Due to the success of the inaugural
series, The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the NBC Sports Group
have announced a two-year extension for Summer
at Saratoga, which will bring live national coverage of the Saratoga
Race Course meet through 2013.
This year’s NBC Sports Group coverage of the Saratoga meet marked the most extensive live
national broadcast presence ever of racing from the prestigious track,
including three hour-long shows on NBC and five on VERSUS, spanning seven
weekends in total. VERSUS will be re-named the NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2,
2012.
“The NBC Sports Group’s landmark coverage of this
summer’s Saratoga
meet was phenomenal,” said NYRA President and CEO Charles
Hayward. “NBC and VERSUS took everything that is
special about Saratoga,
from the incredible racing to the unparalleled fan experience to the storied
history and beauty of the track and the town, and conveyed those elements to viewers
across the country. We are very excited to extend this partnership for at least
two more years and are already looking forward to the 2012 meet.”
“We are excited to extend our partnership with Charles Hayward
and NYRA, one of our valued Triple Crown partners, to present Summer at Saratoga for two more
years,” said Jon Miller, President of Programming, NBC Sports and VERSUS.
“Saratoga
is one of the iconic venues in American sports, and we couldn’t be
happier with the multi-platform success we shared in the first year of this
partnership.”
Highlights of this summer’s NBC and VERSUS coverage included Stay
Thirsty surging to the top of the 3-year-old division with victories in the Jim
Dandy and Travers, Tizway making his Horse of the Year case with an emphatic
Whitney triumph, and Havre de Grace becoming only the second filly in history to
win the Woodward.
The tentative schedule for the NBC Sports Group’s live coverage
of the 2012 Saratoga
meet is as follows:
Saturday, August 11 - 6:00-7:00 PM ET - NBC Sports Network
Sunday, August 12 - 4:00-6:00 PM ET - NBC Sports Network
Saturday, August 18 - 5:00-6:00 PM ET - NBC Sports Network
Saturday, August 25 - 4:00-6:00 PM ET - NBC
Saturday, September 1 - 5:00-6:00 PM ET - NBC
Saratoga Race Course was named one of the world’s top 10 venues of
the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. From late July through Labor
Day, many of the sport’s top owners, trainers, jockeys, and horses gather
in Saratoga Springs
for the premier thoroughbred racing meet in the country. First held in 1863,
the Saratoga
meet regularly draws more than 20,000 passionate racing fans to the track on a
daily basis.