Preakness Ratings drop 5.2%

[Suffolk Shippers]

Originally Posted by whodey17

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

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.