This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green look forward to Preakness 149, a race that was drastically changed with the scratch of morning line favorite Muth. How likely is Mystik Dan now to take the Triple Crown’s second jewel? Who are the main contenders left standing in his way? And will this be the last Preakness day before Pimlico is finally brought into the 21st century?The boys are then joined by ace handicapper from DRF/TimeformUS David Aragona to talk about the likely pace scenario...
May 16, 2024•46 min
The stars shined bright all week at Churchill Downs, culminating in a heart-pounding renewal of the Kentucky Derby that went to Mystik Dan in a razor-thin three-horse photo, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green soaked up every last bit of Derby goodness this week on Rail Talk with very, very special guest Mike Tirico.The legendary and incredibly versatile broadcaster sat down with the boys for nearly 40 minutes for a fascinating, engaging and often hilarious discussion on what it’s like to host a five-h...
May 08, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Surprise! It’s a double dose of Rail Talk this week, as Joe Bianca and Jon Green follow up their Derby 150 preview show with an examination of the much-anticipated New York Times documentary Broken Horses. Despite the scary and sensationalist title, Joe and Jon came away feeling like the show did an excellent job telling the entire story of racing in the 21st century—the ills, but also the major effort of the industry to correct and reform itself. After giving their full review, the boys welcome...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 10 min
The milestone 150th running of the Kentucky Derby is almost upon us and to celebrate, Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcomed the ‘Brunette Bonanza’ of America’s Best Racing’s Keeneland Weekend Preview Show to the Rail Talk set! Alexa Zepp, Ren Carothers and Rachel Miller’s show has caught on a ton and with good reason, bringing the humor and levity of racing/handicapping to the forefront. That was obviously a natural fit with Joe and Jon, so all five of them put together a Derby handicapping contest....
May 01, 2024•48 min
This week on Rail Talk: Sales and Slam Dunks! Jon Green and Joe Bianca are back from Ocala with a wrap from the OBS spring sale while they fanboy over the New York teams in the NBA/NHL playoffs.Joining the boys were Boyd Browning, Fasig Tipton’s President and CEO, and Anna Seitz, their Director of Client Relations. They dove into Fasig Tipton’s digital and physical sales, and announced a special flash sale with DJ Stable's Mensa going live today!Amidst the horse talk, they also had a reminisce a...
Apr 25, 2024•59 min•Ep. 40
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green are on-site from Mark Casse's gorgeous training center in Ocala and welcome a star-studded lineup of guests before checking out seven-figure OBS March buy Sandman's latest impressive breeze. Stopping by the set were Casse himself, West Point Thoroughbred's CEO Terry Finley and founder of The Green Group/DJ Stable Len Green. Casse discussed Sandman's rapid progress and the history/legacy of his farm, while Finley touched on a variety of industry is...
Apr 18, 2024•44 min
In the shadow of a cosmic marvel, there were some star performances on the racetrack this weekend with the final round of major Kentucky Derby preps setting the stage for the 150th Run for the Roses, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green teamed up to break it all down. With two clear favorites emerging in Fierceness and Sierra Leone, who else can we expect to shine on the first Saturday in May? The boys then discussed Frankie Dettori’s remarkable six straight wins on Saturday at Santa Anita, DJ Stable’s ...
Apr 09, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 38
It was a busy weekend of Kentucky Derby preps as we inch closer to the 150th Run for the Roses, and Joe Bianca, Jon Green and Tinky broke it all down this week on Rail Talk. Showing us his face for the first time, Tinky (Tony Cobitz) appreciated Fierceness’s monster win in the Florida Derby before examining Todd Pletcher’s poor record in the Derby and what it says about owners of 3-year-old colts. Jon then told us what’s next for DJ Stable’s star colt Hades and the three all discussed former Bob...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 37
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcome the always opinionated and thoughtful owner of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, John Sikura. The three tackle the challenges of introducing new stallions to the market, breeding for heartiness and not just speed, and innovative ways to increase interest/purses at the Breeders’ Cup. Joe and Jon then praise the three sales companies for coming together to institute new, uniform drug policy, analyze 1/ST Racing’s threat to close Santa Anita and appreciate...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Jon Green speaks with Gulfstream Park Handicapper and Paddock Host Samantha Perry about her cross-country journey from Oklahoma quarter horse tracks to the Jersey Shore to South Beach. They also discuss how to handicap races on Gulfstream’s synthetic track and what to look for on Saturday’s Florida Derby card. Jon asks Samantha how being an exercise rider improved her ability to predict winners and how the recently defunct NowNowNow Stakes launched her career as an interviewer.
