Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem for Nov. 24, 2025

Jason discusses Thanksgiving races and gives some of his thanks for this year. 

A good Monday morning to you all! Thanksgiving week upon us and maybe one of the more lowkey big weekends of the racing year. Big day today at Mahoning Valley, a couple big days at Zia early in the week, and of course huge holiday weekend racing at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, and Del Mar. My favorite race of the weekend used to be the Fall Highweight, but it’s no longer a thing. Nonetheless, it should be an awesome weekend of racing and hopefully a good holiday for those who partake.

Being 3,000 miles from my family, I always look forward to an evening with my friends’ family here in Florida. Although, the one thing I miss from the Beem family dinner is my Aunt Brenda’s famous Pretzel Salad. I feel like it’s one of those Midwestern “salads that aren’t really salads” as it’s basically a dessert, but holy moly, is it good. I always think about it during the holidays as I haven’t been home for a winter holiday since 2020. Maybe I should just make it myself! 

Unfortunately, this weekend’s big topic of conversation was the near disaster incident with an ambulance on the track down at Evangeline Downs. Thank goodness nobody got hurt, but it was a failing of massive proportion, and I discussed it at length on my podcast for Monday, Nov. 24.  

Since I’m off on Thanksgiving, I wanted to write a few things I’m feeling most thankful for in horse racing this year. I’m a big believer in the practice of gratitude and while many of the conversations we have in racing are more in the constructive criticism lens of things, I still think there’s a lot to feel good about. 

First of all, I’m thrilled to still get to be around the game on a year-round basis. Whether it’s doing podcasts and columns here on TwinSpires or calling races at Colonial Downs or Tampa Bay Downs, I always feel gratitude to get to make my living doing something that is fun and important to me. Walking out of Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday after getting to call races to a huge crowd on a beautiful day, it just doesn’t get any better for me than that. I try to be thankful every day of calling races to look over the track and remember that there was a time in my life where I’d have given anything to be right where I’m at now. Gratitude!

Maybe more than work is feeling gratitude towards the people I’ve met in racing. Most of my community and closest friendships come from the world of horse racing. People I’ve met as gamblers or who work at the track are the folks I talk most with in my life. We share the bond of horse racing, but many of those friendships have blossomed into other areas of life including sports, politics, spirituality, and much more. We have a great community in racing, and I think that’s one of the things I miss about more people going to the track, is we’re separated more than we used to be.  

The last thing I’ll add to my gratitude list is family. This has been a tough year for mine as we lost both my uncle Mitch and my Grandpa Raleigh. It’s been a tough year for my mom, as those were two of her closest family members, and it’s made me feel extra gratitude in still having her with us and in good health. Moving across the country for work seemed like such an easy decision but as we all get older, it’s certainly harder to be this far away from her and my other family. But we have great bonds, and I hit the lottery when it comes to supportive and loving family, especially my mother.  

Thankful guy here, signing off. See you next week and have a great holiday!