Kenny Rice | |
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Born | |
Occupation | Sportscaster |
Kenny Rice (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportscaster known nationally for his horse racing reporting with NBC and MMA coverage for HDNet.
Kenny Rice was born July 28, 1956, in McDowell, Floyd County, Kentucky. He grew up in the town of Eastern, and began his career as a disc jockey while in high school for WDOC in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1980, he became the Sports Director for WTVQ TV in Lexington.
A national "stringer" in the early days of ESPN's SportsCenter , Rice filed reports from 1982 to 1990 and was a correspondent for Down the Stretch (1982–1985) and Wire to Wire (1998–2005). Rice was host and reporter for horse racing including Breakfast at the Kentucky Derby and 2Day at the Races (1997–2006). He was an on-site co-host of college basketball's Midnight Madness for the debut of ESPNU (2005). He has also been a frequent contributor of Horse Racing coverage to the ESPN web site. [1]
Since 1999, Rice has covered horse racing, reporting on the Kentucky Derby, [2] Preakness Stakes, [3] Breeders' Cup [4] and Belmont Stakes. He's worked two Summer Olympics; boxing reporter (2004) [5] and host of Equestrian Competition (2008). [6] In addition, Rice covered the U.S. Olympic Trials in both Triathlon (Host) and Equestrian (Reporter) and has reported on the NFL for NBC's Football Night in America . He did play by play of Track and Field, Rugby, and Basketball at the 2008 Paralympic Games for NBC's Universal Sports with his track calls used in an NBC documentary of the games. He called the Pro Bull Riders World Finals ('05, '07). Since 2008 he has been the host of the Hambletonian Harness race. [7]
Rice has been a co-commentator alongside former MMA fighter Bas Rutten for the World Series of Fighting since WSOF 5 was broadcast on NBCSN on September 14, 2013. [8]
Rice has worked for Mark Cuban's HDNet since 2003 [9] and hosts the popular Inside MMA with legendary champion Bas Rutten (they also announced for the short-lived IFL [10] on Fox Sports Net). Rice called play by play of the inaugural United Football League 2009 season with Paul Maguire. [11] His college football play by play includes the game, Harvard VS. Yale and the Monon Bell Game between Wabash College and DePauw, as well as college basketball calls of the John R. Wooden Classic, [12] Legends Classic [13] and College Basketball Invitational. [14] Rice worked with Rex Chapman calling Pac-10, Missouri Valley Conference, Horizon League and West Coast Conference basketball games from 2003 to 2005. He has also done boxing and MMA play by play and hosted horse racing coverage including the Santa Anita Derby. [15]
Since 2008 Rice has hosted what is considered by thoroughbred racing enthusiasts racing's biggest night, The Eclipse Awards. [16] He also appeared in the 2011 documentary film When Happy Met Froggie.
Steve Haskin is an American horse racing journalist and author. A former Wall Street employee, Haskin became interested in horse racing in 1967. He gained recognition for his annual coverage of the Kentucky Derby, first as National Correspondent for the Daily Racing Form and then as Senior Correspondent at The Blood-Horse until June 2015.
Afleet Alex is an American thoroughbred race horse who, in 2005, won two of America's classic races, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. He is owned by the Cash Is King Stable partnership, was trained by Tim Ritchey and was ridden by Jeremy Rose. In twelve lifetime starts, Alex won eight times, placed twice, and came in third once over 12 starts, for lifetime earnings of $2,765,800.
Tom Durkin is a semi-retired American sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. He was the race caller for NBC Sports from 1984 through 2010 and served as announcer for the New York Racing Association from 1990 until retiring in 2014. For his career-long dedication, he was awarded the Eclipse Award of Merit in January 2015.
Thoroughbred Racing on NBC is the de facto title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. NBC's relationship with the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing dates back to 1949 when the NBC Red Network carried the first radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby.
Javier Castellano is a Venezuelan jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
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Curlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the American Horse of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. He retired in 2008 as the highest North American money earner with over US$10.5 million accumulated. His major racing wins included the 2007 Preakness Stakes, 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup. In August 2008, Timeform assigned a 134 rating for Curlin, calling him the best horse in the world on dirt. Curlin was elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 2014, his first year of eligibility.
Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup.
Krista Voda Kelley is an American sportscaster who covers auto racing as the play-by-play announcer for the ARCA Menards Series on MAVTV. She previously worked for NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on Speed from 2003 to 2014 as the host of the pre-race show for the Truck Series and beginning in 2007 as a pit reporter for the NASCAR Cup Series. She also was a fill-in sideline reporter for Fox's NFL coverage. She then worked as the pre and post-race show host for the Cup Series for NBC from 2015 to 2020.
Dale L. Romans is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known for winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford and the Breeders' Cup Turf with Little Mike. He also upset American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers Stakes with Keen Ice. He won the 2012 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer.
HDNet Fights was a US based television outlet for various MMA and combat sports promotions. Its broadcast lineup included DREAM, Sengoku, K-1, Strikeforce, Adrenaline MMA, M-1 Global, Ring of Honor, Maximum Fighting Championship, Affliction Entertainment, Urban Conflict Championship, BAMMA, XFC, Superior Challenge, CFA, Titan Fighting Championships and the now defunct IFL among others. As of February 19, 2010, it has promoted two events of its own and broadcast 60 events by other promotions. After July 2, 2012, when HDNet re-branded itself as AXS TV, HDNet Fights was re-branded as AXS TV Fights.
Eight Belles was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who came second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby to the winner Big Brown. Her collapse just after the race resulted in immediate euthanasia.
Gabriel Saez is a Panamanian horse racing jockey. He began his riding career in his native country in 2004, becoming the leading apprentice jockey in 2005. Saez moved to the United States in February 2006, and almost instantly became Delaware Park Racetrack's leading jockey that same year. He won his first race as an apprentice in the U.S., and then his first race as a journeyman.
Jeff Piecoro is an American sportscaster. He formerly worked for 24 years with the Cincinnati Reds baseball team as a co-host on Reds Live pregame and post game shows. He and former Big Red Machine member Doug Flynn co-hosted Reds Weekly on Fox Sports Ohio. He also does work as the color commentator on the Big Blue Network during radio broadcasts of University of Kentucky Wildcats football on the UK Sports Network. Since 2015 Piecoro has worked for the SEC Network as play by play announcer for men’s baseball and women’s basketball. In June of 2021 Piecoro became a Realtor at The Brokerage Real Estate Advisors in Lexington. He is a member of LBAR and NKAR, and works the Central Kentucky and Northern Kentucky real estate markets.
Hambletonian, was one of the best Thoroughbred racehorses of the late 18th century, having won all of his race starts, except one, and was later a good sire. His victories included two Doncaster Cups in the late 1790s and the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster in 1795.
NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.
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The 2019 Preakness Stakes was the 144th running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the American Triple Crown. It was held on May 18, 2019, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The Preakness is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles (1.9 km) with a record high purse of $1,650,000. The race was broadcast on NBC from 5:00 pm to 7:15 pm EDT with coverage of the undercard on NBCSN starting at 2:30 pm. The race was won by War of Will, who had finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby. The Maryland Jockey Club reported a total attendance of 131,256, the second highest attendance for American thoroughbred racing events in North America during 2019.
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When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, all major professional and collegiate organizations responded by suspending operations indefinitely. This effect was passed down to the world of sports broadcasting, which includes live coverage of thousands of events on an annual basis through stations and network available over the air, through cable, satellite, and IPTV companies, and via streaming and over-the-top services.