We know that there is a great deal of chatter locally about the Preakness and its future as well as the future of Maryland horse racing in general. But what does the national media think of the future of the event?
ESPN horse racing analyst Randy Moss has been coming to Baltimore to cover the Preakness since 1981 and he understands the history of the event and Maryland horse racing issues.
Moss said that he has a clipping in his office from the Daily Racing Form and it says, “That Pimlico should be closed down and rebuilt, that Laurel is the track of choice for racing in the state. The future of horse racing in the state of Maryland is, at best, bleak.” So what is the date of that clipping from the Daily Racing Form? How about 1947.
“The Preakness is one of the three biggest days of racing in this country and it has been for over 132 years. On a national stage, race fans could care less about the politics in Maryland — or for that matter the state of disarray of Pimlico,” Moss said. “The track is always beautiful, the horses run a strong race and everyone is happy. The Preakness is — and will always be — a true Triple Crown race and a showcase day for Baltimore.”
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS will have over 23 hours of coverage this week from Baltimore with a full pre-race card starting Saturday at noon and lasting until 5 p.m. when they pass things off to NBC.
Director’s take
The man in charge of the “Big Show” starting Saturday at 5 p.m. on NBC4 is director David Michaels. While his brother Al maybe the better known by viewers David is a legend in the broadcast business as a major events director and in particular for horse racing.
Michaels handles the Triple Crown telecasts for NBC and this week he and his award winning crew are in town for the Preakness.
I spoke to Michaels about the challenge of covering the Preakness: “It is the smallest track of all the Triple Crown venues so we have to be very precise with our camera angles. There is a great deal going on in the infield and the tents and monitors there pose a challenge, so my hope is to be able to use the blimp live as I did in the Derby. We have a true HD camera there and I was able to use it live for the first time ever in a horse race, I have been doing some practice with the blimp on positioning so I hope we can use it on Saturday. Also the Preakness is a fast and colorful race so we will do our best to capture the speed; we will have 36 cameras and plenty of replays to make sure we don’t miss a thing.”
Would Michaels work with his brother Al?
“You know we are at the same network and we have no plans at the moment to work together, but we have been doing TV as a team since we were kids. We would watch a game on TV and I would talk about the bad shots and Al would critique the announcers. We still do it to this day, but working together, umm … I don’t think so. However in this business you can never say never.”
The NBC team of Bob Costas and Tom Hammond will co-host the show with analyst Gary Stevens. The broadcast team also includes: race-caller Tom Durkin, contributing analysts Mike Battaglia and Bob Neumeier, reporter Kenny Rice and on-track reporter Donna Brothers.
Jim Williams is a seven-time EmmyAward-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com.
