Players’ Podcast–Monday, December 1–Andrew Cotter, Kim Weir

***Please note this was done with AI and likely contains errors and inaccuracies. ***

A special message before we get today’s show off and rolling. Welcome to the world. Emmett Carol coat ni born at two 34 on the last day of November in 2020. Weighing seven pounds, 12 ounces, mom, Nancy and baby are happy. Drew hanging in there as well. It sounds like though, he’s less important than those other two, but welcome to the world.

My favorite thing about this gig is getting to do messages like this. Emmett Carol Kourtney. Can’t wait to meet you.

Hello and welcome to the, in the money players [00:01:00] podcast. This is our show for Tuesday, December 1st, giving Tuesday the pub date. Also have a book we’re going to be talking about in a little bit, definitely a departure today. Something very different. Listen, let me apologize in advance. Most of this show was recorded on a microphone I’m not used to using, and it doesn’t sound very good.

Won’t be using it again. So my audio for the rest of this show, not up to snuff. Uh, it’s I corrected it for the intro and outro. Doesn’t do you guys all that much? Good, but anyway, hopefully it won’t make you crazy. Um, the show today we’ve got Andrew Cotter, uh, fantastic sports broadcaster gained viral video fame during the pandemic, we have a fun chat.

There’s some horse racing chatter mixed in. But it’s mainly about his experience during the pandemic and this amazing work he’s done. I think it’s going to be of great interest to the vast majority of in the money [00:02:00] fans. And I’m really looking forward to your hearing that. And then this is Tuesday, December 1st, as I mentioned, that’s also giving Tuesday, you know, who we’re going to have on for giving Tuesday that’s Kim Weir of the thoroughbred retirement foundation to talk about everything going on there.

So the next thing you’re going to hear is an audio clip of one of the viral videos Andrew Cotter put together, and then we’ll get right to that interview. Post haste. Well, her fitting that it should come down to these two olive in her familiar black five times the champion Mabel the rising star winner.

Last year, you can see how excited they are, but also feel the tension. And here it’s in the code. As we near the start of this, I know they go I’ll live away first, but a problem with Mabel’s bowl, not plate cost. I know having to play catch up. Both settling quickly into rhythm. You can see the contrast in styles, Mabel heavy tail yous, happy to be alive.

Everything’s amazing. Olive, more steady, wasting little energy, [00:03:00] very much of the old Labrador school. Eating’s a serious business. Don’t bombex around wagging your tail. A little bit of a departure on the show today, but this is an interview I have been wanting to do for the last couple of months.

Everybody has voices that help them through this incredibly difficult 2020. And the next voice you’re about to hear is one of those for me, he became. A social media sensation on the back of a very successful broadcasting career. And now he’s got a book it’s called olive Mabel in me, life and adventures with two very good dogs.

Welcome to the end, the money airwaves, Andrew Carter. Andrew, how are you today? Yeah, I’m fine. I feel I should deliver with my voice on that, on the very first sentence after his amazing introduction, but, uh, I’ve. I’ve actually had a bit of a cold and, you know, we used to think of our call as the end of the world.

And know, obviously it’s not a be stressed to people when you sound a bit throaty, whether it’s just a called I promise it’s just a cold, [00:04:00] I’ve got to go through a test at the moment every week, because I’m doing some rugby commentary. Imagine that I’m doing some actual sports commentary, but every week a weekend, I’m doing, uh, some rugby commentary, the moment on internationals, um, uh, and, uh, And the, the, the company it’s prime video, it’s Amazon, and they insist that you have a COVID-19 test on the Tuesday.

So I’m passing them all with flying colors. So, um, but, uh, so I, I stress again. It’s just a cold. Good to know, we’re not worried about you, but at least not on that level, which is good. I want to start because this is a in theory of horse racing show. And, uh, we, we definitely, we got on our tangents now and again, but as somebody who works in the world of sports broadcasting, have you ever done anything?

In the realm of horse racing. And, uh, how important is it to your wife? Obviously it holds a bit more of a place in the culture, in your part of the world than it does over here in the United States. So, so I’m assuming you’ll [00:05:00] have some, Oh yeah. I mean, I, I, I, listen, I know of racing and the importance of it to the British sporting public and particular things like the Chelton festival, which always is taking place in the middle of the six nations rugby term, which I covered.

And suddenly attention gets taken away from the six nations and, you know, it’s all about 150. A was people flocking to the Southwest of England, but you know, every big racing meeting you take notice of whether it’s the diabetes, whether it’s entry, you know, for the grand national, whatever it might be, you know, Royal Alaska it’s, uh it’s um, these are events like the, the, the big sporting events in the UK.

They are. Sort of mileposts in the, in, in the year, um, for people in terms of, you know, they recognize them as more than sporting events. There’s there, there are social events, there are events that are sort of part of the fabric of society. So all the big events, all the big meetings and racing I’m very much aware of, but I must confess I’m not a massive racing fan, uh, which this is probably where you hang up on me here.

[00:06:00] Um, but listen, I know plenty of people in racing I’m actually. That’s what I I’m actually, um, uh, I, this sounds like terrible. Name-dropping it’s not supposed to be at all, but, um, I, every year at the masters, um, I go with a guy Rishi Perseid who, you know, very well who works in there, works in racing, broadcasting, fantastic bloke over here we go.

And, um, and meet up with JP McManus, uh, cause he the big, big golf fan with demo Desmond, they go over there to the masters and we, we meet up and, uh, Quite a few other people, AP McCoy’s they are. So that’s when I get most of my racing knowledge, chatting to those people and trying not to be appear too ignorant.

Uh, I try and ask gentle questions. Yeah. So, uh, the front of the horses, the nose, yes. And the backend. So it’s, um, it’s, it’s, it’s tricky, but, um, uh, yeah, again, racing is not. Necessarily one of the sports when I watched the commentators and racing as [00:07:00] well, I think, and they might watch the sports I do and think, Oh, that’d be a hard sport to commentate on, you know, commentating on rugby or athletics or whatever.

It might be sort of track and field. Um, but when I watched the great racing commentators and for years and television or in the UK, it was Peter Sullivan, but there’s a, a radio commentator over here, John Hunt, who does it for a BBC radio. And he is. Brilliant. He’s brilliant. And, um, uh, I mean, my comparison would be when I do athletics track and field, as they call it in North America and that, you know, you’ve got to reach that peak, that crescendo just as the athletes or the horses go across the line and you’ve got to get.

It’s identification, you’ve got to get the winner rights. Um, and yet you’ve got to get the sequence one, two, three, four, five, whatever it might be. But, uh, and it’s remembering all the names and all the silks and all the jockeys and all the, you know, when you’re doing it in athletics, you’re looking at all the colors of the vests and the different strayed patterns and the faces obviously, but it’s, I really, really [00:08:00] admire what they’re doing racing because it seems to happen at just a hundred miles an hour.

It’s so fast and there’s so many of them, especially in your part of the world are so, so good. I had the pleasure of working with, with John Hunt, actually early days of the pandemic, when they, they had the marketing monks like him. In the mix to bring American racing when American racing was some of the only sport going on in the world, we did an afternoon at Gulf stream.

