poker's television success was all about the "peek" camera giving the viewer an imagined way to be part of the action. there are a few video's available of wsop events from the 80's and they're like watching paint dry.

wpt's innovation of showing viewers the hidden cards made the difference and led to the explosion of interest in poker. the right technology met the right production idea.

i'm not sure you'll ever see anything similar in racing. they keep trying with blimp shots, helmet cam's and tracking camera's but none of that revolutionizes the experience of the viewer the way knowing more than all the players at the poker table does.

i play poker and bet horses. handicapping races successfuly is magnitudes of difficulty harder than winning at cards. i don't think there's any way you can "educate" a general audience on handicapping in a way that doesn't drive most of them to another channel.

any bump in audience is good. even if the cost is 45 minutes of commercials and fluff for every 2 minutes of racing.

That is all Andy needs, more access to young blonde waitresses.

If you can educate just one person, it would be a good start. The problem is, a lot of the times the "experts" aren't experts at all. There are some really sharp minds in horse racing and people with a lifetime of knowledge.

What I'm suggesting is, on big race days, instead of 90% of the TV coverage being about fluff, split it up a bit. Introduce some of the basics and do a little teaching. It could be incorporated into the upcoming race. What is the worst that could happen? A few more people become interested in betting, because they know more about it and won't feel like they are wasting their time.

Horse racing tries to be something it isn't. Instead of embracing what it is, the want to make themselves Disney and it isn't.

Realistically, this is something that should be done to a level on racing channels such as TVG and HRTV. I'll use TVG as an example (because that the only one I have), but they really don't do things like that and they are a full time racing channel. Sure they give out picks and (usually ridculous) pick 4 plays. But they really don't have kind of basic handicapping teaching show. I don't know what percentages of households have one of the channels, but maybe that would be the way to go. A major network would only cover so much time in a segment about basic capping. But have TVG sponser the spot and then have them promote their daily handicapping show/series. This way if someone is interested about exploring different types of angles/bets, he/she would be able to tune in and maybe pick something up.

Really what harm could it do for TVG to produce 5 one hour shows and air them one a day in the morning before live racing starts? It could benifit them for current and possible future customers.

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I see your point but you need to lighten up . Last year's $10,000 guy was fun.
http://web.sny.tv/schedule/beermoney.jsp Or they can just give away cash on the spot . Did you ever see "Beer Money" the 1/2 hour show from NY where they ask different folks, mostly in bars, trivia questions for $10, then they can roll it if they get the next question right for $20 and then if they get all 3 right they win $100 or lose it all . I think it's a helluva lot of fun to see the characters in this world have some fun . Especially at spots around the track .

I agree that was fun. They took you through the guy's thought process and so on.
But to go around asking random people, who do you have and having to hear them say I bet the 14 because that my cat's name isn't going to do much for the sport/program.

Have you ever watched the Late Double on TVG when they go around and talk to people in the crowd? If so then you should see my point.