''American Dream Derby'' is an American

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

-themed

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

that aired on GSN. Eight one-hour episodes were produced, with the first two airing on January 10, 2005; the show then aired weekly through the February 21, 2005, finale. The series, hosted by Steve Santagati, featured twelve contestants competing for a grand prize of $250,000 and a stable of eight

thoroughbred horse The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distan ...

s. Much of the horse racing in the series took place at

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

. The general episode format involved three segments. First, an "Owner's Challenge" took place; the winner of the challenge got to sleep that night in the show's mansion rather than in the stables with the horses; the winner also got to choose some of the other contestants to join them. Those who did not make it to the mansion then competed in a "Stable Hands' Challenge." The winners of each of the two challenges then got to choose one of their opponents (from their own sleeping arrangement) to face the "Guts Match". each chosen contestant then picked a horse from the stable to represent them in a heads-up match; the contestant who chose the losing horse was eliminated. The penultimate episode saw the final six trimmed to three via three Guts Matches, then a fourth Guts Match was run to determine which of the final three contestants got first pick for the final race. The live finale saw the three finalists, plus the five eliminated contestants who had received the highest viewers' call-in votes, choosing from the eight horses for the final race that determined the champion. The series' theme song was "You Take Me Home" by

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at age 13 with 1996's "Blue". She has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Chris ...

, who appeared in the series finale.

References

External links

* Horse racing Game Show Network original programming 2000s American reality television series 2005 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings Horse racing in the United States {{US-reality-tv-stub