2012 Kentucky Derby prep races are plentiful in the next few months before the Kentucky Derby but seeing them on TV wasn’t always easy.  The good news is that horse racing has ample races and racetracks with various distances for those owners and trainers who hope to need 2012 Kentucky  Derby tickets.  Each owner and trainer hopes that their horse will be in the final 20 on the first Saturday in May.  They want to have 2012 Kentucky Derby tickets for all their friends and join the crowd at Churchill Downs.  The only bad news is that horse racing fans and bettors must now sort through each prep race to try to figure out who will win the 2012 Kentucky Derby.

In the days before you could see horse races on the internet and watch replays of the Kentucky Derby prep races on HRTV and TVG, seeing the replays was challenging. It was not so long ago when you think that TVG only started broadcasting in 1999.  Times
have changed and for the better.

ESPN had a weekly horse racing show that showed what they  considered the major races of the week. Horse racing fans  interested in the Kentucky Derby watched the half hour show to actually see the races – before we could only read about them in the newspapers and magazines. Dreams of Kentucky Derby tickets and being at Churchill Downs were ample but you could only catch a glimpse on TV or in print. No instant replays! Kentucky Derby prep races were not shown at local tracks unless they were for simulcast betting (not often in the 1980-90’s).

VHS tapes became available and many people taped the show.  On the West Coast, we saw the show in the afternoon on a Thursday and it replayed Saturday at 8 AM, if I remember right! Not great times but seeing a television show at all was great!

Then a thought – wouldn’t it be great to see all the Kentucky Derby prep races at one time? I started to make sure that I was at home and could tape the Kentucky Derby prep races in order.  About that time, charter busses started having VHS machines for bus charters to watch movies. We took the VHS machine on our bus ride to Lexington and watched the VHS tape of the Kentucky Derby prep races. Everyone on my Kentucky Derby tours ww.kentuckyderbytours.com always enjoyed seeing the prep races for the horses entered in the Kentucky Derby.

I will warn you – we found that watching the races in a row like that could be dangerous for your betting.  There were some years where you would come up with a horse that you were sure could not lose the Kentucky Derby – but the horse did!

Watch the replays but make sure you remember that you want a horse that is peaking as they come to the 2012 Kentucky Derby!