I think I went over nine. I’m guessing John doesn’t think I’m much of a good judge, but he was such a professional that he raised the level of the broadcast. Anyway. Have you ever had any temptation to, to attempt to commentate on a race? Well, I would quite like to do it from the, the sort of challenge or the dynamic of doing it for all those reasons.

I’ve just talked about in terms of the identification, in terms of the slow build as they go far along from long, and then you’re getting closer and closer to the winning post and it is, and again, I do it and you know, I do it in athletics and the, you know, in the Olympics, the world [00:09:00] championships or whatever, when you’re, when they’re going around the track and it’s a build and it’s a build and you’re adding little bits of information, it’s a slow and it’s just, you.

If you looked at the sewn graph, a, you know, on a, on a, on a, on a computer and looked at the sewn graph for the, the, the commentary and you just see it slowly, swelling growing all the way closer to the line. And then it’s just that explosion. And it says, like I saw this climactic thing and then it sort of abs away, uh, once you’ve come across the winning lane and.

It’s it’s, it’s the timing of it. It’s the cadence. It’s the rhythm. It’s the sound? It’s the phrases. So it is a, you know, a beautiful thing to listen to, whether you’re a massive racing fan or not. You can listen to someone like John Hunt and go that that is beautiful sports commentary. And that’s why sports commentary done at its very best and so much to a broadcast.

I’m not talking about radio, which that’s where we, where we hear John Hunt. And, you know, most of all over here, but even on, on, on television, you know, you, you can watch, of course you can watch a [00:10:00] sporting event without commentary and a bad commentary will, will really ruin the, the experience. But a good commentary will add just that extra bit, the icing on the cake.

It has just the thing that compliments the pictures that you are seeing and adds to your enjoyment of it. And that’s what the, a great commentators do. As you were talking. I think most of the listeners were probably picturing Tom Dirk and the legendary race caller who called many breeders cups. So over the years, it’s what you were describing is exactly that it’s filling in the blanks and that.

That color, that just makes the whole picture. When, when, when did he stop doing it then? Sure can probably stop doing the breeders cup about 10 years ago and probably retired about, gosh, he was doing San Mateo guy. I think up until I think five or six years ago. You remember seeing the breeders cup when, um, rock of Gibraltar, which was the, you know, obviously [00:11:00] you, you know, owned Parkland by Alex Ferguson and yeah.

I just remember a co-mentors now here comes the rock and it was just, uh, just sounded great. It was just fantastic. Yeah, that definitely sounds like I’ve got to ask you some Scottish questions because you know, it’s just a personal fascination. And one of my, one of my favorite places in the world is Scotland plays a major role in the book.

I swear. We’ll talk about the book at some point, but. My family, we had one of our most fun days out and fun days at the races at Perth race course. I remember they had a special program for kids, an old Scottish man randomly offered my young daughter a pound to bet with, and it just, it was something about the sporting culture.

In Scotland, that’s just my observation, but it just seemed even more friendly and inclusive and part of just normal everyday life than anywhere I’ve been in the world. Is that [00:12:00] accurate? Possibly. I think it’s because it’s so dark and miserable in Scotland. And I say that as a Scot, I’m allowed to say that and that we need to take our entertainment where we can get it because I got, especially at the moment, I mean, it’s dark at four o’clock in the afternoon.

It doesn’t get light until halfway. Nine or whatever, and it’s just, it’s raining a wet and windy and you just think, Oh, can we have some, that’s why you’ve got the sports that you cling to in the, in the winter months, it’s, you know, it’s football, you know, soccer and rugby and racing. And then in the summer, it’s, uh, it’s um, uh, tennis and it’s golf and it’s athletics and it’s these sports.

So, uh, yeah, we’re, we’re big sports funds. Um, uh, I think we’re probably better watching sport than we are at playing it’s. And the reason for that is just because we don’t. Yeah, I used to, I mean, I still go to Australia. I see us go to Australia, obviously not no, and probably not next year, but it got to Australia quite often.

And there everybody is doing sport from five in the morning because it’s, it’s bright and it’s light and it’s [00:13:00] sunny and it’s warm. And that creates people who play sports. Now we want to play sports in Scotland. And I, I mean, I really, I, I still prefer playing sport to talking about it or watching it, but my God is difficult in Scotland.

Honestly, golf was my thing growing up and I used to try and practice. I wanted to be a golf pro and then throw the winter months, you would honestly have 50 mile an hour winds every single day in the driving rain. And it was dark and you just could not. Practice. So I thought, you know, I envied the, the children and in the United States, you know, in, in Florida, Arizona, or California with the endless sunshine and just the ability to say, right, I’m going to practice from this time to this time today, because I know I can, because the weather’s going to be good.

What does, in Scotland, you had, uh, a weather window opening of a boat, five minutes in January and you thought, right. I’ve got to do all my practice in this five minutes by God. I’m going to make it pay, but it’s so yeah, so we, we, um, yeah. Original question. We take what joy we can when we can. So we really get into the sports.

It makes perfect [00:14:00] sense to me. I do remember. I, gosh, I mean the winter must be something cause uh, I recall meeting the full-on sweater and I’m not sure if we hit, uh, 60 Fahrenheit in, uh, in, uh, June. That’s the thing in Scotland, you know, you think of Scotland and it’s so far North. Compared to the United States of America.

Thank, well, it must be freezing, but of course it sits at the end of the Gulf stream. So all we do is get buttered by wind what, a rock on the edge of the Atlantic. And we get battered by wind and rain and all the seasons kind of melt into one another. So you can get I’ve stood on the top of Scottish mountains in June with the, you know, the, the, the snow and the sleet coming in.

And, you know, it will be the same in the winter. So sometimes yeah, you know, you just, I long for the. Continental claimants, where you get really cold, sharp, clear winters, and then hot summers and all the seasons are so distinct. Even autumn, fall and spring they’re distinct. Whereas in Scotland, it’s just, we have four seasons.

It’s gray, gray, gray, and [00:15:00] also gray. So it’s, uh, I dunno, I’m not painting a good picture. So when the weather is good in Scotland and it quite often is there is no more beautiful country in the world, but we are a bit cursed by the way that as we sit there. And as I said on the edge of the Atlantic, One more Scottish question, and then we’re gonna move on to, uh, we’re going to move on to the canines.

So I have a picture of my, uh, my grandfather. We don’t have Scottish heritage. We have Irish heritage, but we did have Irish relatives who moved to Scotland too. Hang on a minute. Okay. I’ll come to muscle burrow in a minute because that’s a fascinating place, but surely your surname name is that not far Natale is that you’re not Italian.

We’ll see what we come from, what used to be known as a, a mixed marriage in New York, Irish and Italian. Yes, the New York cop. It’s the other side and the Italian side, but the Irish side ended up identifying as Scottish and I, [00:16:00] so I had this picture of my grandfather in the kilt and the full  when I made my first trip to Scotland.

In 1994, I made sure to get a matching photo. And the question that comes out of this is dispatch. People get tired of Americans asking about kilt, salt a little bit. Yes, we go. Well, we were, it was so the kilt is funny. It became, so the kilts and tartan in particular. Only became, um, uh, sort of romanticized during the reign of queen Victoria because, uh, she and her, her German husband, Albert, they were, they were big, um, uh, Caledonia files.

