Morning-line handicappers lost one of their most useful free tools Thursday when 1/ST TV stopped producing and posting workout videos from several of North America's most important racing and training centers. The decision removes a daily source of visual information for bettors evaluating lightly raced horses, first-time starters and runners returning from layoffs.
In a notice posted on its website, 1/ST TV said it had provided coverage of more than 15,000 workouts annually during the past decade. The footprint included Del Mar, Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park, Saratoga and the South Florida training centers Palm Beach Downs, Payson Park and Palm Meadows, according to Thoroughbred Daily News. The company said it explored ways to share the expense with the racing industry but could not find a workable arrangement. New videos ended Nov. 12, while the historical library is scheduled to remain available through November.
That archive deadline matters. A workout video is not merely a record of distance and time; it can show whether a horse changes leads cleanly, switches off behind a workmate, gallops out with energy or struggles to maintain form. Those details are especially valuable when conventional past performances offer little more than a debut date, a trainer name and a morning-line price. The service began as XBTV and became a routine stop for handicappers, owners and trainers seeking context beyond published clockings.
The loss will be felt most sharply in maiden races and comeback spots, where recent video can help separate a genuinely fit horse from one simply accumulating maintenance drills. It also removes a consistent way to compare preparation patterns across circuits. A fast five furlongs at Santa Anita, a controlled move at Palm Meadows and a longer progression at Del Mar still require track-specific interpretation, but repeated access to the same horses and facilities gave bettors a useful visual baseline. As Daily Racing Form reported, the coverage reached major venues that are not served uniformly by other free workout-video providers.
Replacement options exist, but none presently matches the breadth of the discontinued operation. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association continues to publish workout footage, primarily for horses training in Kentucky, while Bruno With the Works remains another resource for selected horses and circuits. That leaves players covering Southern California, Florida and New York facing a more fragmented search, with official track feeds, clocker reports and paid data services carrying greater importance.
The timing also fits a broader contraction in racing media. FanDuel TV is expected to end its current racing-production model after Del Mar's fall meeting concludes Nov. 29, with future programming moving toward raw simulcast feeds rather than the familiar studio and track presentation, according to the Press-Enterprise. Against that backdrop, 1/ST TV's decision is more than the disappearance of a convenient website feature: it is another reduction in the information infrastructure horseplayers use to make markets. For now, bettors should download or review relevant archived works before the November access window closes, then adjust their process toward track-specific reports and whatever local coverage remains.