The New York Racing Association has signed a long-term extension to its partnership with US sports broadcaster Fox Sports.
The deal makes Fox Sports the year-round national television home for NYRA racing from Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park.
Fox Sports will televise 500 hours of racing in 2019, including nearly every race day at Belmont and Saratoga. This will then expand to over 600 hours annually in 2020.
The deal builds upon the previous agreement between the two parties, through which more than 100 hours of NYRA coverage was broadcast on Fox Sports 2 in 2018.
“This is a transformative agreement between NYRA and Fox Sports that will dramatically expand national television coverage of the best thoroughbred racing in the country,” said NYRA president and chief executive Chris Kay.
“With increased competition for wagering dollars, we recognise the importance of capturing the attention of sports fans and bettors using high quality television production to provide the best coverage and racing analysis available anywhere today, which is something our television department has been providing for the last two years.”
The deal does not include rights to the annual Belmont Stakes event, which is broadcast exclusively by the NBC Sports Group division of US media company NBCUniversal.
Fox Sports first partnered with the NYRA during the 2016 summer meet at Saratoga.