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NBC Sports To Present 11.5 Hours Of Live Breeders’ Cup Coverage

NBC Sports presents 11.5 hours of live coverage of the 2021 Breeders' Cup World Championships this weekend – the richest two days in horse racing – with $31 million in prize money at stake in 14 races. Highlighting the coverage is the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic this Saturday, Nov. 6, live from Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif. at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Highlighting Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic field:

Essential Quality: 2021 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner, trained by Brad Cox;
Knicks Go: Korea Racing Authority's five-year-old has won four of six starts this year, including victories in the Pegasus World Cup and the Whitney;
Medina Spirit: Finished first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, trained by Bob Baffert;
Hot Rod Charlie: Trained by Doug O'Neill, finished second in the 2021 Belmont Stakes and won the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 25.

Live coverage of the 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships begins Thursday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN with handicapping special “Betting the Breeders' Cup.” Live racing coverage begins Friday, Nov. 5, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, followed by 6.5 live hours on Saturday, Nov. 6, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and continuing on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. ET.

2021 BREEDERS' CUP TELEVISION SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES ET)

Date Time Event Platform
Thurs., Nov. 4 5 p.m. Betting the Breeders' Cup NBCSN
Fri., Nov. 5 5 p.m. Breeders' Cup World Championships NBCSN
Sat., Nov. 6 2:30 p.m. Breeders' Cup World Championships NBCSN
Sat., Nov. 6 8 p.m. Breeders' Cup Classic NBC, Peacock

COMMENTATORS: Ahmed Fareed hosts coverage throughout the weekend alongside analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who owns 15 Breeders' Cup wins; analyst Randy Moss; reporters Laffit Pincay III and Nick Luck; analyst/handicapper Eddie Olczyk and handicapper Matt Bernier; insights analyst Steve Kornacki; 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. Maria Taylor makes her horse racing debut as the host of the primetime show Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Thursday afternoon's “Betting the Breeders' Cup” special features Eurton, Luck, Olczyk, Bernier, and Kornacki.

Programming highlights include:

Unique perspectives from the track through multiple live jockey cams and jockey and trainer/owner mics
This year, jockey cams will connect to real-time data viewers will see reflected in graphic overlays on replays, including speed, current position, distance from the leader, and distance from the finish
Breeders' Cup Contender Cam featuring 14 paddock ISO cameras and 10 front-side ISO roof cameras
Drone camera coverage and Megladon camera
An outrider camera capturing intimate moments with the winning jockey immediately following the race
Celebrities make their Breeders' Cup Classic picks
Maria Taylor catches up with the members of Boat Racing, the five former Brown University football teammates who are part-owners in Hot Rod Charlie
A feature on Distaff favorite Letruska – a horse of the year candidate – and what she means to her trainer, Fausto Gutierrez
Nick Luck interviews Charles Scheeler, the Chairperson of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority
A tribute to the late Bob Neumeier, who was a fixture on NBC Sports' Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup horse racing coverage
Access to approximately 75 video sources, including cameras and feeds

NBC Sports' coverage of the Breeders' Cup World Championships is produced by Lindsay Schanzer and Billy Matthews, and directed by Kaare Numme. The coordinating producer of NBC's horse racing coverage is Rob Hyland, who has been a part of the network's horse racing coverage since 2001. Executive producer and president, production, NBC Sports and NBCSN is Sam Flood.

BREEDERS' CUP COVERAGE ON COVERAGE ON NBCSPORTS.COM, NBC SPORTS APP & PEACOCK

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will stream live coverage to desktops, mobile, tablets, and connected TVs 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. The full HD-quality video stream will come directly from NBC's broadcasts. NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app are available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox, and Chromecast. NBC Sports.com, the NBC Sports app, and Peacock – NBCUniversal's streaming service – will provide a full race replay of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2021 Breeders' Cup World Championships consists of 14 races over two days at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif. and features a total of $31 million in purses and awards. The culminating event of the Breeders' Cup, the Breeders' Cup Classic, is contested at 1 ¼ miles on the main track, for 3-year-olds and older. Breeders' Cup Limited administers the Breeders' Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing's year-end Championships. The Breeders' Cup also administers the Breeders' Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. Breeders' Cup press releases appear on the Breeders' Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders' Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

NBC SPORTS AND HORSE RACING: NBC Sports is the exclusive home to the most important and prestigious events in horse racing, including the Triple Crown, the Breeders' Cup World Championships, Royal Ascot, and Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series. NBC has been the exclusive home of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes since 2001, and the Belmont Stakes since 2011, when NBC Sports Group reassembled the Triple Crown.

