As you can imagine, it’s been a whirlwind of a day. Thank you all so much for so many of your positive messages. Please know I am reading through all of them and will get back to as many as I can. From the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate them!
I am so honored to be the…
Oaklawn Jockey Club in Hot Springs announced Friday that Matt Dinerman has been hired as the track announcer for the upcoming Thoroughbred racing season, which begins December 8.
#oaklawn
#oaklawnracing
Read Press Release:
@RealSkipBayless
This poor man’s life is at stake and players are emotionally traumatized. And your worried about playoff implications? That’s disgusting. You should be ashamed.
Today is my last day calling races at
@GGFracing
. These last six years have been a blast-making lifelong friends, calling great races, meeting lots of amazing fans, and watching very talented horse people do what they do best: working with our wonderful horses.
The community at…
I’m elated to be joining Team
@MonmouthPark
. We’re gonna have a GREAT time!
I’m blown away by the overwhelming level of support & positive messages. Thank you all so much. I feel so lucky & fortunate to have been given such amazing opportunities in my racing career to date.
Meet OLIVIER.
He is a 3 YO full brother to FLIGHTLINE. The son of Tapit out of Grade 3 winner, multiple Grade 1 placed mare Feathered resides in the
@BrissetRodolphe
barn and worked a half mile at
@OaklawnRacing
on Saturday morning.
This decade changed my life. I finished my education, completed my athletic career & have a job I absolutely love-my dream job! To industry personnel & fans: Thank you for giving this “youngster” a chance.
I’ve made so many great friends along the way. I ❤️ our racing community!
Our industry is not perfect. No industry is perfect.
But to the mainstream news outlets who are saying the KY Derby & horse racing is shamed by this KY Derby DQ...that's ridiculous.
I'm quite proud of our sport & our amazing horses & jockeys who compete in it. Amazing athletes!
In a year full of bizarre stories & heartbreak, Swiss Skydiver gives us all a reason to smile today. That was so cool. What a neat filly.
I didn't play her but it doesn't matter.
Swiss Skydiver...you made the racing world a happier place putting on a performance like that.
A girl bagging my groceries at the store said to me, “You have a really beautiful smile.”
Leaving, I started to think about how these random expressions of kindness-sometimes just a nice compliment-can go a long way in making somebody feel great.
The world needs more kindness.
As hard as this is to watch, we all should.
These horses are amazing animals. Maple Leaf Mel should be remembered as a filly who gave her connections so much happiness, and the fans an exciting sprinter to watch.
She will be missed.
Terrible times one billion.
Rest in Piece to my dear Auntie Toni, who passed away today at the hands of this truly terrible COVID-19.
Continue to social distance, wash your hands and take this seriously. Stay healthy for not only yourselves, but for all people-especially those that are at “high risk”.
I like what Gary West is saying about grooms. He’s right; they don’t get the credit they deserve.
As far as I’m concerned, the grooms of these horses should be flown out to the Eclipse Awards. They work harder than anyone.
We had a special guest on the track this morning at
@OaklawnRacing
.
Breeders Cup sprint champ WHITMORE was feeling his oats this AM. He could probably run in a race today if they put him in the gate.
@RonMoquett
@MoquettRacing97
On my trip to Santa Anita yesterday, this moment really stood out. It was special moment for me.
For those who opt to read this, thanks for taking the time to do so.
Not only is Bill Mott a legend of a trainer, but he’s also a heck of a nice guy.
And universally loved by Racing Twitter!
We had an awesome
@OaklawnRacing
kickoff banquet. Bill was the guest speaker w/
@NancyUryHolthus
, & owner Frank Fletcher also made a fine showing on stage.
This gives me chills just like the race itself sometimes. A dedicated, hard working groom cheering on his horse!!! For these grooms, the horses they take care of are part of their family. Beautiful stuff.
