Meet Ash & Roy - Season 1 Episode 1

Every great idea starts with a few cocktails—and this one was no different. What started as a conversation between friends turned into a vision. Ash and Roy, connected by years of friendship and a deep passion for the equestrian world, rodeo, horse racing, and the western lifestyle, knew there was something missing.

So they built it.

Under the Lights brings you inside the stories you don’t hear—the grit, the grind, and the real moments behind some of the most respected names in the industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Under the Life Podcast with Act and Roy. They bring you straight into the stories of the Western world's toughest and most talented, legendary horsemen, elite rodeo athletes, and powerhouse decisions. No club, no filters, just a real conversation about the grip that setbacks and the breakthroughs that build these icons. Act and Roy took you behind the scenes, under the lights, to hear what it really took to get there. If you live the Western lifestyle or just respect the grind, this one's for you. Kickback, crack a gold one, and enjoy the show.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Hey everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on Under the Lights Podcast with Ash and Roy. I'm Ash, and I'd like to introduce you to my co-host, Roy Gingis. How are you, Roy?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I'm good. Glad to be here, and I'm I'm excited for this.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

This is kind of a long time coming. You know, we've spoken about this many, many times, and it's kind of exciting to get back rolling and doing something a little different. Uh Roy and I have become friends over the last few years, and I think we genuinely both share the same, you know, mission and passion for all things equine related. And this is how we started, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Oh, it is for sure. I mean, I definitely grew up in the business, but I like the aspect when you brought the idea. Uh, we get the crossover from uh racing, harness racing barrels, uh, to you know, uh rodeo. I love that crossover. Nobody has done it, and we are the trendsetter.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Listen, who would I ever thought we're trendsetters? Yeah, you know, this is like the I think that we've always valued and appreciated the Western lifestyle. And most people don't wouldn't consider harness racing maybe a global portion of that style lifestyle. But as we start to like uncover the stories and the tales and the grit and passion that everybody's you know that carries you into doing great things, the crossover is so unique and so sincere that it just only seems fitting that that we could do this and move forward with it.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Oh, absolutely. And I think not only are love and passion for for Harness Race and Equine and Rodeo, uh, we're also their biggest critics, right? Yeah, I mean, it it's a give and take. So uh what I love about this podcast, we're gonna we're gonna uh bring it all together, yeah, you know, for love and passion and criticism to not to criticize it in a bad way, but to try to help uh you know make it better and expose uh the way that we can make these sports flourish.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Yeah, to ensure growth, right? Like everything in the world, we have to maybe pick it apart a little bit to make things better and more competitive. I think over the last 10 to 15 years, you and I have spoken depth about watching the PRCA, watching the PBR, watching rodeo just catapult into you know the mainstream media, uh social media. I mean, just it's just taken over. And there's so many legacies, there's so many stories, generational things that if people did have a behind the scenes look, you you would have a deeper appreciation and love for it, right? And and we're gonna leave, I mean, hopefully the end goal of everything we're doing here is letting the the greatest horsemen, musicians, rodeo athletes, um harness racing folks tell their story their way.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Yeah, and that's what in and hopefully for years to come, you know somebody can look back on it and say, hey, to the grandkids, look what I did when I was younger. But but before we get into that, you know, we've got an incredible group of people um lined up for this season. Uh as our first season one, I think it's really pivotal and and kind of um fun for us to just kind of get to know each other better because we're friends, we've been friends for I think five, six years, maybe a little longer. Um, so before we kick into learning about you know the big guys and the big guns, you know, let's take a minute and let's learn a little bit about you know who we are. But I am gonna start with you, Roy. Let's just talk tell us about growing up and and where you grew up.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

So I grew up in a little town called Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, South Central PA. Uh, a lot of Amish around. Um, but I grew up on a farm. Uh my grandfather had uh, I think when I was younger, he had some cows. Uh he had hogs and always had race horses as long as I've known him.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

So standard breads or thoroughbreds?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Standardbreads. Okay, just always always the harness racing world. So I grew up racing the the Pennsylvania Fairs and Rosecroft uh is where I you know is where I uh grew up racing in uh Poconos as well. So um yeah, that's the that's how I grew up. And then uh you transitioned into that. Uh when I was in first grade, my my neighbor was my best friend. Uh his dad was a cap roper and would go up there and I'd hop on steer, he'd put us on little calves and whatever, and then uh transition to bull ride when I got in my teens.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Well, did you start? Did they have junior rodeo back then, or did you go, you know, how did you transition from just starting to ride steers and jump on different bulls to PRCA?