They had Balmoral and he in particular was a big fan of the tartan saw, um, the, the kilts. You know, in centuries past was the, the garb of, of, of clan chiefs and, and clan warriors. It was, it was sort of plowed that was just wrapped around. But the kilt, as we know it today, the sort of ceremonial kilt that really became popular [00:17:00] during the Victorian era.

Uh, so many things in Britain, dude, I have the roots back in the Victorian era. You know, when, when we talk about Christmas, know when we see Christmas and therefore the Christmas that’s been transplanted over to the United States, that’s. That all comes from Germany. And that came through Albert and his German heritage.

Well, not as German heritage, he was German. Um, and so that, what we know as Christmas today is a German Christmas, but it all came from, from queen Victoria and the Victorian era. Again, I’m stretching slightly from the path you wanted me to do anyway. So, so. You know, we, as youngsters were killed, but we were given kilts to wear for special occasions.

We’d go to Sunday school wearing kilts. You wouldn’t wear a kilt every day. A kilt was a thing for just special occasions. You’d wear it at our wedding. You’d wear it. You know what, uh, uh, I might, even when I came down to London, first of all, I would wear, I was determined to show off my Scottishness and I would wear a kilt, you know, to award [00:18:00] ceremonies or whatever.

As I applauded someone else, who’d won an award up onto the stage and tried to look trying to look a dignified and not at all upset anyway, but the kilt, snow kilts are not, there might be one or two diehard, uh, Scottish people who will insist on wearing a kilt more often than that. But really it’s, it’s all for it’s all for the tourists.

Oh, that’s so funny. I do appreciate them when I see them at Royal. Ask it that idea that you can wear your national dress. It’s good stuff. All right. It’s time to pivot and talk about, uh, your, your new family talked a bunch about 2020, and the weirdness of it already on the show. But undoubtedly, there are some things that.

I’m going to say, just never would have happened. That are good things that have happened in the world this year, as a result of these bizarre conditions we’ve been living under. And for me, one of those things, it’s you using your [00:19:00] broadcasting skills, right? Two comments on, uh, the quotidian activities of your pair of Labradors.

Labradors. Get a lot of time on the show, Muggsy the handicapping Labrador. As we, as we know her, she’s not in the room right now, but she’s typically you can hear her rattling her chain in the background or working when we tip a horse that she likes. So the audience love Labradors. Well-known two seconds to go.

Now, olive closing in on victory in that coveted prize. We’re being told she’s a very good dog, one part to control and a switch. Now, Mabel sensing. This might be a chance still waiting, still believing. And you wonder all of his doing, he had only has to hold on, going to the upright little high tarriff with no opposable, thumbs high risk at this stage.

And it’s gone and Mabel takes it. No mercy from the younger dog who takes this victory just as time runs out a famous when built on patients and share belief. But all I’ve only thoughts of what might have been, but only herself to blame. She’s given this one [00:20:00] away and that will hurt most of all. Dog. I just want to get a little bit of background how you came to be, to be using your skills as an announcer to talk about, uh Adip and Mabel at the, at the food bowl in the park.

Exactly. I mean, it came about to the start of March. So I had done, um, I’d done Scotland against France in the six nations to six nations as the big, big rugby rugby tournament of spring, where you’ve got, you’ve got Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, uh, France and Italy. And, uh, so I was getting ready for the final, one of the final games on the final day.

Um, Uh, on which was going to be on Saturday, the 14th of March. So on Friday the 13th, there we go. There was an omen. Um, I was getting ready to go down to Cardiff where the match was going to be played in front of 70,000 fans. This was actually just after the Cheltonham festival where he’d had, you know, what to say, 150,000 fans already.

There was a lot of, uh, there were lots of people saying this shouldn’t be happening. We’ve got the spread of this virus and Cheltonham should not be [00:21:00] happening. Look at all these people in close proximity. So I think we kind of knew that. Wales against Scotland and other marches were living on the edge.

In fact, the other games in that final weekend had been canceled Wales against Scott was the only one remaining. And then I was just getting in the car to drive down to Wales, all my prep done, ready to commentate the next day. And the text came through from the editor saying that look don’t bother. It’s been called off.

And then two minutes later, and it really was two minutes later, an email came in from Augusta saying we’ve decided to postpone the masters and then the London marathon went and then, uh, within. The next week or so, um, the Olympics had been, um, postponed, hopefully not canceled, postponed a Wimbledon, the open championship.

And these are all events that I work out in summer. So suddenly, you know, it was, there was no work and I’m a freelance broadcast that is, most people are working in broadcasting and sports broadcasting were freelancers. Um, so I was looking at no work and it was, um, it was rather, um, [00:22:00] terrifying, but I had on that Friday.

Um, no. And the next day, uh, I’d gone out and thought, I’m just going to, you know, what I’m going to do. I’m going to commentate on the dogs. I’m going to show how ridiculous this whole situation is that I’m a sports broadcaster and all sports gone. So here I’m left with nothing but commentating on my dogs, eating the breakfast and the rest, as they say is history.

Oh, that’s great stuff. And for those who haven’t see the videos, this is a rabbit hole. You’re going to enjoy going out. What’s the best way for folks to get caught up if they, it really isn’t a rabbit hole. No, but there’s a, so all the videos that I’ve made or certainly all the ones that I consider. Good enough.

Um, yeah. Are on my YouTube channel and they’re on a playlist and olive and Mabel playlist. So it’s a it’s Mr. Andrew Carter is my YouTube name and, uh, and they’re all there. And they’re sort of in, in that order, they go from the eating the breakfast one and what happened and it’s all sort of laid out in the book.

Um, and, and slightly greater [00:23:00] detail on the UK version of the book, the American version comes out. Um, today, if it’s going out on Tuesday, it comes out today, the North American version, and they wanted all that condensed into the introduction, which I was quite happy to do. They wanted it to be more about the dogs, but the whole story of the viral videos was, was, was kind of fascinating because yeah.

Uh, as soon as I’d released that first one on it took off and it’s had, I dunno, about 11, 12 million views of you can take all the things together. Um, it just, it was astonishing the way it spread, but then, you know, within just a couple of days, people were saying, ah, I love this. When’s the next video coming out.

And, and, and my thinking was, I don’t know, I hadn’t bought the second one. So, um, and then the second one was the, the game of Borden’s one, um, which was just Mabel waiting for all of, to make a mistake with a bone that she was holding and she would get it. And so I did that in the style of a more sort of slow pace commentary, the builders we talk about and that one just went absolutely mad and own the world.

So that said over 20 million [00:24:00] views and. The fascinating thing for me was that recently, um, A guy who, I mean, and your listeners may well be very aware of him. I didn’t know of him, but a white house, deputy chief of staff, one of them had done Scavino Jr. And he had, he had, all I can say is pinched the video, cropped off any reference to me or any credit to me.

And he had used it as an allegory for Trump against Biden. So this is seven, seven months after the original video, which was. Just me and my two dogs having a bit of fun and suddenly there is Mabel waiting while olive AKA Joe Biden is celebrating victory and he’s staying. Yeah, we’re just presented it without so many explicit words is.

Um, don’t over celebrate too soon. So Mabel is suddenly Trump what’s going on here and she is waiting for that. And then James Woods, the actor who I didn’t realize is, is, is, is [00:25:00] quite a diehard Republican. He, he retweeted it and basically was saying, yeah, this is this, is it. Uh, olive. AK Biden is going to get her his come up.

