Churchill Downs

In its second year as an official partner of the Kentucky Derby, FanDuel experienced increases in key metrics across the board on the first Saturday in May. Highlights include: Double digit year-over-year growth for active account holders, a record for the Kentucky Derby and the biggest day of racing ever for FanDuel Group. Peak bets on Saturday were at Super Bowl levels and the wagering platform performed without interruption. More than 700k customers bet the Kentucky Derby with FanDuel Group (last year was ~500k). Estimated over 200k customers bet on...

This past weekend, my husband and I brought five of his old high school friends to their first Kentucky Derby. The group grew up together in Baltimore and while some of them have been to the infield at the Preakness, the Derby was their first authentic race-day experience. They flew in from various parts of the East Coast. One is an engineer, two are wealth managers, one works in investment banking and another is in business consulting. They are all hard-working, fun, intelligent 26 and 27 year olds. In short,...

If you consider yourself a baseball fan and are of a certain vintage, the term Iron Horse will conjure up thoughts of one of the most legendary baseball players to ever grace the diamond: The Iron Horse himself, Lou Gehrig. Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, described the term Iron Horse as "a type of courage to persevere and to keep yourself going and to never give up." Harlan Malter, Founder and Managing Partner of Ironhorse Racing Stable is a self-proclaimed sports fanatic...

NBC Sports' presentation of Saturday's Kentucky Derby averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 16.7 million viewers, the largest Derby audience since 18.5 million viewers watched Sunday Silence's 1989 victory on ABC, according to figures released by the network Sunday. Viewership peaked at 20.1 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m. ET, as Mystik Dan edged Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the Kentucky Derby's first three-horse photo finish since 1947. Saturday's peak audience was the largest ever for an NBC Sports presentation of the Kentucky Derby. With 16.7 million viewers, the...

It was back in 2006 and Brian Hernandez, Jr. was mired in 12th place in the jockey standings at Churchill Downs with 14 wins. It wasn't that he had been a failure. He won an Eclipse Award in 2004 as the nation's top apprentice, winning 243 races that year. And before moving to the Kentucky circuit in 2006, he was among the top riders at Evangeline Downs and Delta Downs in his native Louisiana. It's just that Hernandez had larger goals and he was starting to worry they would never...

Asked to sum up his victory with Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Ken McPeek succinctly said, "Wow," Sunday morning on the Churchill Downs backside. An 18-1 outsider, Mystik Dan just held on to a nose victory after a rail-skimming trip under Brian Hernandez, Jr. "Brian Hernandez gave him the ride," a joyous but sleep-deprived McPeek said. "Look, he doesn't win the race without the job Brian did." For his part, Hernandez was appreciative of McPeek's faith in him. "I was fortunate to ride for Kenny," said...

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Trainer Ken McPeek told anyone who would listen after Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks victory with Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) that his GI Kentucky Derby aspirant, Mystik Dan (Goldencents), could very well jump up and win, too. It seemed a bit far fetched given the last time a trainer had won the Kentucky Derby and Oaks in the same year was back in 1952 when Ben Jones accomplished the feat with Real Delight and Hill Gail. Defying the odds, and history, the Kentucky horseman completed the double Saturday...

Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) gave Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown a fourth winner of the GI Old Forester Turf Classic S. in the last six years, fighting his way past Godolphin's Naval Power (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the shadow of the winning post for a dramatic victory. A 4-1 chance making his 4-year-old debut and first start since narrowly defeating Webslinger (Constitution) in last year's GI Hollywood Derby, Program Trading left there running, and when Never Surprised (Constitution) rolled up to lead and when...

California-based Umberto Rispoli was set to ride Amerman Racing's Endlessly (Oscar Performance) in the GI Kentucky Derby about three hours later, and he got the partnership off to a fortuitous beginning on the Derby undercard, guiding Trikari (Oscar Performance) to a massive upset of the $600,000 GII American Turf S. A whopping 47-1 while making his first foray into graded competition, the $27,500 OBS October yearling scratched down into the inside stall and immediately secured the box seat, as 24-1 Formidable Man (City of Light) came across from the four...

To say that the connections of Seize the Grey (Arrogate) were disappointed that the 3-year-old wouldn't be making it into the starting gate for the GI Kentucky Derby is an understatement. D. Wayne Lukas, who had Just Steel (Justify) tabbed to run later in the day, felt that the MyRacehorse runner could also have also been competitive in the Run For the Roses. While things didn't pan out for the grey to make it into the big dance, he still came away a winner Saturday, taking the GII Pat Day...

Trainer Ken McPeek is considering the GI Preakness S. for Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), who came out of the race in fine shape. "She left a little bit of grain last night, about half a scoop, but it's nothing to be worried about," McPeek said. "It's something we watch regularly, and she typically eats up every night. She's tired. She ran hard." He continued, "We're gonna look at the Preakness, but she's gonna have to show us in the next three or four days. We'll...

A running-on second to Alva Starr (Lord Nelson) when making her seasonal return in Keeneland's GI Resolute Racing Madison S. Apr. 6, Vahva (Gun Runner) was the 8-5 favorite to reverse form with that rival in Saturday's GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill Downs and clawed past late for her first win at the elite level. Quickest into stride from an outside barrier, the $280,000 Keeneland September graduate came back nicely into the hands of Irad Ortiz, Jr. and was content to stalk the pace from third as Alva...