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Award-winning "Saratoga Live" returns for fifth season

by Pat McKenna

Set to broadcast more than 210 hours from the 2020 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the return of Saratoga Live, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning television program, which on Thursday kicks off its fifth season broadcasting the 40-day summer meet at iconic Saratoga Race Course.

Saratoga Live will feature more than 210 hours of live programming from Saratoga, which runs from Thursday, July 16 through Labor Day, Monday, September 7. Saratoga Live will appear each racing day beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX Sports and MSG Networks and offer full-card coverage of a Saratoga meet offering 71 stakes worth $14.45 million, encompassing 39 graded stakes, 18 Grade 1s and at least one stakes race every live racing day.

In addition to daily national coverage on FS2, Saratoga Live will air on FS1 for a total of 31 hours, the most hours since the partnership with FOX Sports began in 2016. The daily schedule is at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

Under current New York State guidelines, Saratoga Race Course will open without spectators in attendance which makes the extensive Saratoga Live coverage more important than ever.

"With so many sports still out or just now coming back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know a lot of eyes will be on us, particularly at a meet with the prestige of Saratoga," said Tony Allevato, NYRA's Chief Revenue Officer and President of NYRA Bets. "That's both a responsibility and a tremendous opportunity because life is still not back to normal. It means throwing the usual metrics out the window, doubling down and doing what we do best."

The meet will be highlighted by the 151st renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on Saturday, August 8 and the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney on Saturday, August 1.

"There's only one 'Saratoga' and FOX Sports is delighted to be headed back to the Spa for the summer," said Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports Executive Vice President, Research, League Operations & Strategy. "We're excited to once again be working with NYRA to give our fans access to insightful and entertaining daily coverage of America's premier racing meet."

Allevato said Saratoga Live provides a golden opportunity for NYRA to introduce the best of horse racing at its most venerable track to both its loyal fans and to a whole new audience starved for sports content in this unusual summer.

"We realized back in the spring at Belmont Park that a whole lot of people not that familiar with horse racing were watching us and really getting into our sport," he said. "That gives us an added responsibility to not just show the races, but to do so with the kind of insight, commentary and features that our on-air team delivers. I put our team up against anyone; they're the best in the business."

Saratoga Live will feature a talented broadcast team including hosts Greg Wolf and Laffit Pincay III, who will call on experts such as Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Tom Amoss, Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore, paddock analyst Acacia Courtney, and professional handicapper Jonathon Kinchen. NYRA veteran John Imbriale succeeds Larry Collmus as the race caller at Saratoga Race Course.

Add to that the analysis provided by two well-respected figures on the New York racing scene, Andy Serling and Maggie Wolfendale.

Serling said each member of the broadcast team works diligently to provide a fun and professional analysis of each race that offers something for both seasoned bettors and the casual fan.

"This will hardly be business as usual this summer, but it's still Saratoga, and it's all about the annual challenge for horseplayers to try to beat the biggest and most important racing meet of the year - with the best horses, trainers, riders and owners," said Serling. "Our job is to describe what's happening, ever mindful of the audience, which ranges from serious handicappers to horse racing novices."

The Saratoga Live coverage, which earned a 2019 Eclipse Award for its feature on Rachel Alexandra which was narrated by Wolfendale and produced by NYRA's Ernie Munick, is built on three objectives Allevato cited as a foundation when the show launched in 2016 - educate, entertain and inform.

"There are a lot of options out there for viewers," he said. "But in showing the races and  a lot of what goes into, we're confident that our shows will be entertaining. We have a great thing going at Saratoga and we want people around the country to share it with us."

For more information about Saratoga Race Course, visit NYRA.com/Saratoga.