In 16 days, we’ll all get extra text messages than normal. An assortment of messages from people who we hear from once a year, every year, asking us who we like in the Kentucky Derby.
And after a brief exchange, we won’t hear from them again until Kentucky Derby Day 2022.
His last race is a perfect example of how hard Battle Of Midway tried. He was a BEAUTIFUL horse, had an athletic & fluid stride & tried so hard every race.
Condolences to his connections and all the fans who loved him. Every time we lose an equine athlete, it’s a tragedy.
Someone just PM’d me: “You say a lot of stupid things. You’re an embarrassment to horse racing.” That person is now blocked.
I love my job & I love doing what I can to help the horseplayers & horsemen that support Golden Gate & the sport. And I’ll continue to do that.
It was a phenomenal Arkansas Derby Day. People were having a great time out there today and the atmosphere was simply electric at
@OaklawnRacing
!
Thanks to all who helped make this a great day.
Kudos to KY Derby winning jockey Sonny Leon, who gave Rich Strike as good of a ride as any jockey could have given that horse.
Honestly, there are so many solid jockeys out there that can get the job done if given the chance. They just need the right opportunities.
Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby is the most surprising, ridiculous, insane, impossible, flabbergasting, astounding, speechless type of result there could have been.
Where in the world did that come from? Holy smokes.
Mage was last seen losing to the Kentucky Derby favorite Forte…
It’s amazing how simple that could have been for us handicappers. Pick the horse who finished behind Forte!!
If you had him, well done. In retrospect, 15-1 was a terrific price.
After every race day at
@GGFracing
, people line up to take pictures. Some even sit with their friends or partner and just watch the sunset for a while.
Here’s today’s scene.
Bill Mott is such an incredible trainer. His horses run well no matter where they travel. Great with turf and dirt horses. Routers and sprinters. They always physically look great. He knows how to develop young horses and keep them going as time goes on.
A world class horseman.
From yesterday:
“The Coach” D WAYNE LUKAS (cowboy hat) with a youngster he picked from the crowd after winning Saturday’s eighth race at
@OaklawnRacing
.
Wayne brings kids to the winners circle after every race he wins to try to give kids a special experience at the track.…
Medina Spirit was always the little engine that could. He wasn’t a very big horse but he tried, tried, tried. I’m going to miss him.
I’ll remember him as a horse who tried. A horse who did his best.
All we as beings can do is our best and that in itself is admirable.
Omaha Beach probably has as much raw talent as most of the great horses of this decade.
He's definitely a "throwback", old school horse: he is built like a tank but can run any distance, is simply fast and strong and athletic and versatile and gutsy and...the whole package.
In Race 7, a first time starter was acting up in the paddock.
The jockey changed his silks because he felt his filly didn’t like the light green & yellow colors of the silks. When he wore black silks, his filly was fine, relaxed & let him hop on.
I’ve never seen that before.
Steve Asmussen fixing up VALENTINE CANDY during a schooling session this AM. The son of Triple Crown winner JUSTIFY is the 2-1 morning line favorite in tomorrow’s 150k Advent Stakes at
@OaklawnRacing
.
Dear Racing Twitter friends,
Stay healthy & positive. Thanks to all horseplayers/fans & horsemen for supporting GGF & the rest of the world of ‘racing.
If we continue to do our best in everything we do, things will work out.
Sending you & your family love & well wishes,
-Matt
Midnight Bisou ran too good to lose. It's great to see her return in 2020; she loves to run and loves to compete. Thank you
@BloomRacing
for keeping her in training for another year!
The news of Omaha Beach scratching is a tough pill to swallow.
Really feel bad for Richard Mandella, the Porter Family, Mike Smith, Omaha Beach’s groom & his exercise rider Taylor Cambra.
Luckily, Omaha Beach will come back better & stronger. They are doing right by him.
Talk about the agony of defeat. No matter where you stand on the DQ, have to feel for jockey Luis Saez who waited through a 22 minute review only to find out that he and Maximum Security were being taken down.
