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Who would have ever thought a guest column on a website would turn into a weekly column for horse racing results, reviews and thoroughbred profiles, with a strong and loyal following? That is precisely what happened after Jonathan Stettin told the story of his Belmont Stakes and Birdstone Pick 6 score (one of many) as only he can. The weekly column evolved into Past the Wire and many of those original readers and supporters are still reading, learning, and enjoying the columns and all that is offered here today. You can read the column that started it all here:
No Apology Necessary
Past the Wire is the Horse Racing column where Professional Handicapper Jonathan Stettin shares his knowledge, experience and passion for The Sport of Kings. This is where you will find Horse Racing’s most interesting and well-informed columns, results, reviews, thoroughbred profiles and articles on every aspect of horse racing, the Sport of Kings. You will also find our broadcasts and podcasts from our You Tube channel, Past The Wire TV and more.
Jonathan shares his handicapping prowess as a well chronicled, successful, and respected professional player, as well as his thoughts and opinions on all that is Horse Racing. His stories are nothing short of fascinating tales of real racetrack experiences that have to be read to be appreciated.
We have a fine collection of quality writers, handicappers, and analysts all contributing their unique takes on everything in horse racing on the racetrack and in the news, from results and reviews to thoroughbred profiles.
Meet the Team
Tap any team member to read their full bio.
Jonathan “Jon” Stettin is the founder and publisher of Past the Wire and one of horse racing’s most respected professional handicappers, known industry-wide as the Pick 6 King. Born into the game and raised at the tracks, Jon turned a lifelong passion into a career defined by real racetrack experience, deep analytical insight, and a relentless pursuit of an edge most bettors never see. With a trail of big scores, decades of consistent success, and a reputation for telling it like it is, he brings horse racing dissected and delivered through sharp columns, data-driven tools like Tracking Trips, and multimedia broadcasts that attract serious players and thinkers across the sport.
Frank Zaccanelli is an entrepreneur, investor, sports executive, and business leader with more than four decades of experience building companies, leading major organizations, and developing transformative projects across real estate, professional sports, technology, and media. He is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Partner of Fiamma Partners, a real estate investment and development firm with more than $235 million in residential and mixed-use projects nationwide. Earlier in his career, Zaccanelli spent 15 years with Ross Perot Sr. and Ross Perot Jr., where he helped lead the development of Alliance Airport, the world’s first industrial airport designed exclusively for cargo and corporate aviation, a project recognized by President George H.W. Bush as a model public-private partnership.
In 1996, Zaccanelli joined the ownership group that acquired the Dallas Mavericks, serving as President, General Manager, and Minority Owner. During his tenure, he helped recruit Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson, drafted Dirk Nowitzki, acquired Steve Nash, and played a key role in assembling the foundation of the Mavericks’ future championship team. He also led the financing and development of the American Airlines Center before the franchise was sold to Mark Cuban in what was then the largest purchase of an NBA team in history. Throughout his career, Zaccanelli has also invested in and led high-growth businesses, including Worldwide Network Services, and has appeared as a broadcast analyst on Fox News, offering insight on business, sports, economics, and public policy.
Today, Zaccanelli joins Past The Wire as Partner, Executive, and Co-Host, where he will help lead the company’s strategic growth as it expands beyond horse racing into sports wagering, prediction markets, premium video programming, proprietary technology, and new digital products. Working alongside founder Jon Stettin, Zaccanelli will focus on growing the company’s media platform, strategic partnerships, and innovative tools designed to help serious bettors make smarter, more informed wagering decisions.
Big Race Jim Gazzale
Jim is a horse racing writer, broadcaster, and producer with nearly 20 years of experience across television newsrooms, government communications, and sports media. A member of the National Thoroughbred Writers and Broadcasters Association, his work has appeared in BloodHorse Magazine and America’s Best Racing. He previously served as the lead horse racing writer at Legal Sports Report, where he covered the business side of the industry including state gaming revenue, track economics, and the intersection of legal sports betting and racing.
Jim is also the co-creator of Riders’ Up, an AI-powered horse racing handicapping app that delivers race analysis at a depth the serious bettor has never had access to before. It combines pace projection, speed figure analysis, value identification, and Past The Wire’s proprietary Sustained Speed Rating into a single comprehensive report for every race.