And, uh, so then I suddenly had lots of people from the American, right. Starting to follow me. I’m thinking that I had presented all of them. How’s this allegory for, um, for what was unfolding in the, in the United States and the political scene there. Whereas really it was just a couple of dogs being tools.

So it was the whole thing was, you know, at the start, it wasn’t just, you know, recently he was Scavino in woods then, but before that, you know, In the spring, it was, it was Mark Hamill and Juliane Moorad, and Ryan Reynolds and, um, you know, Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford Whitford from the, from the West wing.

So there all these, you know, actors were, um, just stars in America, were getting on board with all of the Mabel. And the whole thing was just, just bizarre, but still the requests kept coming, you know, of Mick make more videos. So it just went on throughout the year. And I, and I think the one which [00:26:00] tickled people most was when I stopped doing the.

I mean, people kept saying, I love it when you do the commentary and your dogs, but then the one which really was a sort of a nice shift for me, because I didn’t want to be the part of the commentator because you know, bit, I’ve got to go back and do commentary on series events. I’m supposed to be doing the opening sediment, the Olympics, or Wimbledon, finals, whatever.

And if you’re the guy who commentates on his dogs, you can’t necessarily be taken too seriously when you’re describing, you know, as I said something on center court at Wimbledon or whatever, it might be at the masters, whatever. So then when I moved it away from the commentary to do a zoom meeting with my dogs, that was the most satisfying thing because that really captured, I think, a moment, uh, well moments throughout this year that we’ve all been feeling, just tied to zoom meetings all the time.

Guys. Thanks for joining us. Just keen to have a chat about where we are in situation at the moment. Uh, I think all of hight, thanks for joining us. Um, maybe you are connected, but you need to start your, start your video. Start at the bottom of the [00:27:00] screen a little bit. That’s a camera. It looks like a biscuit.

If you just nudge it with your nose, you don’t have to be so close to you want to move back a bit? All right. Thanks. All right. So basically an update as to where we are. I can see you both look, I’m worried, but the good news from head office is that neither of you is going to be furloughed, but we have to try and repay that loyalty with some of our own.

I know that’s supposed to be a strength of yours. Um, so what we’re looking for, what managers are looking for ideas. So I, maybe this is one of the things that we have to address the lack of focus at times because, uh, well, there’s the inappropriate stuff with Kevin, the Dorman from accounts as well, but one thing at a time, so things that we have to try and improve on, well, I’m uncomfortable with the chat as well, but.

Maybe you’ve switched off the camera again. Can you switch it back on, switch the video right. There we go. Okay. The annual report, uh, you’ve pretty much ruined the sofas 913 squirrels chase, none cots and not a good return. Uh, so again, thanks to L. Sorry, I’m able, if you’re going to do [00:28:00] that, could you just switch off the video function again?

So we don’t have to see it from then on. I just started doing little sketches with the dogs and everyday life online dating or making flat pack furniture. So I’ve enjoyed the whole, the whole experience of it, but my goodness has been strange. How have they lives changed? All of it in Mabel, has the celebrity gone onto their heads to stop an interest in politics?

What’s the story? I mean, uh, yeah. All of where’s our mega cap. No, she doesn’t. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do that. I would tell her you’re a bad dog if she did that. So no it’s, um, that they, they get stopped on walks, um, by people. Um, who’s to genuinely say is that all of them nibble. Um, I was up on a Hill in Southwest Scotland.

Um, it’s actually in the, the epilogue to the book. I didn’t mention any of this in the, in the book, but w when I was up there, the medic, uh, Hill in Southwest Scotland, um, in September 10 different people, [00:29:00] um, stopped me and said, you know, just by looking at them, I wasn’t even shouting their names just said, is that.

The look is that all live in maple. And then that’s when I realized, you know, kind of how far this had gone into society as a whole nevermind the online world, which is actually quite a small fraction of, you know, because I, I found out that the videos were being passed around and WhatsApp groups and things like that.

So people were just, you know, all of and Mable genuinely have become quite famous. They don’t know what I li I mean, I appear in a couple of videos, but it’s mostly just my voice. So they don’t know who I am and you know, my, my. You know, uh, recognition from my sports broadcasting was, uh, minimal again, people never see my face anyway.

It’s always just my voice, getting things wrong in a sports commentary. So they don’t know who I am, but by gun they know who all of a Naval Arno though. Oh, that’s great. You see? Yeah, you’re famous. It’s all by proxy. So breeding, breeding, horse breeding to [00:30:00] very in the streets. And one interesting thing about labs, British labs are very different than American labs are sort of typically described as more blocky and densely coded the American labs, typically a little bit taller and that’s, and that’s exactly because that’s because over here, well, it depends if you buy Labradors as, uh, from shorelines or from working lane.

So olive and Mabel are from working lanes, so they are slimmer, they’re lighter. They’re more sort of, uh, yeah. Whereas show Labradors have been bred to be chunking. That’s what we do. And that’s what they do in equine breeding. It’s the selective breeding. It’s right. What do we want here? We want enormous rear haunches for power or whatever.

We can see that. So, okay. So we’re going to, uh, you know, that’s going to be the sign of, that’s going to be the dam. That’s going okay. That’s going to work perfectly. Let’s create something like the mad Einstein, geniuses we are. Um, you know, and, and dog breeding. I find a little bit, I’m a little bit uncomfortable with it because.

We [00:31:00] decide. Right. Okay. We want to create something with tiny little legs and a short snote and it’ll have, uh, uh, years made of, uh, I dunno, liquorice or something. I don’t know. So can we, can we make that happen somehow, but we don’t necessarily, um, you know, take into account. W of what the health of the dog is subsequently going to be like, that’s why you have doxins have spine problems and a cavalier King, Charles Spaniels have all sorts of cranial problems.

Um, you know, the list goes on in terms of blood or whatever, it might be the, you know, we’ve created these dogs Bulldogs with breathing difficulties because we have molded them as we, you know, sometimes for appearance, sometimes for work sometimes for our own entertainment, it’s just. It’s nonsense. I D I just I’d like, I like dogs to be healthy and to be dogs, they are.

They are wolves. They are, you know, you look at the wild dingoes of Australia. That’s kind of your, your sort of archetypal template for a dog and look at what we’ve created. And [00:32:00] you look at Chihuahua on a great day and go, this is what they’re the same. Come on. This is how have we done the history? Um, so I don’t know.

I’m I am a list of, I love dogs. But I love dogs being healthy and being dogs. So I’m not a huge fan of the selective breeding that goes into making dogs as we want them to be. I’ve heard it theorized. And I love this theory that in many ways, Labradors more highly evolved than humans in terms of what their, uh, their way of approaching life.

What do you think about that notion? Um, no, I think we are high, more highly evolved, but in, in our, in our centuries of evolution, we have. Created all sorts of things, which create problems for ourselves in terms of, uh, our desires and our wants are a maca Machiavellian maneuverings to get things. Whereas lumber doors haven’t evolved massively beyond the fact that they just want food and they just wants to be comfortable and they just want [00:33:00] to sleep at times.