Mar 26, 2024•40 min
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green are back from Ocala and full of takes. First they discuss the disaster befalling the American betting system on Tampa Bay Derby day and how the sport needs to show more to respect its core customer, the average horseplayer. Then they look forward to Saturday’s Louisiana Derby card and touch on the latest racing Twitter beef. Fresh off his 2,000th career win, the great and always opinionated Kenny McPeek stops by to talk Derby contenders and indust...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 35
This week on Rail Talk, it’s the illuminating second half of Joe Bianca and Jon Green’s conversation with Tony Cobitz, the artist formerly known as Tinky. Continuing their discussion on ‘super trainers’ in general and Bob Baffert specifically, Tony also touched on his Twitter debate with Tom Ryan and the appreciation he has for open, respectful debate. The trio then moved on to the recent Mike Repole and Pat Cummings interview, agreeing that the NTA aftercare initiatives are admirable and right ...
Mar 12, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Horse racing Twitter lightning rod Tinky has returned for his third visit to the Rail Talk studio and this time came prepared to reveal his true identity to the audience. The former clocker, advisor, writer, author, consultant, track analyst, mating analyst, legal expert and jock’s agent joined hosts Joe Bianca and Jon Green to review his many years in the Thoroughbred industry before weighing in on the topics of the day. The trio expounded on the mare cap discussion and Tinky brought a lot of d...
Mar 09, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 33
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green confront the ugly and apparently avoidable loss of Congruent on Saturday at Gulfstream, wondering why and how the system failed another horse whose life had as much value as any superstar runner’s. Joe and Jon then analyzed the latest round of Kentucky Derby preps and welcomed Steve Crist, a Mt. Rushmore-level figure in the worlds of handicapping and turf writing. With Crist, they debated the merits of computer-assisted wagering, how far we’ve com...
Mar 06, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 32
With the racing industry going through a crucial transitional period, Joe Bianca and Jon Green sat down with The Jockey Club President and COO Jim Gagliano for the latest edition of Rail Talk. The three had an expansive discussion on the most pressing issues facing the business and its biggest stakeholders—owners, breeders, horsemen and horseplayers. Topics included: the rollout of HISA, what can be done to attract new bettors to the game, what’s the best way to diversify the gene pool of the U....
Feb 28, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 31
The reaction was overwhelming—both positive and negative—to last week’s episode of Rail Talk, where Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcomed polarizing racing Twitter personality Tinky. So naturally, the boys had him back on this week to respond to the vitriol aimed his way, but also for another substantive, illuminating discussion on the hot-button issues in the sport today. The three tackled the failed proposal of a 140-mare cap for stallions and debated what, if anything, can be done to address the ...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Surprise! It’s a bonus episode of Rail Talk, our second of the week. Only one thing could spur Joe Bianca and Jon Green to return to their mics so quickly—a guest spot by the mysterious and brilliant Tinky. If you’re not familiar, @Tinky47flat has taken horse racing Twitter by storm in recent months with eloquent, funny and insightful posts taking to task some of the biggest names in the game. Clearly well versed in the history of racing, Tinky had heretofore never been seen or heard from outsid...
Feb 23, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to a soggy but star-studded Saturday at Fair Grounds, where progeny of Gun Runner—including impressive Derby contender Sierra Leone—took center stage, as they so often do. They also said farewell to his brilliant daughter Echo Zulu and debated whether or not her career is Hall of Fame-worthy before touching on the issues being caused by the proliferation of computer-assisted wagering. Joe and Jon then welcomed in Ocala Stud general manager D...
Feb 21, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 28
This week on Rail Talk! Joe Bianca and Jon Green, who toughed it out through a case of COVID, discuss two major trainer suspensions and whether or not they were justified before Jon lets it fly on the decisions of certain Eclipse Award voters.Original guest Ren Carothers also stops by to talk about a big weekend of racing at Tampa, a loaded renewal of the Risen Star and how she reacts when someone calls her Mary Poppins, then the boys are joined by special correspondent Skip Anderson for a Valen...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 27
The road to the 150th Kentucky Derby kicked off in earnest this past weekend, and it started with a BANG as Jon and Len Green’s DJ Stable captured the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes with Hades, upsetting Mike Repole’s heavily-favored 2-year-old champion Fierceness in the process. So naturally this week on Rail Talk, Jon and co-host Joe Bianca talked all about that euphoric experience and welcomed in Hades’s trainer Joe Orseno to map out the next few months leading up to the Derby.Of course it wasn’t...
