Now that was bad TV
 

The newly launched “Road to the Kentucky Derby” television series, produced in partnership by Churchill Downs and NBC, will take viewers into horses chasing the Kentucky Derby dream.

The series will also give viewers at home a sense of the spectacle surrounding a day at the races, including snapshots of the fashion, food, famous faces and racing’s real “characters” – the fans – to draw viewers into the social scene that makes racetracks the ultimate source for entertainment.

The broadcast schedule for the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series is as follows:
SATURDAY, MARCH 27 (USA 5-6 p.m. ET):
Grade II, $750,000 Louisiana Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Fair Grounds
Grade II, $500,000 Lane’s End, 1 1/8 miles, Turfway
SATURDAY, APRIL 3 (NBC 5-6 p.m. ET):
Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Santa Anita
Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial, 1 1/8 miles, Aqueduct
SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (NBC 5-6 p.m. ET):
Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park
Grade 1, $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass, 1 1/8 miles, Keeneland

While viewers take in the action at home, fans at the track will have the chance to enjoy the “DreamBet” of a lifetime.
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/dreambet

Though I like NBC's coverage but I just wish they could also air live the other undercard stakes as well

I'd read this post before, forgotten about the first part being on USA not NBC, and got confused trying to find it on the schedule. Thanks again for the heads up. It's weird finding racing on USA or Bravo, but I guess I'm going to have to get used to doing that occasionally. I assume the Oaks will once again be on Bravo?

Now that was bad TV
 

Just watched the Lanes End on USA channel and they had no track announcer and the picture was bad. The two guys tried to call the race, but down the stretch, had the wrong horse. This was a NBC production. This was funnier than most shows on NBC.

Can't control a feed going down. It happened with 2mtp....

I meant to set the TiVo for this today before I left for work but forgot. Doesn't sound like I missed anything. I'll catch it online later......

Absolute fail

Consider this your lucky day.

I laughed..





Did you hear the Rushaway? "Lonesome River.. Lonesome Highway.. Lonesome Street.." Everything but Lonesome Dove.

Better than watching K Desormeaux blow a Grade 2, and put the connections into Graded earnings jeopardy.

I know feed can go down, but with that said that was the worse coverage I have ever seen of practically any sporting event ever. If I had a dollar for every time Tom looked down to read his notes, etc..

Gosh, they did Horse Racing no favors at all with that coverage. Cheap bs.

Steve Byk, this is your calling man.

:tro:

I didnt even know it was on USA, until the guy on TVG said to go there to watch it.

Seconded.

My laugh of the day...

Matt Carrothers said "I was looking away from the screen to fill out my census and the great announcer Mike Battaglia made it so clear who was winning, other tracks with bad announcers don't do that"

LOL

What a line! :D

I miss soooo much when I have to freaking work......:mad:

I love this sport so much today, and with that said, I cringe when I see the display that was put out on the tv today.

Let's face it though, the only people who were watching the USA telecast were die-hards anyway. And we're use to total incompetence when it comes to the sport. So it really shouldn't have been that much of a suprise, unfortunately when it comes to racing it's pretty much par for the sport.

Desormeaux rode an awesome race in the LA Derby.

Breaking from post 13 .. he somehow managed to not only get to the inside going into the first turn - but to place his horse in a cozy and dreamy pocket.

He saved all the ground on the 2nd turn. He was basically 2w, rail from post 13 on the one track this winter where you benefit most from being inside.

That stretch is very long and the horse he rides is a grinder ... spare me with any traffic issues he had... is this horse like the new Dollar Bill or something?

If he encounters no traffic trouble at any point - the ride becomes an epic for the ages.

I am stunned no one mentioned anything about that jackass bettor they followed who bet 10K to win on freaking Hotep.

Do you really think they did that? I was watching the pools and I didn't see the jump that they were talking about. I don't know

I saw it.

Yep ... the horse went from 46/1 to 20/1 in one click.

It was like the horse racing version of 'make a half court shot while blindfolded and win 250K'

His reasons for betting Hotep ... "I like Woodbine horses and I really like the jockey."

It was a sight to see.

He breaks the monotone call at the end with "In The Paint with a late run." If you were blind and relying on his call, you would have thought that In The Paint was at least threatening Lonesome Street for the place. In The Paint's heroic rally fell about five lengths short of the second spot.

So he chose Hotep? He might as well have offered to make it a full court shot to keep things interesting.

If I won that promotion ... I would try to get someone to load up a Betfair account for me and take a massive amount of liability against the horse I intended to bet ... which obviously would be one of the favorites in the race because they get the most liquidity.

The whole thing, from the guy with the bet to the call or miss call of the race seemed like a circus. Then to bury it on USA shows how this sport is really handled.

I would have been seriously pissed off if he made it on Mission Impaziable.

Me too. I played him when he was 10-1, and was hoping for 11 or 12-1 after that bet came in. USA didn't show the odds in the several minutes leading up to the race, so I was stunned when I got 7-1.

Also, $10,000 in a briefcase of $100 bills looks a lot less impressive than the pile of case they showed on TV. That was more like $120,000.

Stealth mode redboard.

Curt.. Thank you. That's awfully kind.

As I've mentioned before, I think I'm really well suited for what I'm doing currently. Even when I was doing Colgate hockey play-by-play, I never envisioned myself doing TV. The radio show, and its' 15 hours a week, provides a unique chance to grow new player/fan interest and generally promote the game. I like to think a lot of momentum has been built in the three years since the show came my way, and there's a lot more I would like for it to achieve yet. And honestly, there are many more accomplished guys out there than me for it including Andy, Jay Privman, Scott Hazleton and Laffit III and more.

You clearly are not following me on Twitter. @justindew

Clearly, just like the rest of us.

What's Twitter?

What have they accomplished? ... other than being the son of a well liked trainer and son of a well liked jockey?

Guys like Jeff Siegal, Kurt Hoover, and John White were HRTV's Shaq, Kobe, and Karl Malone to their Luke Walton.

The worst thing about Laffit and Hazleton is that they're not bad. I like to listen to the guys who work hard and are real good .. and I sometimes like to listen to the ones who are horrible so I can laugh at them.

If you're not going to work hard to be real good .. at least have the courtesy to be terrible.

Laffit III :{>:

That's what ladies said about Simon Bray until his hair started falling out.

People forget, but Simon Bray was a very damn good horse trainer. Absolutely one of the better ones in the entire country. He's a classic example of why horse trainers make terrible analysts.

I think he really likes the sound of his voice also.

Sarcasm?

He was inept.

He's right up there with Alex Hassinger and maybe even Bradshaw.

There are a few of them out there. ;)