ABC Earns 10.5 Overnight Nielsen Rating For Belmont Stakes

ABC Earns 10.5 Overnight Nielsen Rating For Race Coverage Of Saturday's Belmont Stakes

ABC'S BLINDERS: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote ABC in its coverage "missed a lesson" noted by ESPN's Bob Ley in his tribute piece to Jim McKay, who died early Saturday: to "find the best stories, leave the main road and look down the side streets. In short, don't ignore long shots, like Da' Tara." It was as if ABC had "swallowed the buzz, the odds and the boasts" of Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow. ABC's "lengthy run-up to the Belmont Stakes was almost entirely about Big Brown," as the net had "no features on any horses or jockeys save" for Big Brown and his jockey, Kent Desormeaux. Sandomir noted much of the news media "fixated on the big colt, but no one else had 90 minutes of air time leading up to the race to give a prop or two to the field of rivals." The "rigid Big Brown strategy was risky even if he was a huge favorite," and ABC "should have planned for the possibility of a Big Brown loss" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/8). On Long Island, Neil Best wrote ABC's coverage "focused on Big Brown as single-mindedly as a golf telecast does on Tiger Woods when he has a lead." ABC host Joe Tessitore "invoked the word 'history' at least a half-dozen times." But ESPN analyst Randy Moss "warned of history's flip side, which has proven again and again that the Belmont is a graveyard of Triple Crown dreams" (NEWSDAY, 6/8). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich writes under the header, "Broadcasters Dodge Big Brown Steroids Issue." ABC might have "lost track of who was doing what," such as "exploring the fact that Big Brown's trainer regularly injected the favourite with steroids or that there were other horses in the race." Zelkovich: "Maybe the network was so thrilled at the prospect of covering the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years it kind of lost sight of what it was supposed to do" (TORONTO STAR, 6/9).

BROWN OUT: In N.Y., Samuels & Millat noted a power failure at a N.Y.-area Time Warner Cable facility knocked out TV service for parts of the city from 5:30pm until about 7:00, missing the race portion of the broadcast (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/8).

Print This Article