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Breeders’ Cup Buzz: The Rides Of A Lifetime

Behind every winning race is a winning ride, and the Breeders' Cup has produced some of the most impressive piloting efforts the sport has seen.

When considering those winning trips, a share of the credit must, of course, go to the jockey's agents who booked the mounts for their riders. An agent knows a good ride when they see it.

With 37 years of Breeders' Cup races to draw from, we polled six jockey's agents to get their picks for the greatest riding effort in Breeders' Cup history. The answers cast a wide net from personal victories, to betting scores, to rooting for childhood heroes.

Doug Bredar

“For obvious reasons, it would be Gun Runner in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. I'm still surprised that Arrogate went off as the favorite. The bettors thought that Gun Runner would have issues going a mile and a quarter, but the connections felt otherwise. Arrogate had beaten him a couple of times, and it was not only an incredible thrill watching Florent Geroux win the race, but redemption for the way he did it. The fractions were 22.4, 46.1, 1:10.2 and 1:35. He went wire-to-wire and I thought it was an exceptional ride. Very fond memories of a special race.”

John Herbstreit

“Arazi and Zenyatta are the most impressive horse races I've seen. Even when Zenyatta ran second, she was impressive. Alysheba and Personal Ensign are my favorite wins. My favorite ride was Pat Day on Wild Again in the 1984 Classic.”

Ron Ebanks

“Randy Romero on Personal Ensign in the mud getting up the last jump to nail Gary Stevens on Winning Colors (1988 Distaff). He was my idol as a kid and I couldn't have been more happy and proud of him.”

Jimmy McNerney

“Pat Valenzuela aboard Fraise in the 1992 Turf stands out the most. It was the first Breeders' Cup that I was old enough to 'legally' bet and I put $100 across the board on him. He came from last and P-Val made every right move weaving his way through the pack through the turn. When they straightened, he dove down and snuck through along the fence and nipped Sky Classic right on the money. There's no other path that he could've taken and had the same result.”

Mike Luider

“Gulch in the 1988 Sprint. Angel Cordero Jr. was masterful!”

Brian Beach

“Julie Krone's ride on Halfbridled in the 2003 Juvenile Fillies was one of the best I've seen. It's not always about weaving though traffic and getting up at the wire. It's sometimes about getting your horse to perform its best under adverse circumstances, and that's what happened in this race. They broke from the 14 post and Julie was able to get her filly to relax while going wide and still not expending too much energy until she could get a better position down the backstretch. By the time they turned for home Julie had Halfbridled in a perfect winning position with something left in the tank for the run to the wire.”

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Racing TV to Show All Breeders’ Cup Races

All 14 Breeders' Cup races will be shown on Racing TV on Nov. 5 and 6. A full multi-media user experience will be available for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar, with live coverage beginning at 9 p.m. on Friday and 5:45 p.m. on Saturday. The Racing TV coverage will be hosted by Tom Stanley, Angus McNae and George Baker, while Nick Luck and Rishi Persad's on-course interviews will be relayed via the NBC and 'Players' Show' feeds from Del Mar. Sky 426, Virgin 536 (Britain) and 411 (Ireland), Apple TV and Vodafone (Ireland), racingtv.com and the Racing TV Apps will also show the Breeders' Cup coverage. The one-hour Breeders' Cup preview show The Knowledge will be hosted by McNae and Rachel Candelora at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, while on Sunday, Luck on Sunday will provide all the latest from the morning after which will be hosted by Tom Stanley and Jane Mangan.

Martin Stevenson, CEO of Racecourse Media Group, parent company of Racing TV, said, “Everyone at Racing TV is very excited to be bringing the Breeders' Cup, the World Championships of horse racing, to our viewers. We have built real momentum and excitement on the channel around the Breeders' Cup since June, harnessing our considerable marketing assets to promote this iconic event to British and Irish fans and we wish Breeders' Cup the very best of luck for what will be an outstanding weekend of sport.”