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yeah, it was kind of uh so I grew up with the calves and the steers, and they had they had a Pennsylvania uh youth rodeo back in the days. They had they had it, but I was never in it. My friends were in it, but I was never in it. So uh as I got older, I kind of got away from that, and then I got back into the bulls. And when I turned 18, it was just it was over. Uh Jimmy Myers, a good friend of ours, uh, you know, uh two-time world champion. I went to his bull school nine times, I think, just to to uh help sharpen my game. Yeah, and uh when I turned 18, I moved to Florida uh for the winter, and uh we were we traveled riding bulls all over the country.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

That's incredible. And and I mean it's was now that rodeo we now we have junior rodeos, little bridges rodeos, high school rodeos, you know. Back then we they didn't really have a whole lot of that, and if they did have it, it was a lot of travel, correct? And and money.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, money, uh the money wasn't as good back then when I was riding as it is today. Um and I think I think if I had to do things different, I would have concentrated just on PRCA or PBR, yeah, but we were so we just wanted to get on bulls all the time. So we would we would hit CBRA, and then back then there was a uh association called NABA, North American Bull Run Association. So we would just go from NABA to SIBRA to PRCA to I mean we'd be all over the map. So uh we never really concentrated on one um association.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

That's that's really, really it's so different, you know. Now I feel like you know, it's awesome to see the opportunity that younger kids have, or you know, aspiring bull riders have in a lot of schools now. Like you said, Jimmy Myers, he was one of the first bull riding schools, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, that I know of, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah, that's really cool. So during the time before you were, you know, bull riding and all that, during this whole time, were you in the barn with your family, jogging horses, training standard breads, and all that?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, I was uh uh like my you know, my grandfather, and then when he passed away, my my cousin and uncle were in it, and my brother was in it. And uh when uh when my uncle and cousin got out of it, uh my brother always stuck with it. And uh, so when I wasn't riding bulls, I would go back to the barn and and him and I would work together, and uh we have for years, and uh, you know, he's still going in in the harness world, and uh yeah, the last couple of years has been doing really good.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah, yeah, I know he's got some nice Kentucky birds too.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, yeah. Timmy's hooked up with some of them.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Yeah, yeah. Really, really, really nice face in Philly. Um that's incredible. So talk talk to us a little bit about your transition from rodeo to kind of how you got into the world of Tratter House.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Uh yeah, so I was in Florida at the time working for Chris Bieber um in 2021. And uh my friend Nick Luciano said, Hey, uh, we're starting a content house in Texas, yeah, uh Tratter House, and we need help with the merch. Now I was I was totally against TikTok at the time. And uh when I moved here to Texas, uh I got thrown into a house full of TikTokers, so I said, you know, might as well join them, right? That old that old saying. So uh so I did so I'm the I'm the oldest of the bunch and the newest of TikTok. I mean they started pre-COVID. I'm like 20, 22. So uh it's been fun and it's you know, I still love the harness world and I still go up to the racetracks every now and then, but uh it's a different world. But uh I love that I can use my platform to promote the harness world and the rodeo world at the same time, uh sponsored by Ariot. So that's huge. Yeah, huge. But I've I've seen uh from the responses that when I post something about harness racing, uh the harness racing world really jumps on board, whether it's good or bad, uh, to comment, you know, uh they do like the uh that I want to change the sport for the better, put it that way. So it's a lot of uh yeah, yeah, looking looking to to to shed light and growth and it it it truly is.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

I I I you I jokingly say this that the U or harness racing is like America's best kept secret.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

I feel like in this is probably very similar in rodeo for the last 50 years. We're so busy making a living that's very difficult to take the time, take the energy to explain to somebody what we do. And I think it costs us a lot because we are so busy focusing on, you know, most of us have 25 to 50 to 100 heads of horses, you know, help is always short, um, horsemanship is always spread thin. And so you get to these positions where if if a politician or someone comes into your home or a new owner comes into what we're doing, we barely have enough time to get done what we need to get done during the day to explain on a deeper level like the the care, the intensity, the pedigrees of these horses, what we do, the lifestyle. And so we've always, you know, back in the 70s, 80s, harness racing relied on nostalgia. I think in from 70, from 1980 to about right now, the generations changed so fast. And that nostalgia is gone. And so, you know, again, back to back to our mission, right? Like, why are we doing this? You and I are both so privy to incredible horsemen behind the scenes. We hear a lot of stories, mind-boggling stories, and uh we just want to share that, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. People were in the dark, like you say, it is a hidden gem, right? And uh some people get, you know, I I bring them to the track, they get bored just standing there because they don't know what they're watching, right? But yeah, I think that's where harness racing lacks, like get them into the sport, right? How do you learn something? Immersion, that's how you learn, yeah. So I I think uh if we did that harness racing, it'd be a different, uh, different world.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yeah, yeah, I think so too. Like just getting somebody behind the bike. One of my favorite memories of um Trotterhouse was when you guys came into the Meadowlands. What year was that? Did you guys come?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

2022, I think.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Okay. And there is a video that uh they did the double-seated jaw carts. He did a like I was it a quarter mile race, or did you race a whole mile? I don't even remember.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Uh half a mile, I think.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

