Haskell television coverage expands

The Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Handicap on Aug. 3 at Monmouth Park - the next target for Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown - will be televised live on ESPN Classic and ESPN News as well as TVG, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced.

The Haskell was initially scheduled to be broadcast live only on TVG, the horse racing network that has the exclusive television rights to the signal from Monmouth Park in New Jersey. However, the NTRA, a marketing association owned by the racing industry, was able to secure a 30-minute broadcast window on ESPN Classic and ESPN News, two of a family of ESPN stations that are partners with the NTRA on racing telecasts, the NTRA said.

The broadcast on ESPN Classic will run from 6 to 6:30 p.m. to Eastern, the NTRA said.

Big Brown has not raced since failing to finish in the June 7 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. Since then, his owners, IEAH Stables, have said that the Haskell was a primary target for the horse for his late-summer campaign.