Officials at the New York Racing Association announced Monday that horse racing analyst and former Major League Baseball all-star catcher Paul Lo Duca will join Andy Serling, Maggie Wolfendale, Greg Wolf, Gabby Gaudet and trainer Tom Amoss as part of the team for the “Saratoga Live” program. Lo Duca will make his debut July 21, opening day of the Saratoga meeting.
“As a native New Yorker, and lifelong racing fan, I'm honored to join the talented broadcast team doing such great work on Saratoga Live,” said Lo Duca. “NYRA is producing the most innovative television coverage in the sport and I'm excited to become a part of it.”
Lo Duca, 45, is a native of Brooklyn and played 11 seasons in the majors from 1998-2008, making four all-star appearances for three different franchises as a catcher between 2003 and 2006. After playing college ball at Arizona State University, Lo Duca spent his first seven professional seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers before being traded to the Florida Marlins at the trading deadline of the 2004 season. During his tenure with the Mets, Lo Duca was the primary catcher on the 2006 team that won 97 games and went to the playoffs. In June 2009, Lo Duca joined TVG as racing analyst and remained with the network until announcing his departure a few weeks ago. Lo Duca is raring to go.
“I'm excited, I really am,” he said. “To be honest with you, it's a dream job for anyone. To go to Saratoga for a couple months of the year at the best meet of the year with the best horses and the best jockey colony is just a fabulous opportunity. If anything, I need to step up my game. Those guys are sharp. To work with Andy and Gabby will be fantastic and I've worked before with Tom and Greg, both are very good at what they do. It's really an all-star cast. I look at it as I'm joining a pretty darn good team.”
And Lo Duca admits there is no place like home.
“I've missed it,' he said of metro New York. “Met fans and fans in New York have never been anything but unreal to me. Every time I'd go there with TVG it was always a fun time. I always had it in the back of my mind to go back to New York and I can't wait to go to a Met game, to be honest. I haven't been to one in a while. When you're gone from somewhere for a while-I've been gone six or seven years now-you miss a lot of things. I miss the camaraderie and the fans. I played there two years, not 20, but they always embrace me.”
Tony Allevato, president of NYRA Bets and the executive producer of NYRA TV and at one time at the helm of TVG, said: “Paul is one of the most dynamic and captivating personalities in racing. As a former Major League All-Star he brings an athlete's perspective to the show. We are thrilled to have him join the Saratoga Live team.”
Saratoga Live, presented by Claiborne Farm, will be available in 75 million households nationally through FOX Sports 2 and regionally through MSG+, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports San Diego, Fox Sports Ohio and the Altitude Sports Network.
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