#KyDerby
Just signed the contract to call races at the Santa Rosa Wine Country Racing Meet of 2023
@horseracetips
.
We had such a blast year. Very kind of the management to consider and ask me to come back to be their voice for a second season. The summer just got a little sweeter!🍷
What a terrific day at
@OaklawnRacing
. 40,000+ people here today and the atmosphere was ELECTRIC. Calling the Rebel was a real thrill!
Thanks to everyone who supported Oaklawn. On to tomorrow with 10 more, first post back to 12:30 PM CT.
After I keyed
#1
Modern Games in my Pick 5 (and lost)…went to get a snack from a vending machine at the track.
The vending machine ate my dollar.
I think I’m just gonna go home now.
5 racing days in the books at
@OaklawnRacing
. We’ll be back at it on Friday, December 29!
The best thing so far has been all the nice people I’ve met here. Really great community. They have been so hospitable & kind to the new kid on the block! Oaklawn is a really cool place.
Swiss Skydiver and Whitmore are cool horses campaigned on good horsemanship. Their connections should be praised for not only keeping them around to race but doing a great job on keeping them healthy and going well for so long.
As a kid, the tradition the day after Christmas was to voyage north to
@santaanitapark
with Dad for graded stakes races, enjoying the racing scene and people, and an overall good time.
Today, Dad and I rolled out that tradition after a pause of 8 years (we’ll do anything for a…
It's truly amazing how Maximum Security had that colic episode just a month ago & today he's beating these nice older horses like it's nothing. He's game and all heart.
He's an amazing horse.
REAL TALK to Racing Twitter: If we want to improve horse racing, changing the Triple Crown schedule isn’t anywhere close to the top of list of things we need to do.
Let’s use our energy to talk about making racing safer with strict and proven to work protocols, fan education,…
Albert Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place to live. Not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
We must do everything we can to keep our children safe.
It’s not about politics. It’s about morality.
Was playing this game for a little while. Us racing people who have been in Vegas are quite familiar with it. 😀
Started talking to the woman next to me for a while. I told her I called races and she didn’t believe me!!! I had to show her Google to prove it. 🤦🏻♂️
Tamara’s move on the turn looked like Beholder’s when she won the Pacific Classic. It was like a shorter version of the Classic years ago.
Tamara moves a lot like Beholder too.
MINI BEHOLDER is a superstar…like her mom!! Very cool.
Flightline is an all time great horse.
It’s irrelevant whether he’s “the best” or “the fifth best.” He’s a GREAT horse.
He’s an all time great and one of the more impressive athletes on this planet.
Our sweet little ANGEL crossed the rainbow bridge this morning at the age of 14 & 1/2. She has her heavenly wings now.
You gave us so much joy and smiles. We will miss you, sweet girl.❤️
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss
Here’s something I have never seen before in any horse race of any breed.
Race 1: 10-year-old mare Dream Pearl (pictured) wins an Arabian bred stake.
30 min. later in Race 2: 3-year old filly Dreamm runs third. Dreamm is out of the mare Dream Pearl…the winner of the 1st race.
When Maximum Security unofficially won the Kentucky Derby, Abel Cedillo was in the
@GGFracing
jockeys room.
If I told him that day, "In 2020 you're going to ride that horse", he probably would have laughed and told me I was out of my mind.
Being upset with the change in distance of the Belmont Stakes=
#firstworldproblems
.
It’s still a Grade 1, it’s still going to attract the best 3-year-olds and it’s still a $1,000,000 race. What’s wrong with that?
It’ll be a great race. It is what it is.
That concludes our Winter/Spring meet at
@GGFracing
.
To horseplayers & other fans: thank you for your support. Every day, I go into the announcers booth thinking of you & I do the best I can to help make your experience viewing/listening to our races more enjoyable and fun.
Maximum Security is a winner in every sense of the word. Don’t question it. Just accept he’s a really cool horse!!!
