Winning Ponies

Old Friends' founder and President Michael Blowen discovered his unique bond with Thoroughbreds while working as a volunteer groom at Suffolk Downs during the 1990s, eventually buying and racing a small stable of claiming-level horses before leaving his position as Arts & Entertainment reporter and film critic for The Boston Globe to become operations director for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Blowen will look back on last year and forward to next year at Old Friends Farm. In the second segment Ed Meyer prior host on this show, is currently the track announcer and odds maker at the new Belterra Park, on the site of the old River Downs, He will join John in handicapping the $500,000 Gr. 1 Forego Stakes, the $750,000 Gr. 1 Woodward Stakes and the $250,000 Gr. 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap all from Saratoga; and on the west coast they will analyze the $250,000 Gr. 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes at Del Mar.