So they haven’t evolved beyond the basic needs, but the basing needs make them happy. So evolution. Causes a great deal of problems. If we sh if we could devolve somehow, if we could, if we could just go back, you know, um, 10,000 years, and we just wanted food and we just wanted warmth and we just wanted comfort and we want interested in status and political maneuverings or whatever it might be.

You know, a simpler creature is sometimes a much happier creature than the, the, the sort of higher creatures that we are. Devolution is the new, uh, evolution. Yeah, let’s head backwards. Let’s head back to the swamp on a swamp. I’m not allowed to see the swamp anymore. Why has the swamp been drained? It was the draining of the swamp.

That’s a whole other tangent we could, we could go down. Yeah. Oh, no, let’s not do that. Let’s not do that. Now. Let’s go stay at the Terra firma [00:34:00] of pet ownership, because this is something, I mean, pet snack, you know, the Labradors, whatever your pets are now more than ever. Uh, they’ve provided so much comfort during the year 2020, the stories about pet adoption, especially going, uh, going through the roof in the United States.

What would your advice be though for those interested in adopting Labradors, specifically go into it with your eyes open as well. Don’t think don’t go into it thinking I’m going to get one of those creatures that are, you know, Disney cartoons or the big guys, and I’ll be, I’ll be fun. There’ll be, there’ll be great because.

There are animals that still demand a lot of care. And a lot of attention, a lot of walking, a lot of feeding, a lot of our time and a lot of discipline. If you want to make your lives, you know, you’ll get people who don’t realize everything that’s involved in owning a dog. Beyond the, because I just, like you said, they’re in a Medica and certainly in the UK, people have been getting dogs left right.

And center because they’re looking for that [00:35:00] companionship. They’re looking for that connection, that bit of normality, that soothing, but a therapy that dogs offer in this horrible year, but you cannot forget that dogs demand as a huge amount of, of work and involvement from their owners. And, um, you know, for all the, um, As I said, the sort of, sort of cartoonish niceness that dogs present, that they do need a lot of, um, investment in our time.

And if you’ve got that time and you’ve got there, the energy to do that, but it’s a little bit like, you know, when you were young, did you want to a dog? I wanted a dog when I was young. And then, you know, again, this isn’t the book, but I had, I didn’t want to. Own a dog and to have all that responsibility, I just wanted the dog to be playing with and to, to be stalking occasionally and then to just sort of push it away.

I want to, as the equivalent of being, I wanted to be the uncle or the, you know, of, of children that can just sort of, uh, you know, play with them and then go, yep, go back. Your [00:36:00] parents know, cause I can’t be bothered doing all the hard work of, you know, you’re feeding you in whatever it might be. So I’m just, I’m, I’m fun.

Uncle that turns up and just does all the, all the fun stuff with all the responsibilities. So. There’s a lot that goes into owning a dog and you’ve really got to be committed to it. That doesn’t work with, with, uh, with dogs. So that’s all right. Uh, it’s uh, it is a commitment and labs definitely present their, their own set of challenges.

One of my favorite lists in the book, you talk about how Labradors in some circles are known for wanting human approval and you can train the based on the doling out of approval. But you came up with your own hierarchy of Labrador. That was very accurate in my experience. Yeah. So we were told as well, and a lot of people have told that, you know, dogs will do anything for give them praise.

You know, when they come back to you, give them praise, go, ah, Good. Good talk. Well done go. You’re a great dog. Thank you very much for coming back to her. You don’t have to say [00:37:00] that because they don’t understand what you’re saying, but it’s all about the tour and, and it’s all about the encouragement and just fantastic.

Well, well done for coming again. I’m speaking to my dogs. This is what I do, but anyway, they love that and they love being told they’re a good dog and they do, they do love that, but Labradors. So I think in the book, it’s pretty much so, so Labradors hierarchy of what they like as a reward is number one.

Food number two food at number three. We get to food. Four is also food and five, maybe five, but I’m not sure it even sneaks into the top 10 as human approval because there’ll be nine instances of food that will sneak ahead of it. Cause it’s just all Labradors. It is all about food. Every single moment of every single day.

It’s even when they’re sleeping, you know, you see them dreaming, you think, Oh, is he, is he dreaming about chasing a rabbit? No. He’s thinking about a cake as what he’s thinking about. He’s thinking about bacon. That’s what he’s thinking. He’s not thinking [00:38:00] about chasing a rabbit. He’s thinking about chasing a rabbit, which looks like a giant steak maybe, but is not anywhere.

So yeah, they’re just, they are eating machines and, um, yeah, they’re just never happier than when they’re eating. And then the they’re sad that it’s over in about 2.3 seconds. I have thought that it is, there’s definitely a causal connection between their desire to eat and their trainability the fact that they could do all of these amazing things as service dogs, et cetera.

If they didn’t have this insatiable desire, maybe they wouldn’t be able to do all the amazing. Yeah, exactly. And you’ll, you’ll see, um, uh, you’re working Spaniels who are, you know, Because quite often they’re used as explosive detection dogs, and they’ll do it for the reward of a tennis ball. And actually my dogs love a tennis ball as well, but if you held out a tennis ball and a biscuit and say, Oh, which one of these would you prefer?

Then they wouldn’t even see the tennis ball. It would be invisible to them. So they’d eats the basket and some of your fingers. And [00:39:00] then. Once that was over and they’d been checking the bleeding stumps in your hand for any biscuit residue. Then after about five minutes of hunting for any more biscuits, then they might say, Oh God, there’s a, there was a tennis ball there all the time.

Ah, yeah. I’ll have that. No, thank you. But, so it’s all. Yeah, I do love it. When you see, um, you know, these dogs are two airports and somebody may be coming in from a flight in some, I dunno, nefarious country where there’s there, there is known to be a drug problem. So, and they’re checking the people coming off this flight and the dog just goes and sits down next to somebody and they found drugs in a suitcase or whatever it might be.

And the dog. I love the fight with the dog has no idea what the consequences are for this person. Who’s going off for 20 years in jail. And the dog is just going, ah, I’ve got the tennis ball, got the tennis ball, nailed it, nailed it, nailed it. Nailed it. And so the dog’s just running around wagging its tail.

As this person’s taken off in tears, knowing that their life is over the dogs running around with a slobbery [00:40:00] tennis ball going, this is a good day. A couple of more for you. I swear. I’ll let you get on with your evening at some point, but I’m having too much fun. One of the things about the book that surprised me is I feel like almost as much as it is about Oliver maple and your life experience, it’s a book about.

Well, what we call hiking, um, you know, whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want to call it is between mountain eating and hiking. And hillwalking, I think we could use all those, uh, all those, uh, expressions, but that’s where I spend most of my time and not most of my time in normal life. Um, you know, I live in, in the Northwest of England.

No. So it’s still to get to the mountains that I adore in Scotland. It’s a, you know, a good four, four hour, five hour drive or whatever, but, you know, whenever I can, especially in the winter, I get out into the mountains quite often with all of them able, if I’m not doing something that involves, you know, climbing, which they cannot quite yet do climbing up an ice wall.

I mean, there are, God knows. I’ve tried [00:41:00] with them. You know, if you put a basket to the top of an, an 80 degree ice wall, then they might get up there such as their desire for that biscuit. But I wouldn’t want to put them through that. So, you know, I go out there with them because it is. It is the greatest joy in my life being out in the mountains with the dogs and it’s an escape from everything.

