Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford headline the field as the NBC Sports Group presents 6½ hours of coverage of the 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes, the final stage of horse racing’s Triple Crown, from Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., beginning Friday at 4 p.m. on VERSUS and culminating with the Belmont Stakes Saturday at 5 p.m.on NBC.
This marks only the 22nd time that both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners face off at the Belmont, and the first since Giacomo and Afleet Alex battled at Belmont in 2005.
NBC Sports coverage of the 143rd Belmont Stakes is co-hosted by Bob Costas and Tom Hammond alongside two-time Preakness winner Gary Stevens. NBC Sports’ broadcast team also includes race-caller Larry Collmus; contributing analysts/handicappers Mike Battaglia and Bob Neumeier; reporter Kenny Rice and on-track reporter Donna Brothers.
Added for this year’s expanded coverage are Laffit Pincay, III, son of Hall-of-Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., to host the coverage on VERSUS; veteran horse racing analyst Randy Moss; and the Daily Racing Form’s Jay Privman.
The Kentucky Derby
<p>The Preakness</p> <iframe width=”640″ height=”390″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/AwJnqJ1Yvj4″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””/>