Also happy for Abel Cedillo & Juan Hernandez, who were riding great at Golden Gate not so long ago & now just ran 1-2 in the biggest summer race at Del Mar.
El Camino Real Derby winner and Lexington Stakes/Sunland Derby runner up Anothertwistafate looking fresh and feeling good this morning at
@GGFracing
. He will have one more workout here this weekend before shipping to
@PimlicoRC
for the
@PreaknessStakes
.
The fact that Chic Anderson, Trevor Denman, Tom Durkin, Phil Georgeff and Dave Johnson aren’t in the Racing Hall of Fame is a little crazy to me.
I guess I’m biased, but announcers should 100% be in the Hall of Fame. Every other sport has announcers in their HOF’s.
Well, my account has hit 12,000 followers. The only thing that number means to me is that I’ve met many, many very nice people who share a love & passion for horse racing. And many kind people who have helped me & taught me many things along the way.
Thanks for your friendship.
Honor A.P. retiring is a real bummer. He probably would have been like Gun Runner; really good this year & even better as he matured in 2021.
That's why it's important to appreciate the guys & gals like Tom's d'Etat, Maximum Security, Improbable, Midnight Bisou & Monomoy Girl.
I just watched a bunch of Zenyatta replays.
There’s not another horse in my lifetime that gives me chills & gets my heart pounding the way she does. I still get the rush watching even knowing the result of the race.
It affirms just how special she was.
Arcangelo's story is certainly a neat one.
@jenaantonucci
and her team did what was right by the horse by taking their time with him. He's a late bloomer but now he's blossomed and he's at the top of his division.
Well done Arcangelo. And his team!
Winx traveled the last 200 meters of her race yesterday in 11.20 seconds.
That is rolling, especially when you take into account she wasn’t asked for her best.
It’s still mind boggling that there are people out there that don’t think she can compete with the best in the world.
If you want to show people learning about horse racing that horses do know what racing is and they do try to win, show them the 2021 Apple Blossom.
Monomoy Girl had Letruska beat and Letruska came back and just out gamed a champion. That was special!
As a person who works in the racing industry, I am forever indebted to the horseplayers and owners for their support of our sport.
Thank you ladies and gentleman. Without you, we wouldn’t have the show we can provide to you every race day.
Five years at
@GGFracing
has been nothing short of a blessing. What a wonderful experience it’s been with so many people to thank for that. Cheers to Year 6!
Excited to be heading to SARATOGA for the very first time with Papa Dinerman on Opening Week in July. It’s going to be a blast. It will be great to meet lots of people for the first time!
It’s been four years at
@GGFracing
and what a ride it’s been.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Golden Gate Fields and also for kind tweets of support and interaction.
One of the most underrated issues in racing: tracks running on top of one another.
It upsets customers to no end, and tracks lose TONS of money. TONS. Tens of millions. If not higher as time accrues. I’ve got numbers to prove it. Me and a friend have done extensive studies on…
In order to experience any racetrack, it's always fun to walk around the entire facility. Watch races from different spots. Talk to people. Explore the paddock area. Get something good to eat. Big or small, every racetrack has its own unique culture and is special in its own way.
To watch Cody's Wish win the way he did in a Breeders Cup race for his buddy, young Cody Dorman, was really a magical thing. You won't find a more heartwarming story out there.
I had to hold tears back watching Cody and his family celebrate. Wow. That was quite the moment.
A quiet morning on the lake…enjoying the calm when it’s here because it’ll be very lively come race time at
@OaklawnRacing
!
Opening Day is here! 10 races, 1st post 12:30 PM. Hot Springs is raring to go.
@NancyUryHolthus
&
@crystaljockey
are eager too & it’s going to be GREAT to…
There are a million ways to lose a horse race.
This happened on Saturday.
#2
Macho Chrome was a first time starter who had never experienced cheering from the grandstand…
What a brutal beat.