Brian Skirka, Monmouth Park’s Marketing Manager / Woodbine Trainer Kevin Attard / Equine Assisted Learning Centre’s Danni Canfield

Ponies 24-7 The Radio Magazine

Larry and Ann are joined by Brian Skirka, Monmouth Park’s Marketing Manager, who discusses todays $ 1 Million Haskell Stakes for three-year-old's and who he believes are some of the logical contenders to win the race. He also discusses the track itself and why it is doing a good job in attracting new fans and how he became part of Monmouth Park and some of the major promotions and initiatives he has had the opportunity to work on during his time there. Woodbine Trainer Kevin Attard,, who talks about the fact that today he has five horses racing in the Woodbine Oaks and whether he remembers any other time when he had multiple entries like today and how challenging it is to hold in his emotions when racing several horses in the same race like he is doing today. Kevin also discusses his horse in the Plate Trial today, Jokestar and also mentions about his horse Moira and whether he was pleased with her performance last Saturday at Saratoga when she finished a close second in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes and what the plans call for with Moira going forward this racing season. Equine Assisted Learning Centre’s Danni Canfield, who discusses the work that the facility continues to do and how an arrangement came to fruition with LongRun for supplying horses to the Centre. Danni also talks about how she became involved with the EALC and what the plans are going forward to keep the program viable in the future. In our feature, ‘In Case You Missed It’ A Look At The Way It Was In Horse Racing News, Larry talks about the weather conditions in the past week and the interuptions they caused to Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk Park and also about Jockey Rico Walcott, who is battling a brain tumour again and will be taking holistic treatments in the Honduras. In our new regular feature, ‘Road Trip,’ Larry talks about this afternoon’s $1 Million Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park and mentions about some of the history behind the race itself and who he believes the race ‘goes through’ today. He also provides his ‘Ponies Picks of the Day’ selections for several North American Racetracks today, later in the show.

Key Points:

• Brian talks first about today’s stakes card at Monmouth Park and in particular the $1 Million Haskell Stakes and drills down on the race and mentions who he believes is the horse to beat and why. He also mentions why winning the Haskell is very important for a starting berth in the Breeders Cup Classic and talks about why there could be a couple of last minute scratched today, from the Haskell field. Bryan also mentions some of the initiatives that they have introduced at the Monmouth that have helped to successfully improve the racing experience, while serving to continue to attract a new demographic to the horse racing product and how he ended up working at Monmouth Park several years ago. He also talks about the long-time history behind the racetrack and why this history continues to assist Monmouth continues in selling horse racing to more race fans.

• Kevin discusses todays $500,000 Woodbine Oaks, a race that he has five of the fourteen fillies entered and breaks down the chances of each one and mentions how he controls his emotions when he has several horses entered in the same race. Kevin also talks about the Plate Trial, also at Woodbine today and his horse Jokestar and how he thinks this horse will fare against the other 3-year-olds entered. Kevin also discusses his Champion mare Moira and her second-place finish in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday and whether he was pleased with the performance off a layoff and what are the plans going forward for her. He also mentions about his current season and whether there have been any disappointments and talks about his horse Fashionably Fab, who is also racing today in a stakes event at Woodbine and why she has continued to improve over the past year and a half.

• Danni discusses how she became involved with the Equine Assisted Learning Centre in 2019 and talks about some of the work that is being done there. She also mentions how an arrangement with LongRun came about and why the donated LongRun horses have special attributes that seem to work well with the EALC programs. Danni also discusses the Centre’s location and some of the work that is being done with clients and whether these clients eventually leave the Learning Centre and take on new ‘lives. She also talks about what the plans are for the Equine Assisted Learning Centre going forward and how she originally became involved with horses that eventually led to an introduction to the EALC and mentions some of the Client issues that are being worked on regularly.