Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview.com

I’ll be blunt. ESPN/ABC should stick to televising the other “sports” and leave horseracing to the professional networks that broadcast it all the time.

The real horseracing networks, TVG and HRTV, were prohibited from showing races at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes because of a contractual agreement the racetrack had with ESPN/ABC. Giving one network the “golden apple” at a sporting event is nothing new, but that network, i.e. ESPN/ABC, should show the racing that is going on and forget about all the mindless dribble and pabulum they are feeding the audience.

Once NBC’s “rights” began on Saturday, which was 4 p.m. EDT, TVG and HRTV could no longer show live racing from Belmont Park. The True North Handicap, the Betfair TVG Acorn Stakes and the Woodford Reserve Manhattan were never shown by ESPN/ABC. And we’re talking about a Grade 2 and two Grade 1 races.

What was ESPN/ABC showing? “Human-interest stories,” or at least that’s what they thought they were. I guess when you are paying at least six high-profile announcers; you had better get your money out of them.

One of the funniest things was Randy Moss and his touch-screen. Of course there were 12 horses in the field and the network had to cut to him for three segments (four horses each time). My racing form provided more information than Moss was able to impart about the horses.

If ESPN/ABC wants to broadcast this junk, then let TVG and HRTV at least show other races at the track on that day. None of the announcers for ESPN/ABC even said who won the Acorn, True North or Manhattan. That’s the least they could have done.

The biggest joke of the whole day was the broadcast of the Belmont Stakes. Look, I know the network has a blimp, but please save those shots for replays. Even the start of the race showed very little. They had a ground-level camera at the starting gate and that camera followed the field a sixteenth of a mile after the start and it showed very little of what was going on.

The network then jumped to a head-on shot, and if it had not been for track announcer Tom Durkin describing the action, I would not have known who was where. They finally went to a “normal” shot as the field rounded the clubhouse turn, but as soon as it reached the backstretch it was time for the “money” shot. Yep, you guessed it, the BLIMP.

This shot lasted for at least a quarter-of-a-mile, and then switched back to a normal shot. Of course, I could only see the top four horses. If the network wants to get “fancy,” they should at least pay attention to a track feed where they show a split screen. It never happened once in the 2:31 plus minutes that it took to run the race.

Even when the horses reached the top of the stretch the camera angle still was awkward and I had trouble telling who was in contention.

This is not ranting or griping from a guy who only watches horseracing three or four times a year. I watch between 50 and a100 races nearly every day. It’s my job, so I know what I’m talking about.

It’s too bad ESPN/ABC thinks splash tells a better story than just showing a race or races.