- 10/28/2011

Roundtable: Countdown to the Breeders' Cup

Handicappers Jeff Carle and Jeanne Wood from Capital OTB, and The Saratogian’s Nicole Russo will be featured in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s annual Countdown to the Breeders’ Cup program on Saturday, Oct. 29. The program begins at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The popular program in the Museum’s Hall of Fame Gallery features video from important Breeders’ Cup prep races provided by Capital OTB TV and an audience-driven discussion with the panel. Guests will receive complimentary issues of the Breeders’ Cup Advance, published by Daily Racing Form, and the Breeders’ Cup preview issue of The Blood-Horse. The 28th Breeders’ Cup World Championships will take place on Nov. 4-5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Carle was the leading apprentice jockey at the Belmont spring and fall meets in 1989, as well as that year’s Saratoga meet. He won 290 races during his career and had purse earnings in excess of $5.3 million. After his riding career ended because of injuries, Carle turned to training. He operated a public stable for 10 years and won several stakes races. A year-round Saratoga resident, Carle has appeared on a variety of OTB programs and has produced several news and feature stories for the network. Wood has been a program host and handicapper at Capital OTB since 1998. Among the programs she hosts are Horses ’n Courses, a weekly recap of stakes races, and Saratoga Newsdesk, a live program from Capital OTB’s summer studio at Saratoga Race Course. Russo is The Saratogian’s sports editor and a turf writer. She oversees the paper’s popular racing supplement, The Pink Sheet, and also writes the “Hoofbeats” racing blog and the “Rising Stars” column. She is also a volunteer at Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Greenfield Center. Brien Bouyea, the Museum’s communications officer, will serve as the program’s host. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------