Feb 07, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 26
At the start of the NFL season, Rail Talk hosts Joe Bianca and Jon Green made a friendly wager involving their favorite teams. Though neither the Jets or Giants could be classified as winners this season, Joe’s Jets finished with a better record than Jon’s Giants and as the slightly bigger loser, Jon had to journey from suburban New Jersey all the way to Joe’s Brooklyn apartment to record Episode 25 of Rail Talk. Even more lively when together in person, Joe and Jon give their spicy takes on cer...
Feb 01, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green take an involuntary trip back in time, as Bob Baffert has finally decided to drop his appeal of the 2021 Kentucky Derby disqualification. Will Baffert be welcomed back to the Derby by Churchill Downs now? Would he have even been sanctioned in the first place had he taken responsibility and accepted the decision from the jump?Later, the guys are joined by America’s Best Racing marketing manager Don Tordjman for a fascinating discussion about the ch...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 24
It might be freezing seemingly everywhere, but the cold temperatures also mean we’ve reached foaling and breeding season! This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcome Darley stallion coordinator Elizabeth Masi to learn all about the matings being planned and new life being welcomed into the world on a major stallion farm. Plus she discusses the unique personalities of Darley legends Medaglia d’Oro and Bernardini and shines light on some of the common misconceptions around Thoroughbre...
Jan 17, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 23
We’re welcoming in the New Year on Rail Talk! Jessica Paquette joins hosts Joe Bianca and Jon Green to talk race calling, Parx, combatting sexism in racing, and getting young people into the sport. More money in the pot for the Kentucky Derby tops the Triple Crown news while Maryland racing braces for some big changes. How will Stronach leaving Maryland and the influx of state money affect the Preakness Stakes? Rail Talk welcomes its first special correspondent, Skip Anderson to the show for gam...
Jan 12, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Happy holidays from the Rail Talk team! In this final, bonus episode of 2023, Joe Bianca and Jon Green take on the perplexing decisions of the American Graded Stakes Committee. The AGSC continued its trend of downgrading several historic New York races per year in 2024, while the list of 30 total races downgraded somehow included zero from Kentucky.Joe and Jon asked for more transparency in the decision-making at the very least, and brought on former voting member Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm...
Dec 20, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 21
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green get the rest of the story that 60 Minutes left out of its ‘drugs in racing’ piece with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. The three discuss the reforms racing has implemented *in response* to its doping crisis that are already showing tangible results, making the sport safer and cleaner. To that end, Joe and Jon branch off to celebrate that from their perspectives as horseplayer and owner, they’re seeing way fewer inexplicable results in the HISA era. They al...
Nov 21, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 19
This week on Rail Talk, Joe Bianca and Jon Green react to the biggest news of the week: an expose on doping in horse racing that aired Sunday on legendary news program 60 Minutes. Was the story reported fairly? Or was there too much focus on the sensationalist drug bust of 2020, not enough focus on what racing is doing to clean itself up in the aftermath? Plus, the guys react to the HBPA head predictably making 60 Minutes' broadcast all about himself and his anti-HISA campaign, celebrate the new...
Nov 14, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Fresh off their groundbreaking on-site episode from the plane to the Breeders’ Cup, Joe Bianca and Jon Green were back at their regular stations to break down a phenomenal week of racing and sales on the latest episode of Rail Talk. Jon and Len Green’s DJ Stable had the honor of selling a champion at Fasig-Tipton November’s Night of the Stars in Wonder Wheel, and Jon takes us behind the curtain for all the excitement when their beautiful filly hammered for $3.2 million. Then the boys recap a ter...
Nov 10, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Joe Bianca and Jon Green host the show from this week’s special guest Len Green’s plane en route to the 40th Breeders’ Cup. DJ Stable’s (owned by Len, managed by Jon) Can Group is scheduled to run in the Juvenile Turf on Friday. The hosts cover the news of unfortunate scratches and losses before welcoming Len Green to talk about his fifth successive Breeders’ Cup. Len also shares valuable tax and business advice for individuals in the horse industry. Joe and Jon welcome another passenger from th...
Nov 03, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 16
The countdown to the Breeders’ Cup has entered its final stages, and Joe Bianca and Jon Green welcomed an array of fun guests to get you primed for the 40th renewal of the World Championships this week on Rail Talk. First, the brilliant and hilarious FanDuel/TVG reporter/analyst Andie Biancone stopped by for a rollicking discussion on what she looks for in a horse’s physical appearance, the therapeutic power of horses, handicapping Hong Kong racing and growing up with/working for her quintessent...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 15
