Breeders' Cup 2012: Weather Will Not Be a Problem for the Races or the Broadcast

Well, as the old saying goes, “It never rains in Southern California.” Today will be a perfect day for racing in the Los Angeles area. It is Day 2 of the Breeders’ Cup Championships at beautiful Santa Anita and the weather will be picture perfect.

That is great news for NBC, which will be telecasting the Breeders’ Cup Championships for the first time in prime time at 8 p.m. ET. Santa Anita is a track without lights, so rain or anything that could push the card back might make things a bit tricky.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is set to go off at 5:30 p.m. locally, which is 8:30 p.m. ET.

According to the Weather Channel, sunset in Los Angeles is going to take place around 5:58 p.m. PT, so all should go fine.  

Earlier this week in a Bleacher Report interview, I spoke with NBC producer Rob Hyland, who is the man in charge of broadcasting the event. He talked about the darkness issue:

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It would be a very, very significant delay for that to happen. But from a setting standpoint, that sort of orange tones that present themselves on the mountains in the distance are going to be pretty spectacular, and I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to do a race in this unique setting.

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As today’s Breeders’ Cup Championships gets underway, the noon-time temperature will be 73 degrees according to the Weather Channel with humidity at around 40 percent and the winds at only two miles per hour.  

The rest of the day will see temperatures topping out at 76 degrees with low humidity and almost no wind all day. So on the final day of the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Championships, it will be blue skies and smooth sailing for both the horses and the spectators.