And Blake and my husband Tim won the race, and the video uh and it was, I mean, it was like as simple as the video on social media can get. It's Blake with his phone with the two of them in the bike. The amount of views and the amount of positivity, and like and I I even saw some pretty famous radio folks go, What the hell are you guys doing? I mean, because they just didn't know. So that was that was really incredible.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, it's uh it was cool to see the two Illinois boys hook up for the wins. But me and the Kiwi. Yeah, for the for the for the for the for the Hambo, though. Me and me and the Kiwi got the revenge. Next time, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, but that's that's what harness racing lacks. I mean, you going into it, and you've heard me say this, and and other people have heard me say this, that their goal was exposure for the sport. They wanted 500,000 views across our platforms. We got over 8 million. Now, there's people uh that had commented or reached out to us said that we're in Saskatchewan, all over the world, uh Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas. And they're like, we didn't even know this existed, right? Yeah, but because us putting it on our social media, they tuned into the live feed to watch the the celebrity race, right? Yeah, and and then they got vested into oh, there's a million dollar race, the Hamiltonian, right? Or there's a big race, the the Metal Landspace, and they tuned into that to to watch the big race, right? Yeah, and and now today some of them are still fans, they still try to keep up with it, the big races, but that's what social media can do, that's what influencers, creators can do. And why is harness racist not capitalizing on this? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Right, and too, I think that there's there's a gap, and maybe you and I can bridge the gap, right? Like maybe this is just like a penny in the bucket of bridging the gap, having a deeper understanding. You know, I I've always said like standard breads make the standard bread breed is an incredible breed. I'm also an AQHA girl. Um, I happen to be an Appaloosa girl too. So don't judge, I don't want to hear it, not today. But um, you know, the standardbred breed can do so much, but they they need a little bit of a gap in between, you know, race lifestyle and then going on to be a riding horse, and you know, organizations like New Vocations. Um you know, they've done uh Purple Haze, they've done a really good job building that gap and bridging that gap. And maybe this can just be a bridge that that makes that connection and inspires others to do it too. Like I always feel like the most sincere, you know, view of that what you're doing is good is when somebody emulates it. So I would love to see more podcasters. I mean, I don't really consider myself a podcaster. Um, I'm just like a super fan that loves the sport. Maybe some other people that are actually our real podcasters, if if they got on this too, if there was two of us, it just exponentially grows as we move forward.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah. And uh well, while we're on this, uh let me echo the same question back to you. So you grew up in Illinois.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

I did.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I don't know. I don't know if I know this. Did you grow up in the business or were you just exposed to it?

SPEAKER_03 17:26

No. So grew up. Um, my mom had five sisters. All of the sisters and my grandparents lived on a farm, 100 acres in Crete, Illinois, which was at the time the home of Belmoral Park. So grew up, and we had a boarding facility. So we had boarders and horses come in, you know, just like the daily grind of just doing horses. And I just was obsessed. I mean, you couldn't get me out of the barn. Um, but when I was about 15 or 16 years old, of a lady named Penny Morgan rodeo, and I didn't have much stock, you know. I come from a family of just, you know, just playing Jane horses. I mean, and uh Penny kind of took me on and and helped me a lot and uh taught me, you know, good horsemanship. She really pushed that on me. Her husband is Tony Morgan, and he's this, I believe, the second winningest harness driver ever. Uh now ironically, I barely ever met Tony because he was at work and Penny was on the road uh rodeo and and traveling and and and all that. So one night I got a phone call from uh Penny and Tony, and they said, Where are you? And I was on my way to Des Moines, Iowa to a I think an ARA rodeo. I was like, I'm in the truck and trailer, like just getting right across in Iowa, and they're like, Turn around, I need you at the track. So it was Balmoral Park Supernight. They needed an outrider. I'm like, I don't know. Outrider, I was I was 18, I think, but I don't really remember. Um, but in the state of Illinois at the time, you could not have paramutual racing without an outrider. And the outrider had emergency gallbladder surgery, and they just needed somebody to fake it, get on the track, and just be the outrider so they can get through like their biggest night of racing. And uh, so I I became an outrider. Well, I ended up working, uh I think that was like 2003 or maybe 2002, I don't remember. Um, I ended up working for all through college as an outrider. Um had to get an outriding horse, learn the ropes. I had some great, great girls that taught me how to do it. Jill Arnold, sis Arnold, they were good to me. They taught me the ropes, and so that's how my uh world of harness racing began.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Wow. And when did you meet yeah, that's where I met Timmy? That's where you met Timmy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Yes, yes, don't fear outriders. Everybody will tell you, don't date a driver.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah, I I thought you were gonna tell us that he had a loose horse and you caught him and saved his life, and and he fell deeply in love with you after that.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

