Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for Jan. 1, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you and Happy New Year! Before we look ahead to next year, I wanted to look back a little bit this past year on our podcast here at TwinSpires. In a couple of weeks, it will be 10 years since I started doing the show and we’ve been so fortunate to have people from all areas of racing on the show. I remain shocked how many people willingly give of their time to join us each week. As of this writing I’ve done 2,492 episodes since the first one back on January 14, 2016. 

This year we were joined by some great folks and I wanted to share a few episodes that really stuck out to me for one reason or another. 

Eddie Olczyk | December 28, 2025

Eddie O. has been on my “guests I’d like to interview” list for a long time. I’m a hockey fan and I would always chuckle how often he would talk about the races on broadcasts or interviews he would do in the hockey world. But he was very candid in our interview about his love of the game, of betting, and some of his tournament play strategies as well. He also told some good old hockey stories which are always fun. 

Graham Watters | August 19, 2025

We don’t talk a lot about steeplechase racing on the show, but jockey Graham Watters has become a top jump rider here in the States and he had a fantastic interview. He has a very unique story and even talked about how he got his private pilots license to fly between tracks for mounts during the busy summer season. This was one of those interviews that I didn’t know how it was going to go, and left the conversation wanting to talk even more! 

Dennis Montoro | June 17, 2025

Horseplayer interviews are often my favorite ones and it’s hard to pick just one from 2025. We’ve been lucky enough to have many professional players share their insights on the program and Dennis is someone we’ve had on a few times over the years, and he’s always so great to talk with. I appreciate his candor in discussing his approach to betting, betting models, the modern game, and so much more! 

Betty Jo Goodwin | February 5, 2025

Betty Jo has been riding races for a while and has shifted into a part-time jockey role along with working at farms in Ocala. She’s had a lasting career and gets to ride many of the top horses for the Ocala sale every year. Her story isn’t the typical jockey's path and is really worth a listen. 

Matt Nakatani | January 8, 2025

Jockey agents are sometimes the most plugged in folks in the industry and usually full of good stories. That was the case when Matt Nakatani joined us to talk about being an agent in Southern California for Umberto Rispoli, as well as talking about growing up with his father as a successful jockey on that circuit. 

Honorable Mention: Jacki Beem November 13, 2025

A few years ago my mom came on the show and it became one of the most popular episodes we’ve ever had. So in 2025, my sister Jacki was nice enough to join me and we had a fun conversation about growing up, about our dad and horse racing, and a lot more. Selfishly, this was probably my favorite interview of the year, even though it wasn’t filled with horse racing talk

I could go on and list 20 other guests whose interviews I enjoyed in 2025 and let's hope in the new year, we’ll have some great new guests and returns of past favorites. I'm so appreciative so many of you choose to listen to the program. We’ve had several million downloads since we started this show, which means the world to me, and I know it means a lot to the TwinSpires crew as well. So thank you! 

See you in 2026!