And that’s, that’s kind of what the book was to me when I was writing it. I was thinking, how do you translate the, the audio visual success of the videos into. Into book form. And how can I write a book about my dogs? And people have said, what is the book of boats? And they’re kind of saying, I can hear it in the tool and kind of going, this is going to be crap, Andrew, isn’t it.

And I say, and the satisfaction is from some of the reviews coming in and saying, You know, I enjoyed the videos, but I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the book, but I really haven’t. It’s because you end up writing, it’s just observations on dog ownership and a sort of memoir, but it’s an escape into the world of dogs and an escape into the mountains.

And we, we all [00:42:00] kind of need them escape at the moment. And then you’re writing about dogs and you realize that you’re writing about, about life. You know, as a whole, because dogs are there with you. If you’re a dog owner and a dog lover, those dogs are with you for all aspects of your life. So it’s kind of, you kind of end up writing about, about life in general, because that’s what, um, that’s where that’s, where you’ll find dogs in all aspects of your life.

But, but the mountains are just that for me, a total escape from everything else that’s going on in the world. Many great stories about hiking with the dogs in the book. Do you have a favorite one that you might want to share with the listeners today? Um, favorite? I see the thing is when I talk about the mountains, it’s not, it’s not necessarily funny.

And I would like to think that the book is largely quite funny, but, um, w when I’m out in the. And the mountains where the dogs it’s, it’s, you know, I’m not a religious person at all, but it gets as close to a sort of spiritual experience for me is, uh, as it, as it can be, [00:43:00] um, And there was one claim which I did, which is detailed in just in one chapter.

It was just the longest, the longest day. It was pretty much this time of year when it was kind of the 14th of December two years ago. So it was just about the shortest day of the year, what I decided to take on because that weather window, that tiny weather window in Scotland, it opened, there was good smoke conditions and sun was forecast.

And I thought, right, I’m getting out there. And I went up into the Cairngorms, which is sort of. Midway up sort of two thirds of the way up Scotland. And, uh, that’s where the big mountains are the big rounded mountains. Um, and. You just disappeared off into there, and there is nothing except for you and whoever you take with you.

And on this occasion, it was olive and Mabel and they’re putting their total trust in you. And that’s the, you feel that connection with you when you’re out in the mountains with the dogs that they are just following you fearfully, because that’s what they do. And their look to you in this area. This is a bit odd and I’m a little bit chilly, but this guy has got, okay.

I trust this guy. So. [00:44:00] We went and did Breyer ear and, uh, and Cantrell lock and new. And these are old garlic names, which will mean very little, but they’re big mountains. They’re all in the top five, um, in terms of height and Scotland and, and it was snowy and it was just, we started in the dark and we finished with two hours in the dark and the whole day was just.

I’m not a joy. It was a total, as I said, totally scape. And it was just me and my two dogs and the wild and the wilderness and the open, uh, mountains. And, um, so it’s not the funniest chapter in the book, although there is something about queen Victoria that does make me laugh in it. But, um, but, uh, but it was just, it was just the most beautiful day and one that’s I’ll remember, you know, until, and hopefully until my dying day.

That’s great. Well, I have one more sporting question for you, cause you mentioned, um, you referred to it as a sporting credo, which I think is a good, a good, a good description. And this is something that I’ve heard for years and English sporting culture, but it applies to horse [00:45:00] racing in the USA. And these are terms that get bandied about a lot in USA, horse, race and coverage form.

And class and the expression is formed is temporary class is permanent. Yeah. I was just curious to get your thoughts on that. Well, I think, um, it means that you see it quite a lot in golf. There’s no other sport that really. Has the highs and lows of form has golf because it can seem to just blow in the wind in your form and you don’t know why, but you get that confidence.

And there are great players who have, you know, disappeared in terms of form David Duvall and in Baker Finch and open champions. And then they just fell off the edge of the cliff and disappeared in terms of form. And it had gone on whether it’s motivation or confidence or whatever. So it means that form.

Is the thing which rises and falls and disappears one day and comes back the next. And you can never quite tell when it’s going to be with you, whether it’s that confidence, that intangible thing that makes, you know, [00:46:00] brilliant players who have all the ingredients to be brilliant players, the one what’s the one missing thing.

And it’s usually confidence and confidence either creates that run of, of good form or confidence comes about because you have that form. Um, But class as permanent, you ha class means you are, you have that ability, but it’s just got to suddenly be married to the form because the formal rise and fall, but the class is always there.

So good players, good sports. People will always have a chance of coming back to the very top because they have that class, but they’ve got to have the form as well. I’ve thought of class in that context as the level at which you were born to compete, let’s see. Yeah, exactly. It’s a class, your sort of natural ability and by natural ability, I mean your natural talent, but also your work ethic and your drive.

You could all the ingredients that those are the things which come together to make the great sports people. You can have somebody with all the natural ability in the world, but if they don’t [00:47:00] work hard, they’re not going to make it to the top. If they don’t have the conference, they’re not going to make it to the top.

So that that all makes. The class, but the form can disappear for whatever reason, but if you’ve got a class that should hopefully come back again, And the specifics are obviously different, but the applications to horse racing should be obvious, uh, just in terms of, uh, class and form and the way in the way that they interact.

But I think people don’t well, I’m sure they do realize, but some people might not realize just how hard all the top, top sports people work. I mean, it’s ridiculous. And I think one of the, the ingredients that I’ve been talking about there that goes into making a top sports person is a little bit of, uh, an obsession with the craft because you can’t stand there and hit 2000 golf balls a day without thinking.

Yeah, you’ve got to be a little bit, almost all seedy, Johnny Wilkinson, David Beckham. These are people who have openly talked about the fact that they are a little bit OCD in terms of everything has to [00:48:00] be just right. You look at rough and noodle and the things he does on a tennis court in terms of his, his drink bottles have got to be facing OT.

He won’t step in any lanes on the court. He’s got these superstitions and these fireballs and these, these sort of almost mental weaknesses, but they’re part of his obsession to detail. And just the way he does things. And sports people too, to get to the level, to get to the very top and a sport. You have to be a little bit awkward.

You have to be a little bit unhinged to want to do that thing over and over and over again, without any particular promise. And a garden tea that you’re going to get there. You know, I mean, you look at sports and racing. I’m sure the depth and racing is pretty strong as well, but you look at football, I mean, soccer or golf or tennis, you can be a brilliant tennis or golf tennis player, or a golfer or a footballer, you know, at your tone level, your County level, your national level, but you’re still a long way short the very top of the pyramid.

So it’s a, [00:49:00] there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get there. So two, two, two, Pretend all the hours that it takes to get to the top of the support. You just have to be a little bit weird. Don’t you? I mean, to do that one repetitive action over and over and over again, just with a desire to, to perfect it or to get as good at it as you possibly can.

You know, that’s why a lot of sports people don’t make. Tremendously interesting interviewees because they’ve, they’ve done this one thing over and over again throughout their life. So why should we expect them to be rounded individuals? There are the barking marred. Aye. That’s great. I brought this up thinking of forces, but as the more you talk about it, the more I realize the better application for my audience is probably thinking of it as horse players or punters.