No, okay, no, I have a similar story. He had a loose horse. I went after it, caught it with just the line barely hooked. Um he that that that line or rain, you know, and Reinhardt's book got wrapped around the wheel well. And when I just got to that horse's face, the line snapped. And I didn't have my fingers through the bit because normally as an outrider, we handle everything out of the bit. Um, and so me being a green, clueless outrider, I put the whip to my horse and said, Well, we'll we'll get him because he was about two strides in front of me. Well, I was an idiot, he's got a blind bridle, he doesn't see me behind him. I'm mock one, and I tracked this thing down for a quarter of a mile, could not catch him. Come into the paddock, and that now husband of mine ripped me up and down. He said, That was dangerous. You should have never done that. That horse couldn't see you, and I was so nervous. I mean, my horse is blowing, they had to do and he was a battle outriding horse, he was no athlete, you know. They had to delay the races, so yeah, it wasn't love at first sight.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

I never knew that.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Oh, this yeah, yeah. He said he says it a little different, but it was about 20 years ago, so I just let it be. Story is whatever it is. But uh yeah, I I always joke that like I married my husband because I was enamored with his horsemanship. I mean, you just I it's it it's very rarely when you meet someone or in the barn with someone where their horsemanship is so exquisite and so intricate. Um, he remembers everything about how a horse is rigged, shod, what had head poles, bridle. I mean, you name it, he remembers. I don't know if he always remembers my birthday, but that's okay. But he does, he does. But no, that was that was my introduction into horse racing and uh graduated from Purdue University. Thanks to being an outrider, paid my bills, and you know, the whole time I I barrel raced and you know broke courses for people in the middle, but I still consider myself an amateur, you know. I was never a horse trainer. Um, I just love the sport and I love the game.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

That's awesome. And now you do you juggle both with with your daughter with barrels and brace and and uh like you're all over the place.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

Yes, yeah, Jack of all trades, master nothing. Um yeah, yeah, yeah. We still we still do um we have four barrel horses here at the farm, and I think we've got uh about 28 standards, 26-ish. Um we have brood mares and babies and horses in training, and um logistically I maintain you know all of that. Uh and uh used to work pharmaceuticals, equine pharmaceuticals for years, and um I loved it, but um when Tim's career sort of went to the next level, it it made most sense for me to just kind of man the ship.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

Um and I enjoy I enjoy it, you know. We get to kind of do a lot of things. My daughter's running barrel horses now, she's 13 this year. Um it's it's it's a blast, you know. I I just I'd rather watch her run all four of them than me sit on them. I got no business sitting on them. I'm not I'm the touch driver, you know. But but that's okay. That's okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

You're the cheering squad.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

And I'm damn good at it.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Well, you you uh you have something else, or you want to get into some some kind of cool questions?

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Oh give me with your cool questions. Let's go there.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

All right, all right. Well, so it's gonna so what's harder being married to a Hall of Famer or running your own career?

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Being married to a Hall of Famer.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

All right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

There's a little because there's the shadow there. Like he sometimes I worry that people don't don't take me seriously because you know, I get like the oh Mrs. T trick, you know, it's in a little bit. So yeah, I think being married to a Hall of Famer is the toughest.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Wow, all right. So uh do you watch every big stake race Timmy is in? Not every race, every big stake race.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

Yeah, big stake races. Grand circuit, yeah, yeah. You know, no, I'm a little bad about it. I I sometimes like I'm a I'm a listener more than I'm a watcher, right? One of my favorite things about harness racing are our announcers. Um, and rodeo is probably a little bit like this, but like if you listen to a harness race, they are so like I don't ever have to watch it because I I can like hear, you know, where everybody's at. So I I definitely listen to it. I don't always watch it.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Yeah, speaking of that, I think you know, Roger Houston's like one of the greatest, right? Uh Sam McKee was my favorite. You didn't have to watch the race, you could just and and how he uh his voice would get more excited, yeah. The more action was so uh he was he was definitely my favorite for sure.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Sam McKee was my favorite as well. Unfortunately, Sam passed away. Uh uh by the way, his daughter is a WPRA member in GQ. She was she was earlier. Um we lost Sam quite a few years ago, um, really at a young age, and that was a devastating loss to to harness racing. He he was truly an icon.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

He was. I mean, just that man took time for everybody. I remember uh last last conversation I had with him was uh I sat with him at the Harrisburg sale, and uh what what do you think we talked about? His daughters and barrel racing. That's what we talked about.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

So now he loved it.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

He did loved it. Absolutely, he loved it. Um all right, where are we at? Um mom guilt or competitor competitor guilt, which is harder.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

Okay, that's on that's man. Um I'm gonna slump right now, so it's the competitor guilt that's really fitting my ass. Uh, you know, I've I've got two four-year-olds I'm I'm riding uh that are bred by the hopple farms, Julie and Johnny Hoppel. We've had the worst winter I think I've ever had in the Northeast. It feels like an Illinois winter. Um, and I'm having like, you know, that that oh my gosh, I'm so they're so behind. Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? You know, I look at them and so yeah, competitor guilt right now is getting me, but I think that fluctuates. I think it truly does fluctuate.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Yeah. All right. If your daughter wanted to race horses or rodeo full time, what would you say?

