The NBC broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday generated a 7.7 rating and a 24 share, according to the network, increases of 8.5 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively, over the measures generated for the Derby broadcast last year.

Viewership averaged 16 million people for the race portion of the broadcast, running from 6:31 p.m. to 7:21 p.m. Eastern, NBC said, the highest viewership number for the Derby since 2019, prior to the pandemic. Viewership peaked at 19 million people during the race itself, NBC said.

A federal judge has set Jan. 9 as the start date for the trial of Jason Servis, the trainer who was indicted in 2020 with more than two dozen other individuals involved in horse racing on charges related to the administration of illegal substances to racehorses.

Helen Kleberg Groves, the King Ranch heiress who bred the champion Althea in partnership and raced and bred many other stakes winners, died on Friday in San Antonio, Texas, her hometown, according to her family. She was 94.

Groves, who grew up on King Ranch and worked horses and cattle as a young woman, had strong and varied connections to Thoroughbred racing and breeding, beginning with her father, Robert Kleberg Jr., the owner of King Ranch, and continuing through to her children, which include Helen Alexander, the owner of Middlebrook Farm.

With Jose Ortiz committed to ride Early Voting, John Velazquez has picked up the mount on Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Simplification in the May 21 Preakness Stakes, trainer Antonio Sano said Monday.

“Johnny V’s a good jockey, a good person, has experience,” Sano said Monday. “I’m so happy to have Johnny on the horse.”

Simplification was scheduled leave Kentucky for Baltimore on Monday night.

Velazquez rode Messier to a 15^th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Messier is not running in the Preakness.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Two consecutive weekends in late April and early May gave the Cohen family a memorable span of wins at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita.

On April 30, Evening Sun, co-owned by Jed and Roberta Cohen’s Red Baron’s Barn, and their son Tim’s Rancho Temescal, won the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in his stakes debut.

A third-place finish by Zandon in the Kentucky Derby notwithstanding, trainer Chad Brown enjoyed a terrific three-day period with his stable between New York and Kentucky, winning nine races from the 22 in which he had runners, five of which were Grade 2 stakes, one a Grade 3.

Brown had 33 starters in those 22 races and ended up with 10 seconds and five thirds in addition to the nine wins.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rich Strike, the improbable winner of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, headed home to Lexington on Sunday from Churchill Downs, and will spend a bit more than a week at trainer Eric Reed’s private training center, Mercury Equine, before embarking on the next step of his journey, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although he just missed winning the Kentucky Derby with Epicenter, marking the third time he’s finished second in the Derby, trainer Steve Asmussen still had himself a terrific two days at Churchill Downs. He recorded two Grade 1 victories, with Pauline’s Pearl in the La Troienne on Friday and with male sprint champ Jackie’s Warrior in the Churchill Downs on Saturday.

As with Epicenter, both Jackie’s Warrior and Pauline’s Pearl were ridden by Joel Rosario.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Jockey Sheena Ryan suffered significant injuries in a Sunday morning training accident at Woodbine.

Ryan worked a Mike Mattine-trained 2-year-old who crashed into the outer rail on the gallop out and unseated her on the outside of the rail near the half-mile pole. Ryan was sent to Sunnybrook Hospital and reportedly suffered a broken pelvis and elbow.

Ryan had not had a mount at the current Woodbine meet. She won the $250,000 Muskoka Stakes in 2020 on the Mattine-trained El Bayern.

Santin came out of his Saturday win in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in good condition, trainer Brendan Walsh said Sunday morning, but no plans have yet been formed for a late spring and summer campaign.