As Sovereignty secured a victory in the 157th Belmont Stakes on Saturday night, FOX and FS1 registered an average of 3.83 million viewers for the race. Despite a Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing not hanging in the balance, the competition was still up 5% from the event last year and peaked with 5 million viewers during the 7 to 7:15 p.m. EST quarter-hour. FOX Sports broadcast the race for the third time and featured experienced broadcasters such as Curt Menefee, Charissa Thompson, Tom Rinaldi and Chris “The Bear” Fallica. Over its three years broadcasting the Belmont Stakes, FOX has averaged approximately 3.76 million viewers for the third leg of the Triple Crown.
FOX Sports broadcast the race live from Saratoga Race Course in addition to other surrounding events at the track on its Belmont Day on FOX and America’s Day at the Belmont programs airing on FOX and FS1, respectively. Frank Mirahmadi, who is the full-time track announcer at Santa Anita Park, was behind the microphone commentating the races airing on FOX. In addition, FOX NFL Sunday analyst Terry Bradshaw contributed to the Belmont Stakes coverage as well, taking part in panels and interviewing legendary trainer Bob Baffert.
Sovereignty attained a victory in the Kentucky Derby, which averaged 17.7 million viewers on NBC last month. Yet trainer Bill Mott informed the operators of the Preakness Stakes that the horse would not be participating in the proceedings, taking him out of contention to garner the Triple Crown. The viewing audience was one of the lowest ever without the Kentucky Derby winner being in the field, averaging 4.56 million viewers during its race segment. As a result, the company recorded its last-watched edition of the Preakness Stakes since 1995 on ABC.
No horse has won the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing since Justify took home the honors in 2018 at the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes. Horse jockey Mike Smith and trainer Bob Baffert helped secure the victory, which accrued more than 15 million viewers tuning in for the broadcast on NBC.
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