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Oh shit, that's what I would say. Um, um, um, I'd say go for it. I say, like right now, I'll be totally honest. Right now, I get a little worried with harness racing because we have so many moving pieces. Um, you know, from a longevity point of view, it scares me a little bit. So, you know, both sports, I think, I think horsemanship-wise, she could go any route she wanted. Um, she's so like spot on, but um yeah, I don't I that I I couldn't pick one, but if she wanted to do it, hell yeah, you know, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

And I mean, it probably wouldn't hurt to have like you know, dad in your corner, Kim T-trick, you know. I can't really be that big of an assistant on the barracy inside. I mean, like, I can write all the colts, I can do all the work, I can clean out the stalls, but as far as talent goes, it's not here, it's it's with dad.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

So uh which sport has tougher critics?

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Oh uh that's tough. What do you think? Which one do you think?

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Uh I don't know. I don't know. That that's really tough.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

I don't know. That's something that I want to ask all of our guests because yeah, yeah, the criticism is serious. I mean like Timmy has some pretty vile criticism, typically from couch jockeys, like you know, people that don't do what we do, you know, the the the great guys, you know, they they they're not you know as critical, but um we want to ask, you know, like that's a Tyson Turfey question, or Shad Mayfield, or oh yeah, like Lisa Lockhart. Yeah, do they get like mean texts at night like we do? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

They do, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

We have like a whole segment where people read their mean text.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Oh yeah, we should, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Timmy's a vile. I don't think we could go there with Timmy.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah, no. Um, all right, which horses are more dramatic, race horses or barrel horses?

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Barrel horses, rocket donkeys, easy though.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

All right, now to I'm almost done. You are a USTA director, right? I am a USTA director, United States Trout and Association director.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Um, so kind of a more serious question. How do you balance tradition with modernization?

SPEAKER_03 30:54

It's a great question. Um, I think the reality of it is you the balance comes through education. Like I think that when you are in a situation where you are concerned that maybe modernization is taking away from the grassroots of the sport, then we need to like reassess and lean heavily on educating people about the sport. Like earlier I bought brought up a blind bridle, you know, like rodeo in rodeo, we don't we don't use blind bridles. Um, and and what what that is for anybody that doesn't know is we keep that horse, we we put a hood on or two Murphy's or whatever, and we keep that horse looking forward, and that's a piece of equipment that we utilize and such. And if somebody came to the racetrack and said, Why did that horse, why, why can't that horse see? That's cruel. You know, if we were to come back and educate them on like the sounds of the race bike, and they are more calm when we have that blind bridle on them, they stay more focused on their own race instead of someone else's. I think it always goes back to education and it kind of is, you know, like what I mentioned earlier, like us as horsemen are really guilty of not assisting the growth of the sport because we're so busy making a living that we're not educating.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

And so yeah, I think I think the balance there is is I'd love to see someone launch like from the fairs just videos of and there's some gals that do do it. Jessica Otten's great at this, Mary McDermott's great at this. Um, you know, they would they they're they talk a lot about of our our equipment, why we use it. Um and I think that if if we really put some time and energy into furthering education, I think it would it would bridge that gap.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah, I totally agree. Totally agree. Um if you could change one thing tomorrow, what would it be? In honoring or in an equestrian harness racing world.

SPEAKER_03 33:17

One thing tomorrow, like a quick thing. Um post time post-time, um so okay, so like in in in in harness in racing in general, we all have like a documented post time. And what I you know, of course, the horses, like we have to have rooms, wiggle room in in those post times because you know, if we have a loss, uh a shoe or driver needs an equipment change, or there's a discrepancy on the track, or there's a duck or a goose on the track. We have to have a little wiggle room, but what what I can't stand, and I wish I could change it and obliterate it, is to be a little bit more timely in our post time so that we don't have races running on top of each other. Especially, especially on the bigger nights. Like, I mean, I say that it matters more on the bigger nights, but it really doesn't. It it matters just as equally on on regular race nights. Because if I'm a super fan and I've spent, you know, I'm not a gambler at all. So I'm so thankful you didn't ask me any question about gambling. Because I I feel like we we gamble our lives away. We don't really need we don't need to put more money on the line. But like if I'm if I'm a true gambler or a fan and I'm watching the races and I've looked at the program and I've studied that program and I've done my due diligence, I did my part, right? Of the gambler, and then those races go off at the same time. Like you just took the only like a minute minute 50, hopefully, ish of fun out of that guy's day, like you just ruined it because now he's gonna switch back and forth, or he's gonna look for the replay. Um, and I think that was what I would the one thing I could change tomorrow, but I'm gonna mirror that back to you. What is the one thing you would change?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Um to help the sport. I mean, I agree with that a lot. Um, yeah, and I am a gambler because I I do like to gamble on on races, but and uh I used to be addicted, used to be when I was uh younger, uh not anymore. You know, I could sit and watch the whole program and and not gamble. Um but I think uh the gambling side is they need to change up the betting, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:42

Oh, the car race, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Say Timmy's one to nine, right? Now, if you play the exact or the triple and Timmy wins the race, you you can count on getting nothing back, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:54

