Woodbine Entertainment Group announced that effective June 25 the Woodbine Thoroughbred simulcast feed is being produced in high definition in a new production control room located on the fourth floor of the racetrack's grandstand.
"The fans will love watching the races on the hundreds of HD TVs we have around the facility," said Doug Flaherty, WEG's senior director of broadcasting. "The sport is shot so beautifully in high-def, and it will also provide sharper graphics and odds displays for bettors.
"This is an excellent step in our goal of presenting the best in broadcast quality for horse racing. As technology advances across the horse racing industry, WEG's HD signal will be much more widely distributed."
The production facility is the first of its kind for horse racing in Canada, according to WEG.
TVG will get Woodbine's 1080p HD signal while other locations, initially, will continue to receive a standard definition (SD) feed. Customers can view the production in SD (4:3 ratio) on older televisions, or converted back to 16:9 ratio on newer, wide screen TVs.
All of WEG's network programming, including the Queen's Plate on July 6 on TSN, will be in HD.
Woodbine Race Course
Michael Burns