The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form
and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) Thursday announced that
ESPN has won the Media Eclipse Award for Television – Live Racing Programming
for its telecast of “The Breeders’ Cup Classic” at the 2011 Breeders’ Cup World
Championships. The one-hour program at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky,
on November 5 culminated with the upset victory of Drosselmeyer over Game on
Dude in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
This is the third consecutive Media Eclipse Award in the Live Television
category for ESPN, which won the award last year for its Breeders’ Cup Classic
telecast on ESPN and for its 2009 telecast of the Belmont Stakes, shown on ABC.
“To win this award three years in a row is a great testament to our overall
production,” said Mike McQuade, who is Vice President of Event Production for
ESPN and coordinating producer for the Breeders’ Cup Classic telecast.
“We treat the Breeders’ Cup as a big event and we produce it as a big event.
This year’s Classic had a number of captivating storylines and our group did an
excellent job telling these stories and bringing the audience right to the
action.”
Among those themes in the Classic was the battle for Horse of the Year which
featured the four-year-old filly Havre de Grace, two Michael Repole-owned horses
in Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, and Game on Dude, who was ridden by Chantal
Sutherland, trying to become the first female jockey to win the Classic.
However, 14-1 shot Drosselmeyer, ridden by Mike Smith, who finished second on
the previously unbeaten Zenyatta in the 2010 Classic, came flying down the
stretch, passing runner-up Game on Dude to score an upset victory.
While the victory was obviously redemption for Smith, ESPN quickly focused
its post-race coverage to the “Battle of the Exes” as Sutherland and Smith had
broken off a relationship last year. Smith rode Drosselmeyer over to the ESPN
main announcer set on the clubhouse turn and was interviewed by Joe Tessitore,
Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss for his reaction, while Sutherland revealed that she
congratulated Smith to ESPN reporters in the winner’s circle.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic telecast was produced by McQuade and David Ceisler
and directed by Doug Holmes. Tessitore hosted the program. He was joined by
analysts Moss and Bailey. Jeannine Edwards, Jay Privman, and Caton Bredar were
the reporters. Hank Goldberg and Kenny Mayne were the handicappers. Bill Nack
provided narrated pieces. Trevor Denman was the racecaller. Nick Luck was the
international expert/European horse analyst.
Judges for the National Television – Live Racing category were: Pete Macheska
of Fox Sports, former NESN producer Joel Feld and award-winning television
producer Toni Slotkin.
Honorable mention in this category went to NBC Sports for its live telecast
of the Preakness Stakes from Baltimore, Maryland, which aired on May 21. Fred
Gaudelli was the producer.