Ever wondered what goes into broadcasting a race meeting?
In short, a small army.
From its epicenter in Stanley Street, Auckland, TAB Trackside orchestrates a team the length and breadth of New Zealand to bring race meetings to television screens and viewing devices around the country.
While a few people in black polos emblazoned with the TAB Trackside logo are seen on course, few people would understand the logistics and personnel involved in bringing raceday footage to their screens.
Scott Freeman, Senior Producer of Racing at TAB Trackside, leads the production team in Auckland and he said it is a massive undertaking to deliver the final product.
“The planning starts six months ahead,” he said. “Based on projected turnover of that meeting, or industry importance of the meeting, we will resource that day accordingly.
“Three months later we will have another meeting to make sure everything is on target and a month out we will start booking our field shoots.
“People come from around the country to resource a race meeting if they have to, particularly on a feature day such as Derby Day.”
Freeman said millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, including the newly acquired OB (Outside Broadcast) trucks, capable of broadcasting high definition images, are transported to each race meeting around the country.
“That OB truck is a studio and in that studio is a team of at least five people that control the images and sound that is captured by cameras and microphones around the course.
“On a typical raceday there will be between six and seven cameras, depending if there is a presenter on course, primarily to drive betting on those races.”
While there is a crew of about 15 on course on a typical raceday, Freeman said there is also a team back in their Auckland studio adding the final touches.
“The vision from that OB studio is going out to a director and producer in our Auckland studio who put on additional content, such as graphics, prices, and colour pieces.
“In Stanley Street, we will have a producer, director, vision switcher, sound operator, VT Operator (recorded vision), and a graphics operator.
“They have to integrate the coverage from each of the meetings and put it into the schedule they have been given from raceday control.
“We will also have a team in MCR (Master Control Room) who make sure the pictures coming in via satellite or fibre are good to go. There are three people in there archiving the races.
“Then they send that out to SKY and other providers to broadcast that vision.”
While it takes a large team to deliver the final product to viewers on a general raceday, Freeman said that escalates on larger days.
“On feature racedays, it’s a balance in terms of how we celebrate the sport and how we tell the stories,” he said.
“We think those stories are told on those big racedays, that is why we resource it more. For example, we put up a drone because it makes the race look fantastic.
“We feel a real responsibility to do our best on those days to tell stories because there are no other channels to do so. There is no free-to-air option for the sport, so we have got to do both – tell the stories, and sell the betting.”
In a bid to bolster the viewing experience at home, the broadcaster recently utilised a tracking camera at the Wellington Cup Carnival.
“It is an intimate camera where you can actually see the jockeys hands during the race, it is fantastic,” Freedman said.
“We received great feedback from the Wellington Cup carnival and we are looking forward to it being at Ellerslie for Auckland Cup day.”
While presenters and camera operators are most commonly seen on raceday, Freeman said there are a lot of people behind the scenes who are a vital cog in the TAB Trackside machine.
“Our presenters and camera operators are world-class, but there are a lot of people behind the scenes that are crucial in the broadcasting team,” he said.
“Without the sound operators, for example, people at home wouldn’t have been able to hear Boys Get Paid chanting on Karaka Million night, or the roar of the crowd when Enzo’s Lad won his second Telegraph (Gr.1, 1200m).
“They are magic bits that would not have been able to be captured without those guys.
“There are also the engineers who are charged with making sure everything works. They are the most important people on the racecourse.
“There is no point having all this beautiful kit and putting all this resource into it if it doesn’t work.”
Like other industry participants, Trackside crew clock up a lot of kilometres on the road and arrive on track hours before a meeting in order to set up for the day.
“The crew arrives on course at least two hours prior to the first race on a normal race meeting, while on a premier day some crew will arrive on course the day prior in order to test the equipment and ensure everything is operational prior to the big race meeting,” Freeman said.
“The regional crews also put in big hours on the road, for example, the Palmerston North-based crew travel to New Plymouth, Wellington, Gisborne, and everywhere in-between.”
The next time you are flicking on the races on the tele, pay a thought to the hours and equipment involved in bringing you those pictures
