie Giddings and we got her on the phone.The Fort Erie jockeys paid an emotional farewell to Francine Villeneuve, the Queen of Fort Erie. And we pay our weekly visit to Ajax Downs to see how the quarter horses are running. Spoiler alert – they’re running really fast.

Kentucky Derby preps take us to Turfway Park in Kentucky and to Tokyo. We have Canadians winning at Gulfstream – Melanie Giddings, Kevin Attard and Marty Drexler in the winners’ circle. We followed James MacDonald to Brisbane, Australia to see how he did in the Ultimate Driving Championship, and we also have a story about older brother Mark Macdonald, who has overcome some major health problems and is now ready to drive permanently at Mohawk. If you had to choose between an overweight senior citizen podcaster or a slimmed down professional jockey, who would you predict could do the most pushups? We talk fitness with retired rider now racing judge Justin stein and you just might be surprised. Are the slots at racetracks a deal with Satan? Trainer Mark Casse talks about the likelihood that Gulfstream’s casino will mean the end of Gulfstream’s horse racing. And how did basketball superstar Nicola Jokic respond when asked what he would prefer – to be the MVP each year or to see his harness horses win?

We start with wins at Gulfstream from Bill Tharrenos and Josie Carroll, then give you Kentucky Derby Preps from Aqueduct, Oaklawn, Tampa Bay and Santa Anita. A little boasting – the website MillionPodcasts has put Down The Stretch in the Top 10 in the world for harness racing coverage. Accordingly, we interview O’Brien Award winning driver, Damian Maclellan and Travis Cullen, who insists his lead in the Mohawk drivers’ standings is not permanent. And east coast race caller Boomer Gallant and his brood were on Family Feud. Too bad he broke stride in the bonus round.

This jam-packed episode includes: + Pietro Moran winning an Eclipse Award, even if they got his name wrong + The $3 Million Pegasus taken by a longshot + Wins in the US by Josie Carroll, the Ontario-bred Uncle Cat and John Bianco with Acoustic Ave at Aqueduct + Patrick Husbands is retiring...or is he? We’re not sure after talking with his agent Leroy Trotman + The Trotter Perfetto joins the million-dollar club + Daryl Ezra is back training and tells us why you need him to handle your horse + The wonderful Had to be Fabulous is once again Canadian Quarter Horse of the Year. We’ve got the filly’s owner, Carol Robertson talking about it + Who is Will Rixon and why is Australia singing about him? + And how would you feel after betting a ridiculous amount of money on a horse, seeing it win and then not cashing a cent?

Marvin Katz is this year’s Cam Fella Award winner. Katz tells us how surprised and grateful he is for this honor. This is - in Chinese astrology - the Year of the Horse. Astrologer Sam Mukherjee breaks down what this means and we identify famous people born in the Year of the Horse - Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood, Jerry Steinfeld, Adam Sandler, Joe Biden, Denzel Washington and Steven Bahen. Harness driver Tyler Borth kicked off 2026 with a tsunami of wins and we ask if he belongs among the elite drivers at Mohawk. We remember Dianne Crump, the first woman in North America to ride in a pari-mutuel horse race. We go to Charles Town racetrack in West Virginia for a win by trainer Steven Chircop and to Gulfstream for a longshot that came out of the clouds for Marty Drexler.. And 2 horses named Best Bet – one paid over $70 to win and the other flopped at even money.