Saratoga Live Debuts Friday

Friday's Opening Day card at Saratoga Race Course will mark a new era in New York Racing Association (NYRA) broadcasting. “Saratoga Live,” a 4:00 p.m. race day telecast that will generally encompass the late pick four race sequence over a 2-2 1/2 hour span, will be broadcast both nationally and regionally by Fox Sports (FS2), MSG+, and the Altitude Sports Network.

The in-house NYRA talent team of Jason Blewitt (host), Andy Serling (handicapper), Maggie Wolfendale (paddock reporter), Richard Migliore (analyst of jockey tactics and pre-race warm-ups), and Larry Collmus (announcer) will be joined for “Saratoga Live” by trainer Tom Amoss and Florida/Maryland-based analyst Gabby Gaudet.

Tony Allevato, recently hired as the executive producer for NYRA television and the president of NYRA's new advance-deposit wagering (ADW) company, NYRA Bets, will be at the helm for this new racing show that has the potential to reach 65 million homes on a daily basis. Allevato spent 14 years as executive vice president and executive producer for Television Games Network (TVG), and most recently was the coordinating producer for NFL Network's flagship program, “NFL Total Access.”

While driving to Saratoga earlier this week, Allevato pulled safely off to the side of the road for a mobile phone interview about “Saratoga Live” with TDN's T.D. Thornton.

TDN: Last autumn, NYRA debuted a live broadcast on a regional network, then augmented the format this May during the Belmont Park meet. What have you learned from those initial MSG telecasts that will shape “Saratoga Live” as it expands to Fox and Altitude?

TA: It's been a huge undertaking for us, because we're not a TV network. We're a racetrack, but we produce a network-quality show. What we've been dealing with is just, from a technical standpoint, doing things outside of the norm of a daily simulcast show. That's been the biggest challenge–to produce a simulcast show at the same time as a [separate] national TV show. And when we get to Saratoga, we're introducing a lot of new elements that we're unveiling for the Fox shows, and we're stepping it up even further, specifically for some of the features we've created for the Saratoga meet.

TDN: Like what?

TA: Virtual reality graphics are one. When you watch football and basketball, a lot of the replays they do, you'll see a player isolated while other players “disappear” off the field or court. NYRA's made a big investment from a technology standpoint to be able to do those. In the old days of the telestrator, you could draw a line or a circle on the screen. Now, you can take a horse in the pack and eliminate all the other horses around it. You can trace the path that the horse takes to show you how much ground the horse lost and leave a trail behind the horse, very similar to what you see in other major sports

TDN: What will be different in terms of content on “Saratoga Live”?

TA: You often hear Maggie Wolfendale talk about a maiden race for turf horses, and she'll say that horse has a “turf” hoof. Well, what does that mean to the average person? So we've created these pre-recorded features that are informational and educational in which Maggie explains the difference between a “turf” hoof and a “dirt” hoof, and why it makes a difference, with visual examples to go with it. She's going to talk about what to look for in a 2-year-old. What it means when a horse is acting up, what's a positive sign, what's a negative sign. These are things that maybe people who are horse people take for granted, but for the average handicapper, it's going to be really eye-opening. Similarly, Richard Migliore will be talking about how jockeys use their hands to stay patient or to put a horse in the race. This is no different that if you're watching an NFL game, and they're talking about an offensive lineman and his foot movement and the way he's able to do a pancake block while showing those things visually on the screen.

TDN: How do you achieve a proper balance between the right mix of content for different levels of viewers?

TA: That's the toughest challenge. When we launched TVG, we really tried to appeal to the novice, the person who goes to the racetrack once or twice a year, with the feeling being that the person who's the hard-core player will watch anyway. And that was a huge mistake on our part. Because the fan who only comes to the track once or twice a year is not going to watch your show every day, and getting them to make that leap to open up a home-betting or ADW account is tough. And in the meantime, all you were doing was alienating the hard-core fans. So what we've done is try to find a middle ground, and that's to appeal to the person who is a racing fan and goes to the races, as well as the person who is primarily a sports bettor, a poker player, or a fantasy sports player who likes to watch live sports television. But you have to be careful–you can't dumb it down too much.

TDN: So what will viewers of the on-track or simulcast feed see for the majority of the day? Will it still be the familiar NYRA broadcast?

TA: Yes, we're still going to present the same simulcast show that we've presented in years past. You're going to see the same amount of replays, all the head-ons, all the will-pays, everything you'd normally see. But I think you're actually going to see a better simulcast experience [because of the additional investment in the network broadcasts].

TDN: How so?

TA: If you look at the way simulcast television has been done for the last three decades, all the commentary, for the most part, takes place prior to the post parade. Which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it, because we all know the majority of betting comes at the final few moments before the race. As the business has shifted more to home betting, it only makes sense to provide more commentary on a simulcast feed than you've done in the past. So when Maggie's doing one of her pre-recorded features on turf feet [for the network feed], that's not going into the simulcast feed. But when the horses are loading, and she's giving commentary and Richie's talking about how the horses warmed up as they approached the gate, that is going to be on both the simulcast feed and the network feed.

TDN: What personality pairings might viewers of “Saratoga Live” appreciate as the show evolves?

TA: Andy is a TV producer's dream, because he's got a “love him/hate him” personality, which is what you want, and he embraces that. What's impressed me most about working with Andy is that his preparation is as good as any I've ever seen in any sport. And we're pairing him with Tom Amoss, who I worked with at TVG on “The Works.” Tom's going to bring in the perspective of a trainer, and what makes Tom great is he is not afraid to say what he thinks. A lot of people from the industry that you bring on shows are kind of walking on eggshells, and that's never conducive. So we're going to pair Tom up with Andy, and it will be interesting to see where that goes. My bet is you'll get a little bit of disagreement between both of them.

TDN: How much has NYRA invested in being able to produce network-quality broadcasts?

TA: I can't say that. I'll just tell you that it's a very significant investment, and from what I can tell, it's unparalleled by any racetrack that I've worked with in the past. We're fortunate because a lot of the infrastructure was already in place, and the NYRA TV team was doing a great job before I got here, and we were able to build off of that. So it's not like we're doing this from scratch.

TDN: What if viewers don't get any of those national or regional networks on TV? Are there other ways to watch “Saratoga Live”?

TA: The show is also on our NYRA HD app. It's a free app that you can get through the app store on Apple or Android. Download it for free, and then just click on “Saratoga Live.” You can also watch the simulcast feed show that way; both are on there. We recognize [mobile] as the way of the future. More and more people are watching from their tablets, phones, and computers, and we wanted to make sure that everything we're going to do from a TV standpoint is also available via digital delivery, because that's critical to our long-term plan.

TDN: You're also the president of NYRA Bets. How does the new programming mesh with the ADW platform?

TA: The ADW component of this project has been spearheaded by Matt Feig, senior director of NYRA Bets. As we look at ADW and how it continues to grow, it only makes sense for NYRA to have a seat at the table on a national level. We're not trying to be the next TVG, from the ADW/broadcast standpoint, but we think it's important for us to be out there and to be able to interact with our customers and understand them. NYRA Bets is going to roll out during the Saratoga meet. It's rolling out this Friday in New York, and then very soon afterward–there's no hard date–for the rest of the country.