It’s really pretty similar, similar ideas. I think. The book is all of Mabel and me life and adventures with two very good [00:50:00] dogs on sale in the USA. As of today, get it. Wherever books are sold. It is fantastic. Great gift for the dog lover in your life and a great read as well. Andrew Connor, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you very much, Peter cats might not like the book. That’s all I’ll say. So, um, but if you’re a cat lover, you might still like the book, so I’m not ruling out to anybody, but I don’t think too many cats will buy the book. Thank you bet. Cheers. I’ve enjoyed it. Next up. Very happy to be joined once again by.

The woman we affectionately call. I don’t know how else you’d call it. I mean, it’s an affectionate term. The first lady in the money players podcast, the end, the money media network, even from the thoroughbred retirement. So all is well here, Pete. It’s nice to be back on this like super Saratoga dreary afternoon.

It brightens my day to hear your voice and to get that wonderful blush. Causing, well, we’ll [00:51:00] have you here for a couple of reasons today, not least of which is to get our sort of state of the partnership address. This is our second year being ambassador J kit ambassadors, JK, and myself for the TRF. And obviously you’re the founding partner on the whole.

Podcasts just wanted to get the annual update, let people know how are we doing? How did we, uh, how did, how did the end the money family do in 2020? Oh gosh, you all have absolutely smashed, smashed the goal. Pete, you and J K as amazing ambassador. Leading the herd of the, in the money players podcast community you have, by the end of the year, you will have absolutely crushed a goal of $20,000 for the horses of the TRF.

That is amazing. That is an amazing accomplishment. And I cannot possibly express the gratitude we have for you. And the fact that it’s come from so many amazing individuals. Yeah, across the [00:52:00] country and across the world, actually, you’ve, you’ve got folks from Canada, who’ve joined in the end of the money, um, uh, Mo movement.

And, um, it’s just extraordinary. And, and it’s blown the minds of all of my colleagues and the board of the TRF and just shows, it shows what I love to say. Most of all, you could, you could use my funny blush causing epithet, and I will always say that. Prove that the horse players have the horses in their hearts.

You, you just do. So I just cannot say enough. It’s been so much fun, which is also a, you know, a plus we’ve had a lot of fun doing it together, online in person, all around town. Um, but at the end of the day, we have made it. New meaningful, meaningful contribution to the care of the horses and the TRF herd.

So my thanks. That’s fantastic to hear it makes me very, very happy. And we, we appreciate that so much, but of course, like I always joke when guests come on the show and do a great job and I always say, well, you know, we’re going to have you back soon because no good deed goes unpunished. So it is [00:53:00] for us and molesters this isn’t.

It’s great. It’s always good to take that moment and say, Hey. We’ve done a good job this year, but there’s more work to do. And that’s part of what I want to talk to you about as well here today, Kim is starting with the fact that today you were describing a Monday afternoon here in Saratoga. The show will be dropping on Tuesday, and it’s not just any Tuesday it’s giving Tuesday.

And I know that as you did last year, you’ve got some special initiatives related to that. Uh, listeners to know about, because maybe you gave earlier in the year and have had a couple of good weeks of wagering success and have some more to gain, or, you know, maybe it’s just that time to do some giving in December.

I know a lot of people have picked up on the giving Tuesday vibes, and we want them to be thinking about the TRF. So what do you have planned for giving Tuesday this year? Yes, this is, as I was reflecting on earlier today, this is one of the things that. Makes us feel a little more normal about a year that [00:54:00] hasn’t been a facili terribly normal.

Uh, and that’s it. This is an extraordinary time of year. It is the giving time of year. We’ve all given thanks over Thanksgiving. And now we’re moving into the giving of the holiday spirit. So with giving Tuesday, um, the Tiara fully leans into this global movement of, um, inspiring. Many many, many people to give really moderate, modest gifts.

The God, the goal is together. We can do a lot if we all do a little. And so that spirit of giving to they really is that, um, and what we do each, each journey does their own thing. What we have really focused on at the TFS to create one goal that is extremely tangible, very, very clear and understandable for all of us.

For all of our supporters and donors and friends. And so this year, our theme for tomorrow for giving Tuesday, which is the day that most folks will be listening to, this is the hook. The hook makes the horse. That is our theme for giving Tuesday 20, 20, um, kind of a play on the, [00:55:00] the suit makes the man, but then makes the horse because these are.

These are critical ingredients to that. Horse’s health and wellbeing. It’s having those four homes upon which they stand more than 20 hours a day. Some of them even longer than that. Um, and when one Hough fails, um, the health of that animal fails. And so our. Um, our daily work, our annual work and the work that is supported by the end, the money.

Um, great, generous gift is that we, we take care of these creatures and we take care of them from nose, tail to hook. You could sort of say it that way. So the farrier fund is what, um, these, these dollars will be raised tomorrow. Our goal is $15,000 in one day. It would be each year. It is our single largest day of giving of the whole year.

And, um, those dollars. Or the equivalent of three months of our farrier fund. So that’s what it. That’s what it takes us to keep all those hubs across the country, across our herd, [00:56:00] um, healthy and well trimmed and in good shape so that they will support those horses every day, three 65. So it is, it is a, it’s an ambitious goal.

It is our most ambitious goal to date for a single giving Tuesday campaign. Um, but we’ve been very encouraged and very grateful to the support we’ve seen for these kinds of campaigns and the thing for your, for your audience. Because coming back to the fact that. Your crew has done a great job this year.

Um, the one thing I’d love to, to ask of the amazing in the money audiences is not only to maybe think of like, you know, tossing us a few dollars 25, $30 tomorrow to show your support for this campaign. But if you’ve already given. Honestly, without a doubt. The best thing I could ask of each of you to do is to tell one person who hasn’t a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a fellow handicapper, Hey, this is giving Tuesday.

I believe in the TRF. And I think you might want to give them, give them a little something today. It’s a big day for them that that’s my call to action. I don’t know. What do you think about that? [00:57:00] I love that idea. Retweeting and sharing. Probably the easiest way having, I love the personal approach too, but if you’re not comfortable or if it’s just.

Easier to do this via social media. I’m sure you’re going to have missives out there on Twitter, Facebook, et cetera, all share them all. That means folks in the, in the money network, uh, extended family. We’ll be seeing them. And if they want to just stick their neck out a little bit, and regardless if they’re going to be giving on this giving Tuesday or not, if they can retweet and share.

This message. That would be fantastic. And I think just, you mentioned that’s an ambitious goal though. The 15th thousand a day for the farrier fund, helping these retired race horses, getting their three months worth of care, maybe justice once instead of through the, in the money link, it makes sense to go through the general.

Giving Tuesday link that you’re going to have, which I think the easiest way to find is to just go to the website, Tiara, think.org. And if you look there right on the homepage, there’s going to be more information [00:58:00] about the farrier fund. Now, obviously all the social media is going to have. The link in it.

So if you’re talking about sharing, you know, you don’t have to worry about that specific link, but for those who are just looking to give directly and help with this, uh, important, uh, TRF ink that, or the place to go, does that sound about that? Is that is exactly it. And, um, I so appreciate that. I think that, um, you know, your, your crew has really drunk the Kool-Aid that you and J K so tasty, I guess that now they can join you and become ambassadors themselves.

And, and it is really fun. As much as, um, just to watch the thermometer throughout the day. And that’s what all of the charities are doing. This is not like a unique trick in our toolbox, but it is, it is really fun as the day goes on to see that creeping across the page and seeing how, you know, many, many gifts together get us a really long way.

