Preakness Ratings drop 5.2%
 

This is sort of a surprise to me. I would think there would have been an increase in ratings because of the Calvin Borel story. It is sort of hard to not to cheer him on and the public is sort of drawn to stories like his. In addition, this was the lowest rated Preakness for NBC. I would imagine that the ratings for The Belmont will be even lower. It breaks my heart, but racing for the general public is only one day a year and that is the first Saturday in May.

Here is the link to the story:
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/nat...-drop-5.2.aspx

One word: BARBARO

I thought about that, but the ratings for the Derby were up this year. So if people tuned out the Preakness because of Barbaro, then wouldn't they also have tuned out for the Derby?

Ya but the Preakness was where Barbaro got hurt. . . and Mending Fences' spill during the undercard may have put a few more people off for the Preakness. . .

I believe the weather on most of the east coast was crappy on Derby day. This past weekend the weather was good. This factors into the ratings more than they give it credit for.

3kings

I agree that it is easy to root for Borel, and his story is compelling, but that alone is not a ratings draw. One thing I think is under rated for these races and their ratings, is the time of day the race is run, especially on the East Coast.

The Preakness went off around 6:15pm eastern time. I don't know about anyone else, but on most Saturdays at that time, I'd like to be enjoying a quiet dinner or be out for the evening. The American public has long since given up stopping their lives for a horse race. Also, don't discount MLB. Fox was carrying national games like Cubs-White Sox, Yankees-Mets and Giants-A's. This rating sounds about right.