Yeah, because the one to nine just yeah, change up the logistics.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Like, let me bet a horse to finish fifth or sixth or seventh. Let me bet a triple uh with the horses that finish sixth, seventh, eighth, or fifth, sixth, seventh, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Change it up a little bit because if you get a favorite or two favorites in the in the first two spots or first three, it you're getting. You know how many times I've been to a racetrack, and we have college kids there and say, uh, they don't know anything about gambling, so they'll bet on so and I've seen a lot in in at Pompano when I was down there, right? College kids come out, Wally Hennessy's won the nine, and they bet ten dollars to win, and they're so excited because they just won and they go to catch the ticket and they're getting two dollars and forty cents back. Yeah, like I mean, you know, it's they're like, What? Like it, yeah. So the the risk is not worth the reward. Okay, yeah, I totally get it. Change the gambling up. I think that helps. And one other thing, make things universal, right? Whether it be with medications across the board, uh, so many things universal across the board. Um, with license, like license, right? How many times you get there? You're gonna go to this commission, this commission. You know what? One thing be done with it, it can be done, they just choose not to do that.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah, yeah, that's that's a really, really, really good point because that's a deterrent for a lot of people that own racehorses, right? They they just a lot of people in and we have a very international sport. Like, one thing that I didn't realize, because you know, American with my blind bridle on, like only looking at what I knew, I had no idea in my younger days how global harness racing is Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, um, the UK, uh incredible, incredible horsemen. And a lot of those families want to own horses over here, but they have to get over here to physically be fingerprinted. That's not accessible, you know. It's yeah, yeah. So, so universal, um, you're saying like universal uh licensing.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know how many times I uh I remember we had an owner, he's 85 years old, and like he knew how to write a paycheck to pay his training bill or to cash a check that his horse won. But hey, yeah, Ralph, you gotta call the the uh Pennsylvania Commission or New York, you gotta get this like and and now it's it falls on upon the trainer, he has to take care of all this, right? So yeah, they need to fix it. And speaking of the gambling, we need to get Gabe Pruitt on here. Uh, because he can give a lot of insight to to the gambling world and and things like that. But um, anyway, to move on, I get two more questions for you. Ready? Okay, who's moodier? Drivers or barrel racers?

SPEAKER_03 39:01

Barrel racers. Oh, no way. I take that back. Okay, I take that back. We're 50-50. It's it's it's an even sport. It's an even sport.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

And last one, who is your who's your favorite rodeo athlete? Like past, present, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Oh, that's a really, really, really good question. So um, I have a Fred Whitfield obsession. Like, like just wanted to meet the man. I wanted to ride with him. I just thought he was so incredible. I read his book. If anybody's ever read his book, it is it's so good. Um it, but like my my heart and soul um belongs to like Lisa Lockhart. Like, I want to be Lisa Lockhart when I grow up. You know, like um, I'm in awe of everything she does. I'm so blown away by her class and her eloquence. Um, I've seen her win and be as elegant as any lady could be. I've seen her get beat, I've seen them sell horses from her. It's she's just something special. So yeah, yeah, Fred, Fred and Lisa. Um and I hate to say just those two because there's so many, but uh oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

I mean, who who could argue with that? I I love Lisa and Fred's probably uh some of the fastest hands I've ever seen. Like, I mean, like lightning. The I I think the only one today that compares is Shad Shad Mayfield. His hands are like Fred, I mean, like lightning.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

You you know, we were watching the NFR this year in um Douch. Oh, yeah, fast hands too, but I think you're right with Shad Mayfield. And yeah, yeah, which is funny you bring up Shad because Shad just had his hip replaced. Um Timmy had his hips replaced, uh, both hips two different years, like oh eight and I think 13. Um, and I thought I thought about him a lot through after he had announced that he was getting his hip replaced because you know I remember those days of going of Timmy coming back from his hip replacement, which I think we're gonna get into that, you know, another time. But I remember how difficult that was more mental than physical. And Timmy had expected it to be more physical than mental.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Um, and that was an interesting time, but yeah, Shad's incredible. All right, who's your all-time favorite, Rodeo?

SPEAKER_01 41:38

My all-time favorite, and and I I look at the bull riding side, but I mean the many greats, right? So Adriano Moraes, that's who I grew up kind of. I don't want to say idolizing because I don't like that word, but that's who I kind of looked up to. Um and three-time world champion PBR bull rider. And if he hadn't gotten his leg broke two years, uh, he was leading, he had so much of a lead going into two finals that it took uh Michael Gaffney and I think maybe Tuff Hiedeman to ride their last bull at the finals to beat Adrian, or else he would have been a five-time world champion.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Unbelievable! Yeah, yeah, and what an impact he had on that sport, not just in the arena. He is such an incredible advocate for radio through and through, and and what he did for you know, he was a great educator, he was a great speaker.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Oh wow, yeah, he the gateway to the Brazilians coming over here.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

Yep. Oh, yeah, right. Huge. Great. He was he was the man, he was the man, yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, what about on the harness racing side? Who when you were a young whippersnapper? Who did you who did you um so who was your you know, harness racing fan?

