TVG - Interactive Horse Racing

If you are like me and love the sport of horse racing, TVG might be your destination of choice on the television airwaves. TVG shows thoroughbred, quarter, and harness races throughout the world. TVG gives horse racing fans an avenue to watch the sport other than going to the Off Track Betting location nearby.

TVG first aired in 1999. Their studios are based out in Los Angeles. The network is shown on Directv, Dish Network, and some select cable operators.

TVG is interactive horse racing in that it combines live and tape-delayed coverage from over 100 tracks throughout the world. Viewers are allowed to bet on races from the comforts of their home via online access, home and mobile phones, and in some instance from your remote control.

Some of TVG's programming includes Horseracing Today, the Starting Gate, Racing Coast to Coast, :58 Flat, Trackside Live, Drive Time, The Quarters, Lady Luck (the only all female perspective on horse racing), and their newest edition The Late DDouble.

The Late DDouble features action from California race tracks Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park. They take a fresh look at the sport of horse racing with trivia contests, interviews with up and coming young horse owners, jockeys and trainers in the industry. Another part of the show that makes things interesting is to see how the racing analysts and reporters selections for the daily double at both tracks fare. On last night (5/28/10) episode one of the TVG analyst won a little money on the daily double.

The TVG analyst also breakdown the fields of the Triple Crown races and the Breeders Cup. These races are horse racings biggest betting days of the year.

Some of the talent on TVG includes:

Bob Baedeker (Mr. B) - Racing Analyst

Simon Bray - Racing Analyst

Matt Carothers - Racing Analyst

Mike Joyce - Racing Analyst

Chris Kotulak - Racing Analyst for International Thoroughbred Racing

Frank Lyons - Host and Racing Analyst

Christina Olivares - Host and Reporter

Rich Perloff - Racing Analyst

Ken Rudulph - Host

Todd Schrupp - Host and Racing Analyst

Gary Seibel - Host and Racing Analyst for Thoroughbreds and Harness Racing

Dave Weaver - Host and Racing Analyst for Quarter Horses

Greg Wolf - Host

Fans can place wagers on their favorite horses from tracks all over the world. TVG has exculsive coverage at famous tracks such as Woodbine Race Course in Ontario, Canada, Keeneland Race Park in Lexington, Kentucky, Meadowlands and Monmouth Park in New Jersey, and Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park in California.

In 2009, Betfair became the owner of TVG. Betfair is the largest online betting exchange in the world. Betfair is based in England. Betfair bought TVG's former owner Macrovision Television for $50 million in cash.

Horse racing fans can sign up for a free account on tvg.com. To place a wager, you must deposit a minimum of $50. Personally, I have yet to use this function. I plan to in the future but I am content with watching the races on TVG; picking the winners and seeing how I would compare with the experts. For now, I place bet at the local OTB in my hometown on the big race days like the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. I do not plan on making any bets this year for the Belmont Stakes as the field will be less than stellar since Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Looking at Lucky are not participating.

So, if you are looking for the best place to search horse racing on television and the Internet, TVG is your place. Be sure to visit www.tvg.com and learn more interactive horse racing.