TVG

Hall of Fame jockeys, TVG's on-air talent and other prominent racing personalities will once again take to the phones Sunday, Oct. 17 as TVG and The Jockeys Guild host the third annual telethon to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). The event, canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, raised $330,000 in 2019, an increase of more than $100,000 over the inaugural event in 2018. Fan favorite jockeys of today and years past will be on hand live at call centers in California and Kentucky from 12:00...

   The TDN kicks off 'Let's Talk'--a new podcast series featuring TDN's Christina Bossinakis and TVG's on-air analyst Gabby Gaudet. The series offers candid discussion on personal, and sometimes difficult, topics that are often uncomfortable for many to speak about in an open forum.    The inaugural edition presents a trio of successful horsewomen who have made a name for themselves in the game, while simultaneously starting and raising families--TVG Host and Racing Analyst Christina Blacker; principal partner in BSW/Crow Bloodstock and co-owner of Elite Sales Liz Crow; and Anna...

The summer fundraiser for California Retirement Management Account raised more than $125,000 to help fund its retirement and aftercare programs. CARMAthon was promoted throughout Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic day card at Del Mar by TVG, which created and played videos showcasing Thoroughbreds who retired through CARMA's Placement Program in their second careers as sport horses and whose on-air commentators highlighted the importance of aftercare for the sport. "The success of CARMAthon means so much to us and the horses," said Billy Koch, CARMA's Treasurer and Little Red Feather Racing...

Del Mar set a new single-day wagering mark when $36,005,613 was wagered on the track's GI TVG Pacific Classic day card Saturday. The previous record of $25,870,431 was set on Pacific Classic day in 2018. Saturday's card at the oceanside oval, which included five graded stakes, also offered a Pick Six Single Ticket Jackpot pool that finally topped out at $10,751,767. The pool consisted of a $1,874,996 carryover and "new" money of $8,876,771. Each winning ticket--and there were 822 of them--paid $10,521.50. The card had been designated as a "mandatory...

With Kentucky Downs and FanDuel entering into a three-year partnership, the upcoming six-day meet at Kentucky Downs has been renamed the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs. Located near the Kentucky and Tennessee border, Kentucky Downs offers only turf racing with some of the biggest purses in America. FanDuel, a sports-tech entertainment company, is the parent company of TVG. Included among the changes brought about by the partnership are TVG becoming the official Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) platform for Kentucky Downs; racing from the track airing exclusively on TVG for network...

Officials at TVG have announced that members of the Del Mar riding colony will collaborate with the network to enhance its daily coverage of horse racing. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who has appeared in commercial endorsements for TVG in the past, will be joined by his colleagues Umberto Rispoli, Flavien Prat and Jessica Pyfer in contributing to broadcasts, social media content and overall online presence. In addition to periodically wearing cameras on their helmets during races, all the jockeys will make appearances as special guests on the network...

Southern California native Kevin Grigsby, the Executive Producer and Senior Vice President of Television at FanDuel Group & TVG, doesn't give a lot of interviews. "It's a personal preference of mine," says Grigsby. "I love having the network speak for itself, more so than I like to speak for the network." But when the Del Mar meet opens Friday, the network will kick off a comprehensive programming schedule that includes hundreds of hours of live coverage, seven on-air talent, dozens of cameras, and new technology, and so Grigsby has come...

TVG will introduce two familiar faces to its broadcast team this summer, the network announced today. Larry Collmus, best known as the voice of the Triple Crown on NBC, will join the TVG broadcast team for select days at Monmouth Park, and NBC Sports broadcast personality and international racing expert Nick Luck, a staple of horse racing coverage in both the UK and US, will be part of the TVG's special coverage of the iconic Royal Ascot meet from June 15-18. "We are very excited to have both Larry and...

TVG has unveiled significant improvements to its wagering app (available for both Apple and Android) and has added on-demand GI Kentucky Derby-related content to its OTT WatchTVG app (for Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV). "Our team is always looking at ways to improve the wagering experience for TVG customers and to reinvest in technology upgrades to improve the customer experience and make it easier for new fans," said Kip Levin, CEO of TVG. "These enhanced wagering and handicapping features on our mobile app are the latest example of...

TVG and Keeneland have reached an agreement that extends their longstanding partnership through at least 2026. As part of the agreement, TVG will retain exclusive broadcast rights for Keeneland's race meets as well as non-exclusive wagering rights for Keeneland's races. The network will share broadcast rights for select special events with NBC Sports. In addition, FanDuel group will promote Keeneland's racing to its more than 10 million Daily Fantasy Sports and sports book customers as the company further integrates promotion of horse racing with its sports book and daily fantasy...

For the first time since introducing the promotion in 2017, TVG will offer a mandatory payout in its free-to-play Super 8 contest with a $250,000 jackpot this week. If more than one contestant picks the highest number of winners, those contestants will win equal shares of the $250,000 prize. TVG will announce which races will be part of the Super 8 sequence later this week. This is the first year TVG has included a carryover component to the Super 8, adding $25,000 per week as the jackpot builds from $100,000....

With active hands-on experience in two arenas in racing--television and presentation as well as horsemanship--Christina Blacker is one of a handful of people in the industry with that variety of perspective. Tuesday morning, the TVG reporter, analyst and host joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland for an expansive discussion on growing the sport. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Blacker also talked about the triumph of her husband Dan's recent first Grade I winner as a trainer and her I Am Horse...