The overnight rating for NBC’s Belmont Stakes broadcast Saturday was a 12.3, down 5 percent from the 12.9 overnight rating posted for last year’s broadcast, according to figures released by the network Sunday. 

Share for the nearly three-hour broadcast was a 27, NBC said. Share measures the percentage of people watching television who are tuned to a specific program. The 12.7 rating was the third highest for a Belmont broadcast in the modern era, behind last year’s figure and a 15.9 posted for the 2004 broadcast, featuring Smarty Jones.

ELMONT, N.Y. – American Pharoah carried 126 pounds to victory in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. His jockey, Victor Espinoza, on the other hand, had the weight of the world on his shoulders before erasing memories of past Triple Crown failures with a flawless ride that helped guide American Pharoah into history as racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.  

All-sources handle on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which featured the first Triple Crown triumph in 37 years, was down 10.5 percent from the record-setting handle on the Belmont last year, when California Chrome failed in his own attempt to win the Triple Crown, according to charts of the race.

Total handle on the Belmont was $82.4 million, according to the chart, including all horizontal wagers that paid off on the race. The handle last year on the Belmont was $92.2 million, which had beat the previous record, set in 2004, by more than $24 million.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After three failed attempts at winning the Triple Crown, trainer Bob Baffert could have been excused if he talked about how great an accomplishment American Pharoah’s Triple Crown sweep felt for him personally.

Instead, following American Pharoah’s 5 1/2-length tour-de-force victory in Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes before a raucous crowd of 90,000 on a glorious spring afternoon on Long Island, the 62-year-old Baffert mentioned just about everybody else. There were his parents, Ellie and Bill, both of whom died within the last three years.

Now, after his dominant victory in the Belmont Stakes to become only the 12^th ever to capture the Triple Crown, the debate shifts from whether American Pharoah can make history to his place in it.

The best way to address that, I think, is to compare American Pharoah to other Triple Crown winners at this stage of their careers, although that isn’t so simple. But I do think it’s very safe to say he’s better than Assault and Omaha, who are widely regarded as the weakest Triple Crown winners.

ELMONT, N.Y. – To months in a year, inches in a foot, signs of the Zodiac, members of a jury, and days of Christmas, the number 12 now includes Triple Crown winners.

American Pharoah put an emphatic exclamation point on the 2015 Triple Crown with a runaway victory Saturday at Belmont Park in the 147th Belmont Stakes, romping by 5 1/2 lengths in front of a crowd of 90,000 that included former President Bill Clinton.

Order of finish
1. American Pharoah
2. Frosted
3. Keen Ice
4. Mubtaahij
5. Frammento
6. Madefromlucky
7. Tale of Verve
8. Materiality

Watch DRF Live! for all-day video coverage of the Belmont Stakes Day card here.

The following is a list of DRF Plus resources and content related to Saturday’s Belmont Stakes card at Belmont Park.

DRF Live! featuring video coverage and real-time analysis

Belmont Stakes previews

Belmont Gold Cup/Belmont Stakes $2 daily double will-pays:

Pool: $756,482

No. 2 Innovation Economy ($7) in the Gold Cup with/

1) Mubtaahij, $87.50
2) Tale of Verve, $214.50
3) Madefromlucky, $123
4) Frammento, $266
5) American Pharoah, $15
6) Frosted, 44.80
7) Keen Ice, $178.50
8) Materiality, $51