- Those who are following the NHL playoffs on Versus have surely seen the ad for the Triple Crown races that have aired frequently. "It's been 33 years since four miles turned into a miracle." We won't quibble that the races actually add up to only 3 15/16 miles in total; it's a cool, classy ad. In my view, NBC, now country cousins with Versus after its acquisition by Comcast, has always treated its racing properties with the reverence and attention that they deserve. That includes their stint with the Breeders' Cup, and the dropoff in that respect since the unfortunate switch to ESPN has been quite apparent, more glaringly with every passing year.
So, NBC will use Versus to supplement its Triple Crown coverage. It will carry the Kentucky Oaks and the Black-Eyed Susan (Friday at Belmont is just a regular day), as well as undercard races on all three days. 25 hours in all. Am I out of bounds to suggest that that's more than ESPN's entire Breeders' Cup coverage, including the Friday program and the preps, on all of its networks combined? (Or you think that adds up to more than 24 15/16 hours?)
- Hunch bets for Tuesday, April 26:
Idontgetoutmuch 9th at Charles Town
Straight Out 8th at Charles Town
Amazing Score 5th at Fairmount Park
No Such Thing 5th at Charles Town
Ended 1st at Turf Paradise
Dontflateryourself 3rd at Fairmount Park
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Close Enough
Posted by Alan Mann at 11:05 PM
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6 Comments:
Let me spare that dolt the trouble:
Oh great, Alan, "hunch" bets again? I have a "hunch" that your bets all suck and you couldn't pick the crustiest booger in the world out of your nose even if it were hanging down to your chin. But thanks for a group of horses I can now draw a line through on my program. Your picks are akin to placing an anvil on the backs of those poor, unsuspecting equines. -jp
Take away the 6+ hours devoted to the main NBC telecasts for the three Triple Crown races and you end up with fewer hours over fewer days than ESPN showed when the NTRA did all the media buying and before Churchill/NBC stopped playing nice with ESPN.
ESPN used to have 25+ hours for Derby Week alone and didn't even get to count the Derby telecast.
And the ESPN networks (with a far greater reach than Versus) had nearly 12 hours of coverage from Breeders' Cup last year, not including five or six Challenge shows usually between 30 minutes and two hours.
Like you I'm a hockey and racing fan, so I'm loving the new girlfriend we have in NBC/Versus, but fact is once the Belmont is done, NBC becomes about one thing: Sunday Night Football. All they cared about was the Derby and they don't seem to show much enthusiasm for ponying up for any other racing programming even leading up to the Derby.
I just hope NBC or Versus's shows
all the races from Churchill, Pimlico or Belmont on the big days. Last year the turf race before the Preakness was not shown on NBC so they could interview an Olympic Skier. They actually showed a view from above the track and you could see the race going on. For Pick 4 and 6 players this was awful because NBC had the rights to the race and on line feeds and other tv stations were blacked out. ABC did the same thing for the Woodford last year on Belmont day. We all understand that the average viewer doesn't care as much about the non-main event races but they should at least show them. It scares me when non-horse racing people are in charge of big day telecasts.
Well, we can all be happy Twinspired drew in an will surely be the biggest underlay in the race due to his name and decent race at KEE.
Outsourcing available for a low price.
Comcast took over NBC.
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