One of the reasons I have lost a lot of interest in racing is trying to find it on TV. I have watched a little on Fox this week, it is Saratoga after all. I do not understand why they constantly flip between FS 1 and 2, and then back again. Whaaa? And today, with the biggest racing day of the summer they are playing checkers with the schedule again. Both are going off, but it is being picked up by LOCAL Fox. Then at 5:30 local time, they jump back to FS 1 or 2, not even sure which one.
I missed the early coverage, thank heavens, but one of the FS channels had the early card. At about the time Fox was to pick up the coverage in order to air the Travers, horses broke down on the track in back-to-back races. Fox aired alternate programming instead of racing after that. One of the FS channels did air the alreay-scheduled Saratoga wrap-up show, and that gave a replay and rundown on the Travers.
Noble broke down hours earlier in an undercard race. Fox has contracts to broadcast various other sports live and the advantage of multiple channels allows flexibility with overtime and delays that go with live TV. At least it was FOX and not NBCs sucky coverage.
That cut over between FS1 and 2 then back was always scheduled, unforeseen events at the track threw the timing off, believe they also took time to harrow the track which was still sealed when NYT went down, took more time but a very wise call, IMO.
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I wrote that before the breakdowns, which I mercifully didn’t see. But I would think it doesn’t matter, the channels are back to back on the dish, but it is just irritating the way they flip back and forth. It seems like they should have contacts with Saratoga as well.
If you do a search on your TV for “horse racing” (as I do) - it will bring up a list of all racing being shown. Then I can simply select and record and do not need to go back and forth on FS1 or FS2 on my own. Mainstream Fox will always pick up the big races (in this case, the Travers) and a few races heading into it.
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well, I just don’t watch as much racing as I used to when it was on TVG. They knew and understood racing and racing was all they did. Now it is scattered to channels where it is simply not a priority. Even for Breeder’s cup, NBC jumps it all over the place.
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I spring $275 a year for a RTN subscription and watch the track feeds via either Roku or computer. Cuts out the back and forth from the four-man booth (which gets a little tedious to listen to after awhile.)
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