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Breeders’ Cup Classic airs live on primetime on NBC for first time - details

By April MacIntyre Nov 1, 2012, 15:07 GMT

NBC Sports’ and Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle On Site to Capture the Spectacle and Scene of Breeders’ Cup

Highlights:

NBC Sports Group to Present a Total of 9½ Hours of Breeders’ Cup World Championships Coverage

Coverage From Santa Anita Park Begins Friday, November 2, From 4-8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network

NBC Sports’ and Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle On Site to Capture the Spectacle and Scene of Breeders’ Cup

Breeders’ Cup Returns to its Original Home on NBC, with First Year of a Multi-Year Media Rights Agreement Between NBC Sports Group and Breeders’ Cup

For the first time ever, the Breeders’ Cup Classic will be broadcast live in primetime, culminating 9½ hours of Breeders’ Cup World Championships coverage over two days by the NBC Sports Group from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. The Breeders’ Cup returns to its original home at NBC for the first time since 2005, in the first year of a multi-year media rights agreement.

It’s exciting at NBC to have the Breeders’ Cup back. It’s the first time they have had it back since 2006 and they originated the Breeders’ Cup in 1984. So for the first time ever, the Breeders’ Cup Classic will be in prime time. That will be Saturday at 8:00 eastern time. And their coverage begins Friday, from 4:00 to 8:00 on NBC Sports Network. And again Saturday from 3:30 to 8:00 on NBC Sports Network, then they turn it over at 8:00 to NBC for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

NBC's thoroughbred racing coverage will be brought to you by Tom Hammond. Gary Stevens - who has won eight times at the Breeders’ Cup. And horse racing analyst Randy Moss too. Rob Hyland produces all of the thoroughbred racing coverage for NBC and NBC Sports Network.

From NBC

Live NBC Sports Group coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships begins on Friday, November 2, from 4-8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, continues on Saturday, November 3, from 3:30-8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, and culminates with the first-ever live primetime broadcast of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Saturday, November 3, 8-9 p.m. ET on NBC

2012 BREEDERS’ CUP TELEVISION SCHEDULE:

All Times Live, ET

Friday, November 2
4-8 p.m.
 

NBC Sports Network

Saturday, November 3
3:30-8 p.m.
 

NBC Sports Network

Saturday, November 3
8-9 p.m.
 

NBC COMMENTATORS:

The NBC Sports Group coverage of the Breeders’ Cup will feature host Hammond, whose first-ever assignment for NBC was as a reporter on the network’s inaugural Breeders’ Cup broadcast in 1984.

He is joined by Hall-of-Fame jockey Stevens, who has won eight Breeders’ Cup races; veteran horse racing analyst Moss; Hall-of-Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who has 15 Breeders’ Cup wins, including five wins in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; contributing analysts/handicappers Mike Battaglia and Bob Neumeier; host/reporter Laffit Pincay, III; reporters Kenny Rice, Donna Brothers, Jay Privman and Nick Luck, who is making his NBC Sports Group debut; race caller Larry Collmus, who will call the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Ladies’ Classic (NBC will take the call of track announcer Trevor Denman for the remaining races over the two days).

Additionally, NBC Sports’ and Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle will be on site to capture the spectacle and scene of the Breeders’ Cup, as well as contributing features and handling celebrity interviews.

BREEDERS’ CUP: The Breeders’ Cup, thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious global racing event, consists of 15 races held over two-days with more than $25 million in purses at stake. The culminating event of the Breeders’ Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is contested at 1 ¼ miles on the main track, for 3-year-olds and older, and is often the determining race for the coveted Horse of the Year title. Over the years, 11 Classic winners have been voted Horse of the Year. In 2009 at Santa Anita Park, the great racemare Zenyatta became the first female to ever win the Classic.

NBC Sports Group is also the home to Summer at Saratoga, and, in collaboration with The Jockey Club, the Road to the Kentucky Derby series that provided live coverage of six major prep races for the 2012 Kentucky Derby.

BREEDERS’ CUP LIMITED: The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championships. The Breeders’ Cup also administers the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The 2012 Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be held Nov. 2-3 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com.