Podcast Playback: Quotes of Interest from Aug. 19-25

The Show: BloodHorse Monday, Aug. 24 The speaker: Kentucky Downs vice president of racing Ted Nicholson The topic: Kentucky Downs' decision to increase the minimum bet for win, place, and show wagers from $2 to $5, while lowering the takeout on a number of its wagers for this year's meet that begins Aug. 29 and runs through Sept. 9. Nicholson noted that young people are comfortable with the higher minimum and having larger payouts show up in those windows should be attractive for the track. The quote: "For any kind of changes we make, we have the luxury of only running seven days. When you only run seven days, you can make changes or try things that other tracks just can't do. … We just thought it's a seven-day race meet; if we're wrong and we get a lot of negative feedback on this, we can always adjust next year. "But, I will tell you, I was getting text messages from five or six general managers from throughout the country going, 'Oh my, I wish I could do that. I wish we could try that but we run 75 days and if we're wrong, we're going to get killed and everybody is going to throw slings and arrows at us.' We just decided, let's take a shot and if we're right, we're right; and if we're wrong, we can always adjust for next year." The Show: HRRN Equine Forum, Aug. 22 The speaker: Trainer Dale Romans, who is also president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and a board member of the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation The topic: How the investigation of owner and horseplayer Marshall Gramm into his alleged hack into Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority records on horse health should be handled by HISA, which has said it plans to provide information to local and federal law enforcement The quote: "There's always going to be people doing things they shouldn't be doing. He got caught. That's a good thing. I think (HISA) should turn it over to the FBI. … Using (the hacked information) for gambling is bad but using it to claim other people's horses is even worse. It's privileged information. We put all our vet records in a portal. Everybody has their own codes to get to their records. … If you're looking in there and claiming people's horses and you have inside information, it should be criminal, I would think. I hope they turn it over to the FBI and let them investigate and see where it goes." The Show: At The Races With Steve Byk, Aug. 20 The speaker: Racing Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who conditions Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Magnitude The topic: Training up Magnitude to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland off his disappointing sixth-place finish in the Aug. 8 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, which followed back-to-back grade 1 victories The quote: "Our new plan is training him straight up to the Breeders' Cup Classic. He's been training well this week; we have a plan in place, and we know how well he runs fresh. We're going to shoot for the stars. … We know what his best race is and we need to find it for the Breeders' Cup."