Rachel Alexandra leaves Baltimore.
Yes, the on-site crowd was down by nealry 35,000 at Pimlico on Saturday, but the overnight TV ratings for the Preakness Stakes were the highest in five years, and second-highest in nearly two decades.
BloodHorse.com reports that Rachel Alexandra’s presence, Mine That Bird’s underdog story and the Calvin Borel switch drove NBC’s ratings up 24 percent over last year when Big Brown won the Preakness.
The overnight rating of 6.3 was second only to 1990’s 7.8, and 2004’s 7.2. Summer Squall beat Unbridled in the 1990 Preakness. Unbridled was coming off a Kentucky Derby remembered for trainer Carl Nafzger telling Mrs. Frances Genter that her horse had just won the roses. The 2004 Preakness was won by Smarty Jones, just after the highly-popular 3-year-old had won the Derby.
Saturday’s race portion of the broadcast was up 27 percent over last year.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
0 Responses to “Rachel Alexandra drives Preakness TV ratings up”