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‘We’ve Found His Game’: Gear Jockey Comes Into Turf Sprint Off Career Best

It took a few races — OK, 12 — to figure out what Calumet Farm's 4-year-old colt Gear Jockey really wanted to do. But the wait and perseverance paid off this summer and fall, with Kentucky Downs' $1 million FanDuel Turf Sprint winner a leading contender for Saturday's $1 million, Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

A year ago, when the Breeders' Cup was at trainer Rusty Arnold's hometown track of Keeneland, Gear Jockey was awaiting his first victory. That didn't come until this past January in the colt's first start as a 4-year-old.

Even though he started off 0 for 8, Gear Jockey has uncorked only two truly bad races, the first being his debut at six furlongs on dirt at Saratoga by almost 23 lengths. Stretched out to a mile on grass, the winless colt still ran very well, including finishing a close third at 67-1 odds in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita in 2019.

In fact, his tantalizing talent was such that Gear Jockey made a fleeting appearance on last year's Kentucky Derby trail. That ended in his second poor race in Gulfstream Park's Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, his last race on dirt. He subsequently was sidelined for six months with a repairable leg fracture.

Back on grass, Gear Jockey won maiden and allowance races and came very close to winning a graded turf stakes. Still, Arnold thought there was more the horse could do.

“We sat down and said, 'Let's sprint the horse. He's just not finishing off, and he shows a lot of talent,'” Arnold said. “We've sprinted him three times on turf, and I think we've found his game.”

Gear Jockey earned a second-level allowance victory, was a rallying third after breaking slowly in Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy and then captured the Grade 3, six-furlong FanDuel Turf Sprint. That victory not only proved worth $576,600 to Calumet Farm but with the added perk of giving Gear Jockey a fees-paid berth in the five-furlong Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series' Win And You're In program.

Gear Jockey needed to win the FanDuel Turf Sprint to even make the Breeders' Cup. That was no small feat as Gear Jockey was the last horse to get into the overflow Kentucky Downs' race. If he lucked into the race, he made his own luck coming out with an authoritative 2 1/2-length victory over the well-regarded Diamond Oops.

“It was by far his best race,” Arnold said. “He did everything right…. (But) if one more horse had entered, we'd have been out. I can't tell you how big it was.”

The five-furlong Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint also includes third-place Bombard and Fast Boat, who beat Gear Jockey in the Troy Stakes. Sixth-place Got Stormy, who won the 2020 Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs, is going in the $2 million Mile on turf.

“I don't think the Breeders' Cup can be much tougher than that race,” Arnold said. “… I'm confident my horse is going to show up. It's a little shorter than I'd like, but we're hoping we've got him sharp enough.”

The Kentucky Downs victory provided a special thrill for Calumet Farm owner Brad Kelley, who grew up in Bowling Green and Franklin, Ky., started his path to billionaire status back in Bowling Green and now lives in Franklin, Tenn. Kelley also is a previous owner of Kentucky Downs, and Gear Jockey won with Calumet Farm the racing card's day sponsor.

“It was nice to win a big race for him close to his home,” Arnold said.

A third-generation horseman, Arnold is tied for No. 2 with Bill Mott in all-time victories at Keeneland at 288, trailing only D. Wayne Lukas' 296.

Arnold also is one of the most successful trainers to never have won a Breeders' Cup race. Kelley won the short-lived Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint in 2012 with Hightail racing the name of Kelley's old Bluegrass Hall. But Calumet Farm has never won a Breeders' Cup race.

“Disappointing is the wrong word,” Arnold said of himself being 0 for 14 in the Breeders' Cup. “But it's on your bucket list. You don't want to be one of the guys who has won the most graded races without winning the Breeders' Cup.

“I'd like to win for any of my owners. I want to win one for Calumet; I'd like to win one for myself. I'm a little bit jealous on that.”

Calumet also has its homebred Lexitonian in the $2 million Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint. The 5-year-old horse, trained by the farm's private trainer Jack Sisterson, won Saratoga's Grade 1 Vanderbilt. Detroit City is on the also-eligible for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and needs two scratches to run.

“If he shows up on his best effort, he'll be right there,” Sisterson said of Lexitonian, who finished second by a nose in last year's Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar. “It's great the support and the passion that Mr. Kelley has for this sport. Although he doesn't come, he watches every race. People don't know how emotional he gets after a big win.”

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