Record crowds and wagering for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks "pushed Churchill Downs Inc. profits higher for the week." The Derby week's all-sources handle "set a record" at $263.3M, up 4% from last year and 2% higher than the previous record, set in '13. Attendance for the five days "also was a record," with 365,006 fans. The crowd for the Derby itself was a record 170,513 (COURIER-JOURNAL.com, 5/3). The all-sources handle for yesterday's program "totaled a record" $194.3M. The figure is 4% "higher than the previous mark" of $187M established in '12. All-sources wagering on the Derby itself "was up 7%" to $137.9M from $129.2M last year (BLOODHORSE.com, 5/3).
The Kentucky Derby "did a 10.8 overnight rating" on NBC, the highest mark for the event since '92 (TWITTER.com, 5/3). Derby winner American Pharoah is owned by Ahmed Zayat, who has "become one of the leading owners in the sport, but he hadn't been able to win the big one" until yesterday (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/2). Zayat previously "finished second" in the Derby three times and "once he had scratched the prohibitive favorite a week before the race" (SI.com, 5/3).
