Saturday’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on NBC drew the highest audience for the race since 1989, according to figures distributed by the network.

The Total Audience Delivery measure – which includes streaming viewership – was an average of 16.7 million viewers during the race portion of the broadcast, from 6 p.m. Eastern to 7:15 p.m., according to NBC. That was the highest figure since the Derby win by Sunday Silence in 1989, when viewership for the single television broadcast was 18.9 million viewers.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bob Baffert has won 12 graded stakes this year, including five Grade 1 races in Arkansas, California and Florida.

The figure equals what he accomplished at the same time through the first weekend of May 2023, and is one more graded stakes win than the same time frame in 2022.

This year, the success may be the foundation for a better late spring and summer for the Hall of Fame trainer. In coming weeks, Baffert, 71, has major contenders in important stakes in Maryland and California.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Ken McPeek said Sunday morning that Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is not definite to run in the $2 million Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico.

After taking the traditional morning-after-the-Derby phone call from Pimlico officials inviting the Derby winner to the Preakness, McPeek told the assembled media outside his Churchill Downs barn Sunday morning that he could wait until entry day - May 13 - to decide whether to run Mystik Dan in the Preakness or train up to the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Total commingled wagering on the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville set a record and was up 10.1 percent over the record betting last year, according to charts of the races.

Total betting, including the multi-race bets ending in the Derby, was $198.3 million, up $18.16 million over last year’s record, according to the charts. The total was easily a record for any race ever run in North America, continuing a strong run for Derby handle since the waning of the pandemic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Saturday was a great day for Chad Brown at Churchill Downs.  For the future Hall of Famer, It came inches from becoming the most memorable day of his already outstanding training career.

All-sources wagering on the 13-race Kentucky Oaks card at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday set a record at $75.3 million, according to the track, a slight gain over the record set last year.

The handle total for the Friday card was up $400,000 over last year’s number, which itself was up slightly over a record set in 2022.

For the Friday card, 108 horses ran in the 13 races, one less than the number of horses that ran on the card last year. The Oaks, the centerpiece of the card, had 14 runners this year, the same number as last year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Jeff Engler sat outside the stall of his 3-year-old Mugatu checking his phone for a text or a call or a social media post that would tell him his horse could run in the Kentucky Derby.

It never came.

Mugatu needed one scratch to make it into the field for Saturday’s 150th Kentucky Derby. But following morning training Friday and the required veterinarian examinations, there were no horses scratched by 9 a.m. Friday, the deadline for horses on the also-eligible list to get into a race.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection office at the Port of Cincinnati has seized eight shipments since the start of the year containing “equine performance-enhancing drugs,” the agency announced on Wednesday.