- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,256,455
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
Credit: Scott Utterback/USA TODAY NETWORK
Major news hit the world of horse racing on Monday as the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Churchill Downs Incorporated announced the creation of the Thoroughbred Championship Series, a new six-race competition that will pit three-year-old Thoroughbreds against each other in a season-long competition.
The series, which will run from May through September, includes two of the three Triple Crown races and will be broadcast by Fox Sports and NBC Sports. The announcement represents a significant step forward in making horse racing a season-long sport rather than something fans watch during the five-week Triple Crown cycle in May and June.
Next year’s inaugural season will begin with the Kentucky Derby, with the second event of the series being the Belmont Stakes. Notably, the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, was excluded from the schedule as the event continues to struggle to attract top horses given the short turnaround after the Kentucky Derby.
Following Belmont, the Thoroughbred Championship Series will run through the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, the Travers Stakes at Saratoga, and conclude back at Churchill Downs in September for a championship race. Each contest will have a unified points system, and in addition to the individual purses of each race, there will be a $5 million season-long purse up for grabs based on the final standings.
Per the announcement, all of the Churchill Downs races will air on NBC, while the NYRA races (Belmont and Saratoga) will air on Fox.
Should the series perform well in its inaugural season, the NYRA and Churchill Downs might look to expand the concept beyond three-year-old Thoroughbreds. “You can do this for an older horse division. You can do this for dirt and turf. You can do this for 3-year-old fillies. So there’s a lot that comes out of it, because I think at the end of the day, no matter what the sport, you want to see the best run against or play against the best,” Fox Sports president of insight and analytics Mike Mulvihill told Sports Business Journal.
Expect the new series to get plenty of promotion next May when NBC telecasts the Kentucky Derby.
The post Fox, NBC partner to broadcast new Thoroughbred Championship Series beginning 2027 appeared first on Awful Announcing.
Continue reading...
