Rail Talk Episode 80: Florida Horsemen Fight Back

This week on Rail Talk! We break some major news, as longtime Kentucky state senator Damon Thayer and Ocala Stud general manager David O’Farrell join the show to announce the creation of the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative, an alliance of major stakeholders organizing to stop the potentially devastating decoupling efforts in Florida. Thayer, whose experience includes spearheading the passage of historical horse racing legislation that’s been a boon for Kentucky racing and O’Farrell, whose family stallion/breeding farm has operated in Florida for 70 years, lay out the steps being taken as we speak in Tallahassee to secure a long-term future for the sport in the Sunshine State. They also discuss potential future interventions by the TRI to help racing fight existential crises across the country. Joe and Jon also discuss Equibase’s plan to create a rating system to replace some claiming and allowance races, hopefully increasing field size and decreasing the amount of times horses have to change stables. They then touch on Magnitude’s blowout win in the Risen Star and look forward to this weekend’s Rebel in updating their Mage Rags Kentucky Derby contest standings.