NBC Sports Plans 10.5 Hours of Breeders' Cup Coverage
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NBC Sports this weekend presents 10 1/2 hours of live coverage of the 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships—the richest two days in horse racing—with $30 million in prize money at stake.
Highlighting the coverage is the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 2, live from Santa Anita Park at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. On Friday and Saturday, NBC Sports presents live coverage of 13 races at the 36th Breeders' Cup World Championships on NBC and NBCSN.
NBCSN's coverage of the Breeders' Cup World Championships begins Oct. 31, at 4 p.m. ET with the handicapping special "Betting the Breeders' Cup." Live racing coverage begins Nov. 1, at 4 p.m. ET, followed by 4 1/2 live hours Saturday, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and continuing on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.
This week, NBCSN will also televise all four episodes from season two of "ALL IN: The Road to the Classic," an original series documenting the world's best trainers, jockeys, owners and thoroughbred horses as they prepare for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Episode two will air at 6 p.m. ET Oct. 29, followed by episode three at 11:30 p.m. ET Oct. 30, and episode four at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday. Beginning at 7 p.m. ET Thursday, the first three episodes will encore on NBCSN.
2019 BREEDERS' CUP TELEVISION SCHEDULE:
Date Time (ET) Program Network
Thurs., Oct. 31 4 p.m. Betting the Breeders' Cup NBCSN
Fri., Nov. 1 4 p.m. Breeders' Cup World Championships NBCSN
Sat., Nov. 2 3:30 p.m. Breeders' Cup World Championships NBCSN
Sat., Nov. 2 8 p.m. Breeders' Cup Classic NBC
COMMENTATORS: Ahmed Fareed hosts coverage, joined by analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who owns 15 Breeders' Cup wins, including five victories in the Classic, analyst Randy Moss; host/reporters Laffit Pincay III and Nick Luck; analyst/handicapper Eddie Olczyk and reporters Kenny Rice, Donna Brothers, and Britney Eurton. NBC's Triple Crown race caller Larry Collmus will call all of the Breeders' Cup races. In addition, Matt Bernier will serve as a handicapper. Thursday night's "Betting the Breeders' Cup" special features Fareed, Pincay, Luck, Olczyk, Eurton, and Bernier.
Programming highlights include:
• Actress, director and Breeders' Cup Ambassador Elizabeth Banks will be featured in the Saturday night Classic show open on NBC from the set of Charlie's Angels.
• Eddie Olczyk interviews Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, owner of multiple horses expected to run in the Breeders' Cup.
• A feature on McKinzie, named for trainer Bob Baffert's longtime friend and Los Alamitos Race Course executive Brad McKinzie, who died of cancer in 2017.
Award-winning NBC Sports journalist Tim Layden presents several pieces throughout NBC Sports' broadcasts this weekend. Highlights include:
• Appreciation of Zenyatta: celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the first female to ever win the Breeders' Cup Classic.
• A feature on Omaha Beach , the morning line favorite in this year's Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) before being scratched from the race due to illness; Omaha Beach is expected to run in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) this weekend.
• An inside look at 2019 in horse racing.
SPECIAL GYRO CAMERA TO CAPTURE UNIQUE VIEWS
Coverage will feature a Gyro-stabilized camera on the back of a moving vehicle, providing picturesque scenic and low-angle views of the horses racing down the backstretch with the San Gabriel mountains in the background.
NBC Sports' coverage will be produced by Billy Matthews and Lindsay Schanzer, and directed by Kaare Numme and Tim Nelson.
NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app—NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs—will stream coverage of the Breeders' Cup Classic. The NBC Sports app will stream coverage via "TV Everywhere," giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. Powered by Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports app is available on Apple iOS, Android and select Samsung devices, as well as on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Win10, and Xbox.