SPEAKER_01 43:04

So mine was John Campbell, like yeah, growing up, John Campbell could do no wrong. Like he seemed to always have the horses in the right spot. Um he was just incredible. The the the horses that he he uh he had, and I tell you what, uh probably one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard is from John Campbell, and you can relate it to harness racing or life in general. But he said he said he was talking about harness racing. He said, one day you got the world on a string, the next day all you have is a string. That's probably one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard. Uh, but another driver that I always was in awe of, and it it's it can be a little controversial, Walter Case. Walter Case. I've seen him do things with horses that no man should. Could ever uh win eight, ten races a night, like on a consistent basis, like unbelievable. Um, yeah, unbelievable. And to me, he should be in the hall of fame. Did he have a past? Did he have a bad past? Yes, he did. But I believe people can be forgiven. Uh, they do their, you know, they pay for whatever they've done. But how do you get in the hall of fame? That's what you do on the racetrack, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

I mean, that's controversial too, but that's my opinion. Uh, he was unbelievable, and I think so, just like Pete Rose. I think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame for baseball, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:38

So it's interesting you say that because Walter Case drove incredible horse. I mean, that was okay, that was a little bit before my time. So I never paid off. I mean, I never like watched a ton of his drives, but of course, you know, being married to Tim, we watched a lot of them together or whatever. And he utilized horses in a way that kept them brave. And he was such a smart driver. He never went to the well on a horse. Well, I mean, he did, I'm sure, a few times, but like he was driving at racetracks where these horses were racing every single week. So a lot of people might not know thoroughbreds race on average every 30 to 35, sometimes 45 days. Standardbread racing, harness racing, typically we wake race every week, once a week, kind of like a rodeo, a barrel racing horse, or you know, uh, we would never race, very rarely would we race more than once a week. And so he had the ability to just keep horses so sharp and so brave. And they lasted for a long, long time because of that, yeah, for sure. Yeah, the horsemanship behind that is really incredible.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, and just his his way of thinking on the track with I and I believe uh I might be wrong on this, but he is the first driver I know that would lay back in the bike.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

I think you're wrong.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

But that's the first one I remember, yeah. You know, with the the aerodynamics look with this and that, and what I also loved about uh case is he raced on the half mile track. Uh going into the last turn. If he was on the front, he would let that horse on the outside almost clear, but not clear, and then his horse being on the inside would come back and it would braven him up.

unknown 46:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

You see you see drivers today. I'm not talking Timmy or or the the big guys, but these guys that race on smaller tracks. As soon as a horse gets up beside them on the backside, they're driving. They're like, I mean, I'm like, you still have over a quarter mile to go. Like you're not you don't get paid at the three-quarter pole, right? So you see got the pros like Timmy and Dex and and all them, they're like they're very like right here, right? Keep it in their mouth, and uh yeah, there's a difference between the greats and just drivers.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

So yeah, yeah, it's it's and you know, and and I that's like everything, right? You know, like you see, you know, our top 10 drivers are it's it's it's their NFR caliber. Like this is just, I mean, it it's the grit the the the time, the energy, the grit, the patience, the horsemanship. People can't even fathom what it takes to get to the NFR. Like everybody thinks they want to ride, you know, make it to the NFR until they actually have to try to make it to the NFR. Yeah, you everybody wants to be a grand circuit trainer or driver until they see what it takes to be a grand circuit trainer or driver. And I think that that truly is you know, it it's it's a human all that's different, they're different types of humans, and their stories and their paths are so different, yet the grit is all the same.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Oh, yeah, the grit and the grunt, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Yeah, it's crazy. All right, so my questions for you are done. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

I'm gonna quit. I'm gonna I'm gonna play quick fire question.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Okay, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 48:16

Okay, Duncan or Starbucks.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Easy for me. Duncan, uh, here in Texas, we're talking about brick and mortar. It's uh Dutch Bros for me. But if I'm Dutch Bros. Yeah, Dutch Bros. But if I'm buying coffee, cowpuncher coffee beats any of them.

SPEAKER_03 48:33

Yes, yes, which is perfect. I'm so glad you brought Cow Puncher Coffee up. Yeah, because we're so so so fortunate to partner with Cow Puncher Coffee as a sponsor. Um, our girl Britt is an amazing producer. We're so excited and thankful that she took us fulls on to do this. Uh, before I go on to my quick fire, you want to go ahead and hear a little bit about Cow Puncher Coffee? Okay, let's go ahead. Britt, are you ready for us?

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Can you toss us in there to talk about thank you to our great sponsor, Cow Puncher Coffee. Spur the day. It isn't just a cup, it's a kick in the saddle. Bold, smooth, and built for early mornings and long days. It fuels the kind of determination that gets work done. Rich flavor without the bitterness, strong enough for the arena, smooth enough for the porch. Find it at cowpunchercoffee.com.

