NBC earned a 1.8 overnight rating for the Breeders' Cup Classic from 8:00-9:00pm ET on Saturday for Bayern's close win over Toast of New York and California Chrome, up 25% from a 1.4 for the '13 event. Saturday's overnight is down 18% from a 2.2 for the '12 event, which included a triple OT Notre Dame-Pittsburgh football game lead-in from 3:30-7:00pm (THE DAILY). In Louisville, Gregory Hall notes the rating is a "high spot" for the Breeders' Cup "after its third consecutive year at Santa Anita." The event "is coming to Keeneland Race Course next year for the first time" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 11/3). SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote, "Props to NBC Sports for how it handled the post-race controversy after the Breeders’ Cup Classic." At the beginning of the race, the winning horse, Bayern, "took a sharp left out of the gate and rumbled into pre-race favorite Shared Belief." The race was "under inquiry at the finish and NBC quickly went into action," with interviews of winning jockey Martin Garcia, trainer Bob Baffert, and "especially Mike Smith, the jockey of Shared Belief who told NBC that the bump ended any chance of his horse winning." NBC's Tom Hammond "led analysts Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss in a smart discussion of what might happen with the inquiry," giving viewers a sense of being "updated every step of the way in a fast-moving situation" (SI.com, 11/2).
