The race portion of the Kentucky Derby broadcast on NBC late Saturday afternoon posted a 10.5 overnight rating and a 23 share, the second-best overnight rating in the past 25 years, the network said Sunday morning.
The 10.5 rating was a 12-percent gain over the overnight figure from last year, which was a 9.1. Share, which measures the percentage of televisions in use tuned to a broadcast, for the Derby portion of the broadcast last year was a 21.
You can talk all you want about how Always Dreaming had a perfect stalking trip in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. You can snicker all you want about what a cliché it has become when people say that horses with positional speed such as Always Dreaming make their own good trips. And you can lament all you want about how the sloppy track conditions at Churchill Downs over the weekend may have compromised so many horses in the Derby who had no experience on such footing.
You can do all of that. But I will respond by saying, very nicely, that I don’t want to hear it.
Why?
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The following is a list of DRF resources and content related to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 6.
Total handle on the Kentucky Derby and the supporting 14-race card at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday were both records, according to charts of the races, with total wagering on Saturday breaking a milestone mark of $200 million.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - They had won more than 1,600 races together -- including a Belmont Stakes with a filly -- and for nearly two decades have been the dominant jockey-and-trainer combination in North American racing.
When it came to the Kentucky Derby, however, jockey John Velazquez and trainer Todd Pletcher had come up goose eggs, going winless in 11 prior years together dating to 2000, the first year Pletcher ran a horse in the race.
While both men had won the Kentucky Derby separately, they felt their careers wouldn’t be complete unless they could win one together.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For all the abuse trainer Todd Pletcher has seen come his way for his record in the Kentucky Derby, winning with one of his first 45 starters, his win on Saturday with Always Dreaming in the 143rd Derby might have been his finest hour here at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thunder Snow bucked wildly just after the start of the Kentucky Derby and did not finish the race, but all signs point to the colt being uninjured.
Thunder Snow was away slowly and almost immediately dropped to the tail of the field, and when jockey Christophe Soumillon threw the reins at him to try to urge his mount into the race, Thunder Snow bucked several times and quickly was pulled up.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For a guy still chasing the dream of winning his first Kentucky Derby, a dream deferred for at least another year, trainer Steve Asmussen seemed quite jubilant following Lookin At Lee’s second-place finish behind Always Dreaming in the Derby on Saturday.
“I’m so very proud of Lee,” said an enthused Asmussen, who had a giant smile on his face despite the Kentucky Derby remaining the only really significant item missing on his Hall of Fame résumé. “That’s just who he is. He just did what he always does, the way he performed out there today.
Wagering on the Kentucky Oaks and its accompanying 13-race card at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday was down slightly despite chilly temperatures, intermittent rainfall, and a sharp drop in the ontrack crowd, according to charts and figures released by Churchill late on Friday.
Wagering on the Oaks, including all horizontal bets paying off on the race, was $14.80 million, down 1 percent from last year and down 1.7 percent from the record of $15.05 million set in 2015, according to charts of the races. The Oaks had a 14-horse field this year, the same as last year.