SPEAKER_03 49:33

I love it. We love it. So I'm so so impressed with this company. We we got to know them a little bit when we were at the NFR this past year. Um, you know, that's what I've got in my cup. It's uh such good coffee. And and if you're a coffee snob, then it's a bunch of coffee. So it's awesome. Okay, back to Quickfire favorite movie.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

All right, I hope Timmy's not listening, and I might be a little emasculated on this one. Um Twilight. Shut the front door, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:09

Okay, hands up. I did not see that one coming for real, like legit.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Yeah, that's my favorite movie. Yeah, I love the whole series, yeah. All right, I'm but I'm I'm also a tombstone guy and Lord of the Rings guy, you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

But yeah, something like the fantasy world, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:35

That I'm yeah, it's yeah, I want to do what vampires do.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

Now I gotta go back and watch it with the mindset that like this is Rudingus' favorite movie, so I have to like get into it. All right, now that I I mean I remember the premise of it, but okay, all right, all right. Let me get back to it because you like shook me for a minute. Okay, this is a dumb one, it's not really for you, George Strait or Tel Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

The king, all day, George Strait over anybody.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

Okay, all right, cocktail of choice.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

Uh, I'm a beard guy, but if if I had to go a cocktail or I'm an old-fashioned, oh nice early bird or a night owl. Um, I'm a night owl for sure, but uh it it seems that the older I get, the earlier I get up, even if I don't want to.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

Even if you go to bed early, that's right. Or late, you still get up at the same time? Yeah, we're getting old. Uh, biggest cheerleader. Who's your biggest cheerleader in life?

SPEAKER_01 51:34

My mom.

SPEAKER_03 51:35

No one is.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

It don't matter if I've done bad things, good things. Uh, she's always been there through it all and has never criticized me once. And when I something good, she's always like, Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 51:47

Awesome. Toughest critic.

SPEAKER_01 51:49

Uh, I I would say uh one of my best friends, Nick Luciano, uh, who helped me with social media so much, and and I was hard on myself. And Nick's like, no, and he taught me a lot about that, so yeah, he was biggest critic, but one of the biggest fans, too.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Yeah, criticism uh from people you love, they just want you to grow, right? Right, uh dog or cat person.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

Uh, I like them both, but I I lean more towards dogs.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

Okay, last impulse purchase.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

Uh a flight to Pennsylvania in the freezing cold to come up to uh was it the first frontier circuit finals? Yeah, January, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Why would I less impulse to go freeze? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Yeah, I don't know, but like shout out to First Frontier Circuit. Do you know that was the richest circuit finals?

SPEAKER_01 52:48

Really?

SPEAKER_03 52:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 52:51

Yeah, like incredible. They have grown huge. That's another we should get the new president. He's like 26 years old, Brock. Yeah, um, we should get him on the show.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Let's do it. Yeah, good, good call.

SPEAKER_03 53:06

Um, and yeah, don't make any more impulse purchases to fly up this way because we still have snow and it's miserable.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Yeah, no, thanks. So so Ashley, how do you think the first episode was?

SPEAKER_03 53:17

Uh easy. That was way easy. I thought we were gonna struggle. Um listen, we're on the clock too. Like we're in an hour.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

This is so so so exciting. I want to thank you so much, Roy. Um, when I had started to kick this idea around, I really didn't know what the hell I was doing. And so a big thank you to you. Um, you had introduced uh me to our producer Britt. Producer Brett, thank you. We are so excited and thankful for your talent. And I just want to really give you guys um, you know, a big thanks for for letting this happen.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

Yeah, and I and I want to thank you for uh allowing me to co-host with you. And uh you and Britt put a lot of time into this. I'm just kind of sitting back in the shadows, uh, and I show up uh when we record. Uh but yeah, this is awesome and uh couldn't do it, couldn't be doing it with better people.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

Awesome. Well, I am so excited for what the feature holds. You know, we have some season one highlights. We are looking forward to um uh Dr. Stephen Dye is gonna join us, Nifty Norman. Um I'm gonna get my husband, Hall of Famer, Tim Tetrick on here, Andrew McCarthy. We're hoping to get Tyson Durfee. Yeah, um, and in some some real rodeo folks in here. So we're really, really excited. I want to thank everybody for tuning in, listening to us chat. We hope uh that you follow us along. And thanks again for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

Yeah, thank you all.

SPEAKER_03 55:06

Awesome, thank you. Bye-bye, Roy.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

See y'all.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

That was another episode of Under the Lights with Ash and Roy. Thank you to our sponsors and Cow Puncher Coffee for this episode. Whether you're headed home from the arena or just getting your day started, we're glad you spent some time with us. Around here, it's all about the stories behind the grind, the wins, the losses, and everything in between. We want you to be a part of the story too. So comment, connect, and follow right here on this platform. Every story, every mile, and every moment counts. And we want you to not mess up. So wherever life's got you're writing, stay up, stay through, and we'll make you right back here next time under the live.