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Wolf, Migliore, Serling, Bray and Ali Named as Talent for The Jockey Club Tour on FOX
Greg Wolf, Richard Migliore, Andy Serling, Simon Bray and Alyssa Ali have been tabbed to handle the on-air duties for The Jockey Club Tour on FOX racing series, which makes its debut on Sunday, February 9, with the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. Wolf will serve as the host while Bray and Serling will handle analyst/handicapper duties. Ali will serve as the team's reporter and Migliore will be an analyst.
The Jockey Club Tour on FOX is a joint production led by Brad Zager, vice president productions of FOX Sports, and Ken Adelson, executive producer of TJC Media Ventures, who will produce all nine broadcasts.
The nine-race series will air on FOX Sports 1 and will feature several of North America's most prestigious races for older horses as well as the $10,000,000 Dubai World Cup, the world's richest Thoroughbred race.
Each telecast will include at least two top stakes races featuring the leading horses in North America. The partnership between the FOX Sports Media Group and The Jockey Club is a multi-year agreement that was announced in August 2013.
"These nine shows will all be a fast-paced mix of behind-the-scenes features, gambling insights and pageantry surrounding the event, and they should appeal to both newcomers and longtime fans of Thoroughbred racing," said Jason Wilson, vice president of business development for The Jockey Club, which is underwriting the series. "After a series of auditions and conversations with many individuals, we felt that each of these five individuals would bring both a passion for the sport and a unique perspective to the telecast."
"We can't wait to get started on FOX Sports 1 this Sunday with The Jockey Club, and this is going to be a great, well-informed group to carry us through the series," said John Entz, executive vice president, production, FOX Sports 1.
As a boy growing up in Marin County, Calif., Greg Wolf was an avid follower of UCLA men's basketball and played the sport as much as he could. At UCLA he became an on-air sports personality with the campus radio and television stations. He scored particular success as host and producer of the popular UCLA Bruin Talk TV show, which lead him to a career in sports. After graduating from UCLA, Wolf worked at the CBS affiliate in Fresno for two years before moving on to FOX Sports as a writer for the network's national prime-time sports show. After a couple of years at Fox, he sent a demo tape to the office of TVG. The tape, backed up by his solid experience, landed him a job when TVG launched in the summer of 1999.
With 4,450 career winners, retired jockey Richard Migliore is well equipped for his role as a broadcast analyst. Born and raised on Long Island, Migliore went to work on a horse farm near his home and decided upon a career as a jockey at age 12. He began riding in 1980 and in 1981 won the Eclipse Award as the nation's top apprentice with 298 victories. He won eight riding titles at NYRA and tied for two others. He retired from riding in June 2010 and joined the NYRA broadcast team in February 2011. In addition to his television work at NYRA, he has covered four editions of the Breeders' Cup and three runnings of the Triple Crown races for HRTV.
Andy Serling has been offering handicapping insights on Talking Horses, NYRA Live, Trips & Traps and the National Racing Report since 2008, when he joined the New York Racing Association's broadcast team. He became a racing fan in 1973, when his family moved from Princeton, N.J., to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. When he wasn't playing the horses or working in the racing industry, Serling traded options on the floor of the American Stock Exchange.
Born in Hertford, England, analyst Simon Bray has been a racing insider since boyhood. His father owned several successful racehorses in the 1980s in England, and Bray became fascinated by the racing scene spending most vacations at the track or working for his father's trainer, Robert Armstrong. After leaving high school, Bray went to work for trainer Henry Cecil, starting as a groom and eventually becoming assistant trainer. He moved to the U.S. in 1992 and found a job with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, again working his way up from hot-walker to assistant trainer. In 2004, Bray retired from training and joined TVG as an analyst.
Arlington Park Racing Reporter and Marketing Manager Alyssa Ali grew up at the racetrack. The daughter of Chicago-based trainer Alnaz Ali, she started working in Arlington's television department while still in high school, learning from longtime handicapper Christine Gabriel. Ali attended Augustana College, where she honed her broadcasting skills. Ali now works as an on-air commentator at Arlington Park.
The Jockey Club Tour on FOX series schedule includes the following races:
Date Time (ET) Event Track
Sunday, Feb. 9 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Donn Handicap (G1) Gulfstream Park, Hallandale, Florida
Saturday, March 29 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Dubai World Cup Meydan Race Course, Dubai
Saturday, April 12 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) Keeneland, Lexington, Kentucky
Sunday, May 11 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Man o' War Stakes (G1) Belmont Park, Elmont, New York
Sunday, July 6 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm United Nations Stakes (G1) Monmouth Park, Oceanport, New Jersey
Sunday, July 20 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm Eddie Read Stakes (G1)
TVG Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) Del Mar, Del Mar, California
Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, New York
Sunday, Aug. 10 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) Saratoga Race Course
Sunday, Aug. 17 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes (G1) Saratoga Race Course
Sunday, Sept. 14 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1) Woodbine Racetrack, Toronto
The agreement also includes international and Spanish-language rights, including the ability to air races on FOX Deportes, the nation's leading Spanish-language sports network.
About The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It is a founding member of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and the architect and sole funding source for America's Best Racing, the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing. You can follow America's Best Racing at americasbestracing.net as well as on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram.
About FOX Sports 1
FOX Sports 1 is America's new national multi-sport channel that launched on August 17 in approximately 90 million homes and boasts nearly 5,000 hours of live event, news and original programming annually. The channel has several pillar sports: college basketball and football, MLB (in 2014), NASCAR, NFL (ancillary programs), international soccer, UFC and Golden Boy boxing, and adds USGA events, including the U.S. Open, and FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015. FOX SPORTS LIVE is FOX Sports 1's flagship 24/7 news, opinion and highlights program, providing around the clock coverage through regularly scheduled programs, hourly updates and an information rich ticker. Original programs include: FOX FOOTBALL DAILY; NASCAR RACE HUB; FOX SOCCER DAILY; CROWD GOES WILD, a new live sports entertainment talk show hosted by Regis Philbin; and the groundbreaking BEING: documentary franchise. FOX Sports GO, a new authenticated mobile sports experience for iPhone, iPad, Android devices and the web, serves as the channel's digital extension. The app offers more than 1,100 live games and events from FOX Sports, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports' 22 regional sports networks, as well as scores, highlights, news, stats and analysis. For more information visit http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsports1.
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