Without golf this weekend, NBC Sports airs Boston-Washington for its final regular season NHL Game of the Week and then does some other programming.
It includes the final prep horse races before the Kentucky Derby on May 1.
“ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY” SERIES CONTINUES THIS SATURDAY LIVE ON NBC SPORTSBlue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby Horses Look for Chance to Make Kentucky Derby Field
“It’s the last big weekend of prep races before the Kentucky Derby.” – NBC’s Stevens
NEW YORK - April 8, 2010 - NBC Sports’ “Road to the Kentucky Derby” continues this Saturday with two graded stakes races featuring Thoroughbred horses vying for a spot in the Kentucky Derby (Saturday, May 1, 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports). Live action from the Blue Grass Stakes in Lexington, Ky., and the Arkansas Derby in Hot Springs, Ark., begins Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports.
The hour-long broadcast will originate from Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., and is hosted by Lexington’s Tom Hammond alongside three-time Kentucky Derby winner Gary Stevens, who twice won the Arkansas Derby (1985 - Tank’s Prospect; 1990 - Silver Ending) and won the 1998 Blue Grass Stakes aboard Halory Hunter. The NBC Sports broadcast team also includes handicapper Mike Battaglia, reporters Kenny Rice and Donna Brothers from Keeneland. NBC Sports handicapper/reporter Bob Neumeier provides additional coverage and analysis live from the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.
A total of 19 horses that have run in the Blue Grass Stakes went on to win the Kentucky Derby, with Street Sense in 2007 the most recent. Smarty Jones won the 2004 Arkansas Derby on his way to winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes that year before placing second to Birdstone at the Belmont Stakes.
STEVENS ON SATURDAY’S PREP RACES: “They are both great races with great history behind them that have both produced multiple winners for the Kentucky Derby. I have been fortunate to win the Arkansas Derby twice and the Blue Grass one time. For me, it’s the last real weekend of prep racing prior to the Kentucky Derby.”
STEVENS ON ARKANSAS DERBY: “I love Noble’s Promise in this race. He’s been a bridesmaid to Lookin at Lucky the last couple times out but doesn’t have to face him on this trip. A good effort here by him will put him in my “Super Seven” of Derby horses. Others to watch are Super Saver, the favorite, while D. Wayne Lukas is double loaded with Dublin and Northern Giant.”
STEVENS ON BLUE GRASS STAKES: “I was surprised to see Pleasant Prince in this race because I think it makes it an even better race. Others to look for are Interactif, who finished second to Santa Anita winner Sidney’s Candy in the San Felipe, and Make Music for Me. All he’s done is break his maiden in a stakes race his last time out.”
ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBYThe newly launched “Road to the Kentucky Derby” television series, produced in partnership by NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Incorporated, began Saturday, March 27 with the Louisiana Derby and Lane’s End Stakes and continued last Saturday with the Santa Anita Derby and Wood Memorial. These Derby prep races are key competitions to earn a coveted spot in the Kentucky Derby’s 20-horse starting gate.
The series also gives viewers at home a sense of the spectacle surrounding a day at the races, including snapshots of the fashion, food, famous faces and racing’s real “characters” - the fans - to draw viewers into the social scene that makes racetracks the ultimate source for entertainment. The shared vision of Churchill Downs and NBC Sports’ successful ‘Big Event Strategy’ led to the 2009 Kentucky Derby being the most viewed Derby in two decades with a 26 percent increase in viewers since this strategy was launched in 2007.
And NBC Sports airs highlights of the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games from Vancouver that took place in March.
2010 PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES HIGHLIGHTS THIS SATURDAY ON NBC SPORTS
NEW YORK - April 8, 2010 - NBC Sports presents a 90-minute special highlighting the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games this Saturday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. ET. The program will feature recaps and highlights of memorable action from the Games.
Among the remarkable athletes featured in the special are U.S. Paralympian Alana Nichols and Canadian Paralympian Brian McKeever. Nichols, who broke her back in a snowboarding accident when she was 17, competed in wheelchair basketball and was a member of the U.S. Paralympic team that won a gold medal in Beijing. She made her Paralympic Winter Games debut in Vancouver competing in alpine skiing. McKeever, visually impaired since he was 19, became the first athlete ever named to both the Winter Olympic and Paralympic teams. While he didn't get to compete at the Olympics in Vancouver, he was able to compete at the Paralympics.
In addition to the athlete stories, the program will include the U.S. sled hockey team’s gold medal win over Japan as well as coverage of curling and alpine skiing.
The Paralympic Winter Games is an elite sporting event for accomplished athletic champions spanning five different physical disability groups. Emphasizing the Paralympic values of courage, determination, inspiration and equality, the Paralympic Winter Games showcase participants' athletic achievements rather than their physical disability in five sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, sled hockey and wheelchair curling. In Vancouver, a total of 600 athletes from approximately 40 countries competed in these five sports.
To learn more about U.S. Paralympics, visit www.usparalympics.org.
That’s it.