At Past The Wire TV, Jim serves as Executive Producer, overseeing production across the network’s full slate of programming with some on-air contributions as both a handicapper and racing analyst.
X: @JimGazzale Facebook: Jim Gazzale
Sarah Strackhouse is an Emmy-nominated journalist, speaker, media trainer, and founder of Strackhouse Media, a multimedia production company specializing in live event audiovisual production, on-camera media services, and strategic content creation.
She spent more than a decade in television news as a reporter, anchor, producer, videographer, and editor for major networks including Fox Business, The CW, CBS, NBC, and Time Warner Cable. Through her career Sarah has interviewed professional athletes, politicians, presidential candidates, celebrities, executives and has experience supporting productions at the United Nations, professional sports stadiums, and major corporate events.
Today, she helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations build credibility through media training, keynote speaking, strategic content, and live event production and hosts multiple digital TV shows. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys spending time with her husband, three sons, and their two dogs.
Kevin has been a born and bred horse racing fan for years that finally became obsessed with the game in 2020. He grew up going to Monmouth Park along with the yearly trip to Saratoga for the Travers. His older brother and Father forged his love for the sport.
His fondest memories of racing always involve his family, standing on a picnic table willing Code Of Honor home in the 2019 Travers or celebrating by phone with Big Race Jim when they hit their first big score in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
Kevin loves his east coast racing but does have a special place in his heart for Santa Anita and turf racing in general. He loves handicapping and going to the races whenever he can. His biggest racing goal is to qualify for the BCBC, especially in 2027 when the Breeders’ Cup returns to Belmont Park.
Kevin lives in New Jersey with his wife Ginny, and their son Frankie.
Twitter X : @kevingazzale
Doug was born and raised in Cincinnati. He lives just outside of Cincinnati with his wife, two children and their two rescue dogs. He’s an avid sports fan and can often be found at football games cheering on the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, as well as the Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. Doug has always had a passion for horses and horse racing, and has been involved in the industry in several different ways from horse owner to handicapper. Doug enjoys handicapping for Past the Wire along with providing commentary and analysis.
Ben Baugh wrote about Thoroughbred racing for more than 25 years, and everyone in the industry who encountered his work knew they were reading someone who genuinely loved the game.
A winner of the Raleigh Burroughs Award, Ben’s byline appeared in many of the sport’s leading publications. He came up through the industry the right way — as an intern at Thoroughbred Racing Communications, and through hands-on time at Adena Springs South and Crupi’s New Castle Farm, learning racing not just as a craft but as a way of life.
A graduate of Ashland University in north central Ohio, Ben was a proud member of the National Turf Writers and Association of Broadcasters. He made his home in Reddick, Florida, just north of Ocala — horse country, naturally — where he could often be found at an equestrian sport venue, right where he belonged.
Ben was a contributor to Past The Wire for years. He was a professional and a pleasure, and this sport is smaller without him. He passed away unexpectedly on the night of the Kentucky Derby, May 3, 2026.
He will be missed.
Franck trained thoroughbreds for 25 years in 16 different jurisdictions, he has worked as an odds compiler and is now a bloodstock advisor based in England since 2015.
He has received the runner-up Award for best Specialist Writer of the Year 2020 (Horserace Writers & Photographers Association/ Sky Sport Racing) for an article published in Past the Wire. You can find the article here: Decision-making at the racetrack: Handicapping using the right side of the brain
Courtney is a freelance photographer located in Lexington, KY. Horses and photography have always been passions of hers. In 2017, while living in Southern California, she began to combine the two by photographing at horse shows and racetracks.
Now back in Horse Country, she enjoys photographing at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Kentucky Downs, as well as stud farms, horse sales, and local horse shows.
Courtney graduated from Hocking College in 2015 with a degree in Equine Health & Complementary Therapies and works in the Equine industry in the Central Kentucky area.
