Sunday, March 28, 2010

Weekend TV Watching Thoughts

Not exactly a great debut for the 3 week 6 race series of Kentucky Derby prep races on USA and NBC Network. This past Saturday announcers Tom Hammond & Gary Stevens, who were hosting the show from the Fairgrounds to cover the Louisiana Derby, had to do an awkward race call when they lost the audio feed of the Lane's End Stakes from Turfway Park. They managed to pick up what appeared to be the simulcast non-HD video feed with no audio. With no audio, someone had to call the race. Gary Stevens started the race call, than kinda handed it to Hammond to take over the call along the backstretch.

Hammond treated it like a Hot Potato as apparently the video feed he was watching was obscured by sun glare. It was obvious both of them were having trouble identifying the leaders around the final turn and it was very late into the final stretch when they finally identified Dean's Kitten as the leader.

On a more positive note the ntra.com webcast of the Sunland Derby went off without a hitch. Wise choice in having Randy Moss host. He is always prepared and had all the background information ready for the viewer on the upset winner Endorsement.

I really liked watching the Dubai World Cup Saturday on my local OTB Simulcast channel. It took a race or two to get used to the camera work. But once I did, I really loved the rail camera that is used at the Medyan racecourse. With this view I really get a better view of the horse movement and jockey decisions in moving the horses, especially down the final stretch. I would love to see this camera used on US tracks.

1 comment:

malcer said...

Completely agree re the Dubai simulcast, it not only looks better, but also gives much more information.