Ron Flatter

CALL TO POST
Monica Benson played at Arlington Park. Steve Buttleman performs at Churchill Downs & Keeneland. Jay Cohen is a Santa Anita fixture. Sam Grossman kept them entertained in New York. Hear the buglers roundtable on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
www.horseracingnation.com/news/Flatter...

MUSING MUSICIANS
These racetrack buglers have some tales to tell. Former Arlington Park performer Monica Benson, Kentucky’s Steve Buttleman, Santa Anita’s Jay Cohen and retired NYRA entertainer Sam Grossman swap stories on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
www.horseracingnation.com/news/Flatter...

Can we call 3-on-3 overtime what it really is? Short-track speed hockey. #Olympics

If the U.S. does not win the semi-final in #Olympics men's hockey, I want to see how consistent the crying will be about the gold-medal game being played Sunday morning. #PrematureExasperation

TOMORROW
Funny stories and horse tales from well-known racetrack buglers. Hear former Arlington Park performer Monica Benson, Kentucky’s Steve Buttleman, Santa Anita’s Jay Cohen and NYRA’s retired Sam Grossman, all on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
horseracingnation.com/content/podcasts

Here is a toast, Ted Blofsky, to your life well-lived. #RIP

I posted this today to the Awesome People of Chico page on Facebook I figured if I could not be there for the memorial this afternoon at Butte Creek, I could write 1,000 words to pay tribute to the late Chico Enterprise-Record sports editor Ted Blofsky.

www.facebook.com/share/p/1HYT...

My rule of thumb on these stadium matters is simple. Bull$#!7 walks. Let me know when someone turns a shovel and fires up a bulldozer. @chicagobearsnews.bsky.social

Basketball’s Avery Johnson uses racetracks to cultivate business. Now he has business ideas for racing. Here is my story at @horseracingnation.bsky.social.

www.horseracingnation.com/news/Avery_J...

📷 @kentuckyderby.bsky.social / YouTube

I had a few occasions to deal with #DougMoe. My favorite story about him was written by Gene Wojciechowski in his book Pond Scum. It had to do coffee on an airplane. Decency prevents me from going further here. You can find it. The laughs make the search worth it. #RIP

From Gulfstream Park.

As you clearly can see. @espn.com

I don’t want to say the IOC is overprotective, but I had a dream the other night. I was skiing in Cortina. Just as I was about to go down the hill, the ghost of Avery Brundage woke me up.

Remember Les Bois Park? The old grandstand has been refurbished and turned into the centerpiece of a new stadium for the AC Boise soccer team. #RIP
📷 ThisIsBoise / IG

Here are the @kentuckyderby.bsky.social futures odds from the @churchilldowns.bsky.social pari-mutuel pool that closed Sunday at 6 p.m. EST and the fixed prices at @caesarssports.bsky.social Nevada after the Sunland Derby. The first page is the KDFW from Churchill. The last three are from Caesars.

What time does the All-Star Game tip off?

New #Daytona500 winner #TylerReddick is from Corning, Calif. Actually from Flournoy. He told the @nytimes.com six years ago he did Power Wheels commercials as a kid. #ActionNewsNow? You have your assignment.

From Gulfstream Park:

“Effective immediately, all scratched horses will be put on a 10-day no entry list regardless of reason.”

FOR LOVE OF HORSES
Hear an archived interview in a tribute to the late trainer John Shirreffs. Plus guests Avery Johnson of basketball fame and pioneering jockey Terry West share their Thoroughbred stories on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
www.horseracingnation.com/news/Flatter...

These two graded stakes started 48 seconds apart and, thus, overlapped.

“Stuns”?

PIONEERS IN RACING
Avery Johnson goes from basketball to Breeders’ Cup ambassador. Terry West makes history as a jockey turned Maryland racing commissioner. Hear them on this Black History Month episode of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
www.horseracingnation.com/news/Flatter...

BLACK HISTORY MONTH
They have stories about their lives around horses. Basketball’s Avery Johnson and pioneering jockey Terry West have ideas about how racing can do a better job attracting minority participants. Hear them on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
www.horseracingnation.com/news/Flatter...

The @todayshow.com just did a live, five-minute interview with IOC president Kirsty Coventry. Plenty of talk about adorable mascots. Not one word or mention of Vladyslav Heraskevych.

A sweet man who always had a kind word. More than the trainer of Zenyatta, Giacomo & Baeza, #JohnShirreffs was a USMC vet who shared a love of history. He sent me a pristine, digital copy of the 1st 1905 Belmont Park program. I cherish it even more now. #RIP, John.
📸 1/ST TV

TOMORROW
Basketball’s Avery Johnson and pioneering jockey Terry West talk about their lives around horses and their successful moves into business and racing administration. Hear them this week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod.
horseracingnation.com/content/podcasts

By a vote of 77-34, the 2026 decoupling bill passed in the Florida house as it did 10 months ago. It faces a more uncertain fate in the Senate, where it died without a floor vote last year.

McGuigan said more than $160 million in construction projects have been awarded at Pimlico. He said the shift of a training center to Laurel “complicated” the new infrastructure plans at Pimlico. He also said final terms of Laurel’s sale from Stronach were not final yet.

McGuigan told the Maryland Racing Commission that a 1,000-seat event center originally proposed to adjoin the new clubhouse at Pimlico has been scrapped to save money.