Twitter: _CourtneySnow_
Instagram: courtneysnowptg
Facebook: Courtney Snow Photography
Originally from Southern California and now based in Louisville, Kentucky, Jenny Doyle is an accomplished Thoroughbred photographer and lifelong horsewoman with 47 years of riding experience. Since 2016, she has built a respected career documenting the Thoroughbred industry, with her work featured in leading equine publications and recognized throughout the racing community. Her photography of California Chrome was featured in Perry Martin’s book, California Chrome: Our Story, and earned her first magazine cover, feature spread, and a photography award from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Jenny’s extensive hands-on horsemanship experience spans barrel racing, hunter-jumpers, reining, Thoroughbred racehorses, and eventing, providing a unique horse-first perspective in her photography. In 2025, the outfit she wore while photographing the historic 150th Kentucky Derby was added to the permanent collection of the Kentucky Derby Museum. She continues to collaborate with leading Thoroughbred farms, consignors, media outlets, and equine organizations, capturing the beauty, athleticism, and stories behind the horses that define the sport. You can see Jenny’s work HERE
JTW Equine Images are twin brothers Jack and Tom Williams from Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom.
Jack and Tom have always been into horse racing, from watching the Grand National aged 6 when Earth Summit stormed home, to the days of the great Galileo, stamping his authority on the field in the 2001 Derby at Epsom. It has been their passion, and for years, they attended race meetings at any course they could, whether it be their locals of Haydock, Chester and Bangor-On-Dee, or more further afield such as Doncaster or Cheltenham with their father.
In 2012, they took a camera to the Cheltenham Festival, just to take some pictures of the action to record the day. However, it quickly became apparent that they had more than a talent for this photography lark, when comments started coming in about how these were better than the professionals, despite it only being their first go.
They soon started attending point to points, such as Tabley, Eyton-On-Severn and Bangor-On-Dee. This kind of racing is the grass roots of jump racing, a bit like Sunday League Soccer. This is where top jump jockeys graduate to from Pony Racing, learning their trade of jump racing before graduating to the senior ranks of jump racing. The sport is strictly amateur, and those who continue a pointing career are amateurs instead of professionals, meaning they make no income or living from the sport. There is however, nothing amateur about the photography of JTW Equine Images….
From these humble beginnings, they achieved their first accredited on course photography shoot in May 2017, covering the Hunter Chase night at Cheltenham for a local publication. Since then, they have been to and covered some of the biggest racing meets and races in the world, including but not limited to the Arc de Triomphe and Ascot.
Breandán Ó hUallacháin writes about Irish, British, French and Australian horseracing, both National Hunt and Flat. He has an interest in the history of racing and possesses knowledge of breeding and bloodlines.
Jeff Metz has been a race horse trainer for over 30 years. He trains on the southern Ca circuit and races at Turf Paradise and Emerald Downs as well. He is a 4 time leading trainer at Emerald Downs and one season at Emerald Downs equaled the season record for wins. His trainee Kaabraaj still holds the state record for the fasted 6f in WA state history 106.4. Jeff has trained multiple stakes horses and year end champions.
Jeff lives in San Dimas, Ca with his wife Jennifer, daughter Zoe and son Josh. The whole Metz family works at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos. Jeff enjoys bringing new owners into the great game of TB horse racing through partnerships.
JJ Graci was Philadelphia made and racing bred — a man who gave more than six decades of his life to the Thoroughbred industry and never once stopped loving it.
Born in Philadelphia and educated at Villanova University, JJ entered the sport as an owner and trainer and quickly made his mark. He became the winningest trainer in the history of Atlantic City Race Course, a record that still stands, and claimed multiple titles at Garden State Race Course in New Jersey. He wasn’t just passing through — he was building something.
His passion for the game eventually found a second voice in broadcasting. JJ launched At The Races on Fox Sports Radio in Florida, running from 2002 to 2004, and never really left the airwaves after that. In later years the show moved to Blog Talk Radio, where he continued bringing racing to the people who loved it the way he did. In 2018, he returned to his native Pennsylvania, taking on the role of Paddock Host and Handicapper at Delaware Park — back in his element, right where he belonged.
Always the entrepreneur, JJ founded The Dominator, a company producing herbal blends for horses — respiratory, bleeder, and pain formulas — that continued to grow throughout his later years. He was a man of many lanes, and he drove all of them hard.
JJ is survived by two grown children and two grandchildren, who knew a man the racing world was lucky to have.
He passed away in 2022, and his absence is still felt. JJ Graci believed in Jonathan Stettin and Past The Wire from the very beginning. He never said no. That kind of loyalty is rare in any industry, and rarer still in this one.
He will always be a part of this place. Loved and missed.