And that’s true for us all year long. And everyone, we try to make sure folks understand that, you know, a five, $5 buys a Bay and a bale of hay and that’s. Great. And [00:59:00] $15 is a bag of green and you know, these things, this is actually the nice thing about taking care of old resources is that while they are, um, they, they need a lot.

They are. We can do it pretty efficiently. It’s just, it goes a long way. And it is a really fun day for us. One other piece of this, which is for that, for the really horsey hands-on horsey folks who are listening to to us today is that we’re also taking a page from, you know, from the larger social media playbook.

And that’s this whole drop your beautiful. Fill in the blank, you know, you’ve seen them on the hashtag drop your beautiful horse, head drop, your beautiful dog, drop your beautiful X. So we’re going to do drop your beautiful farrier. So we’re asking all those folks out there in horse land to put on social media, pictures of their farrier, taking care of their cools.

Cause you know, these are the, these are the frontline for, for this work and Oh my gosh. It’s the sleet is coming down in Saratoga. The farriers are out there. And these are the days when they really, really are the heroes for us. So they’re across the country and they’re not just taking care of our horses.

Farriers are [01:00:00] a backbone of the whole horse racing and horse industries tomorrow. We’re going to try to celebrate them as much as we’re also trying to raise them some dollars song heroes, no doubt about it. And this is a great way to support them and support the great work you do. Now, before we get out of here, I want to talk.

How about one more thing, because I know giving Tuesday part of its significance is the fact that it kicks off. What are generally the most four important weeks of the year for any charity in December where you’re trying to make your annual goals and get all the ducks in a row. And I know that a key part of the TRS December work is the hay drive is.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, there are, there are always many, many ways to help. And boy, this is, this is astonishing to me. Quite frankly, I’ve been involved in nonprofits my whole life. I’ve always been a volunteer and I’ve always been a fundraiser in some way, but not until I joined the TRF, have I done it professionally and come to [01:01:00] really understand how much of our giving comes in over the next 30 days.

It’s kind of crazy, but it all has a lot to do with taxes and end of year and such thing. So, so we appreciate that and it really is. Tremendous. So one of the things that tends to be the most popular for us as we come into this last four weeks of the year, our gifts towards our hay drive, it is our single largest campaign of the year because it is our single largest expense item in our budget.

Um, these horses eat. Oh, a lot of hay. So we are looking this year 2020. Our goal for the hay drive is $120,000. Um, happily for us with such gratitude that that is achievable. Thanks to a very generous matching gift that comes from a long time. Um, Supportive family of the TRF and that is the San to Lee family foundation.

They have offered a dollar for dollar match for the first $60,000 that come in. So, uh, and that’s been [01:02:00] rolling in we’re just over 47,000 right now on November 30th. Um, so we, we have a ways to go, but we’re. Steam steaming right along. And each dollar that comes in will then be matched by another dollar.

So we will get to our 120 when we hit the 60. Um, so that is something that, um, is just hugely important, especially it’s not just important because it’s a big number, but it’s also important because this is the beginning of the hay season. The horses have been eating hay now for, you know, depending on where they live between a month to two months.

Um, At this time of year and they will be on that hay up here, especially in New York and even in Kentucky, you know, well into April. So we have to buy a lot of hay like now. Um, I thought I’d mentioned, I know we, weren’t trying to add more things, but something that we just sent a, I sent an email about last week.

And I remember you and I talking about it this time last year is it’s just one more sort of thought, and this is not specific to the TRF it’s for all of the charities that your listeners care about, whether they be in racing or across. Their society and their world is the [01:03:00] gift of, um, appreciated assets like stocks and mutual funds is just a throw it in.

There is something to think about time of year, as people are finishing up, they’re giving the gift of one share of appreciated stock is perhaps the most powerful, easy, and effective way to give because it actually doesn’t touch your bank account and you, and it’s something we, we want to make sure that folks keep in their minds.

And I think as we get into next year, Perhaps going to be even more important as, as we sort of settle into year two of, of this new reality. Um, so just to, you know, put it out there as a little, Google it Google donation of a, of a stock and you’ll see all the benefits you pay. No capital gains, neither do we, we turn it into cash immediately and it’s, it’s cash gift for us.

And it’s, uh, Tax benefit to you. So that’s great folks who have questions about giving and on a larger scale and or tax benefits and stuff like that. I assume as part of your role, Kim, that’s something they can reach out to you about. What’s the [01:04:00] best way for them to get ahold of you. But actually before you answer that, just want to mention that if you’re looking to have donations.

Um, roll into that matching program for the hay drive. Again, you can find all that information on the main site TRF Inc org, uh, and in terms of those, uh, other donations of potential tax benefits, et cetera, uh, what’s the best way for folks to learn more about it. Yeah, and I am that just falls under my, my official hat, which is the director of major gifts and planned giving.

And so I would welcome, welcome people reaching out to me directly. And I’m I’m. Mostly on email, which isKim@thoroughbredretirement.org. And I’m always happy to keep watching her. I watch her social media all the time, but the best thing, if you have a question about any of that is just to reach out to me directlyKim@thoroughbredretirement.org, and I’ll throw it out there.

Uh, if it’s easier for people, if you want to put a. Messaged through the contact on the site, in the money podcast.com or DM me of that looms boldly, [01:05:00] anything I can do to help get this stuff teed up. I know that’s a hugely important part of the work that you do and the way that you keep these horses in.

And, uh, and, and horseshoes and all that good stuff. And the great work that you do over there at the TRR can we are out of time, but I want to thank you very much, really appreciate having you on, on this giving Tuesday. And I look forward to having you back on again soon, maybe, maybe with some announcements about some other.

So the creative ways folks can support the TRF. I cannot wait, Pete, and I just closed with a huge thanks to you, my friend, to JK and to all of your listeners, you, you are, we are so grateful and this has been fun. That’s going to do it for this edition of the show. I’d like to thank Andrew Cotter, Olivan, Mabel.

What a fun was to get a chance to sit down with him. Something I’ve been wanting to do since I first saw those videos, uh, that was great chat. I really enjoyed it. And then of course, Kim, we are [01:06:00] always a joy to have on we’ll. Thank her as well. I’m going to thank our long time partners, not just thoroughbred retirement foundation, but also our friends at 10 strike racing.

Who’ve been with us through the beginning, always root for those purple and black silks, and really appreciate Marshall Graham and clay Sanders and all that they have done for us. Most of all, though, I want to thank all of you, the listeners for making these shows so much fun to do you have any questions?

Feel free to reach out. In the money podcast.com through the comments section there, or you can use contact on the website or you can hit us up on Twitter. I’m at looms boldly, J K of course at UT big hair. We’re going to be sending out a note soon about, uh, voicemails. I wouldn’t mind getting some more voicemails.

Those are good episodes to have, especially in December, as we wrap up the year. So be on the lookout for that. I don’t have the number in front of me or I’d give it out here, but we’ll be sending something around on social media to that effect as [01:07:00] well. This show’s been a production of in the money media.

Our business manager is drew. Kotani our chief creative officers, Jonathan kitchen. I’m Peter Thomas foreign, a towel. But you went all your photos. [01:08:00] .