Kentucky Derby postponed to Sept. 5 due to coronavirus
By: Matt Hegarty
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Derby, whose name is synonymous with the first Saturday in May, has been rescheduled for Sept. 5, the first Saturday of September on Labor Day weekend, the race’s host, Churchill Downs, announced on Tuesday morning.
The rescheduling of the Kentucky Derby from the position on the calendar at which it has been run for the past 74 years underlines the dramatic disruptions to the business and sporting worlds caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Provided the virus is contained by the summer, the Sept. 5 date will allow prospective spectators ample time to make travel plans and obtain tickets, for an event that is prominent on the “bucket lists” of many Americans.
The date is contingent upon final approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which Churchill said it expected to receive on Thursday.
Churchill Downs Inc.’s CEO, Bill Carstanjen, stated: “Throughout the rapid development of the COVID-19 pandemic, our first priority has been how to best protect the safety and health of our guests, team members and community. As the situation evolved, we reached the difficult conclusion that we needed to reschedule. At no point did we ever consider canceling the Kentucky Derby.”
The Derby is, of course, the first leg of the Triple Crown, the most high-profile series of races in American Thoroughbred racing, and rescheduling the Derby to Sept. 5 will have an enormous impact on the remainder of the U.S. racing calendar and the economic performance of competing tracks. That impact is so far unclear, but it is likely that the next two races of the Triple Crown will fall in line with the new Derby date, which could place the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Sept. 19 and the Belmont Stakes in New York on Oct. 10, given the traditional spacing of the races. That is no certainty, however.
A slew of prep races for the Derby have already been run this year, but some prep races have been placed in jeopardy due to coronavirus, and some have already been canceled. The Blue Grass Stakes will not be run this spring, for example, due to the cancellation of the spring meet at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington.
The rescheduling will also impact other stakes traditionally held in the fall. To take just one example, the Travers Stakes, billed as the Mid-Summer Derby, is scheduled for Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course, one week prior to the new Derby date, and now almost certainly will be rescheduled as a result of the decision by Churchill. Saratoga’s operator, the New York Racing Association, also operates Belmont, and the company’s management was said on Monday to have received little communication from Churchill about its plans.
Churchill has not been awarded dates to run in early September this year, but its economic and political heft will likely lead to swift approval from state regulators to obtain the dates it needs for the race and any events leading up to the Derby.
For all of its cultural and sporting impact, the Derby is also an enormous money-maker for Churchill Downs, a company that has spent more than $100 million over the last 20 years to remake its grandstand into a smorgasbord of options for high-paying customers. Canceling the Derby outright would have had a significant impact on the company’s financial performance, at a time when its stock price has plummeted from a high of $162 in mid-February to only $76 at the close of markets yesterday. (All gambling companies have seen their stocks battered in the midst of the crisis.)
Last year, Churchill Downs the racetrack had approximately $155 million in net revenue during the second quarter, according to its parent company’s financial statements, with $41.3 million attributed to money from pari-mutuel betting and $113.4 million from “racing event-related services,” which includes ticketing and concession revenue (the company does not specifically break out Derby-related revenue). Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the second quarter from Churchill Downs was $121.9 million, a figure which includes EBITDA from its casino in Louisville.
The Derby is also an economic engine for Louisville and the surrounding community, with restaurants and hotels benefitting significantly from the surge in tourists that descend on the city for the Derby and its related festivities. Over the past decade, Churchill has heavily promoted its Derby week festivities, and the crowd for the Kentucky Oaks, held the day prior to the Derby, annually exceeds 100,000.
Handle on the Derby has set records four years in a row, with wagering last year reaching nearly $160 million, by far the most amount bet on a single horse race in the U.S. To date, the Kentucky Derby card is the only card in American racing that has broken the $200 million mark. Total wagering on the 13-race card last year was a record $223.7 million, according to charts.
NBC Sports has an exclusive contract to broadcast the Derby, and the race is typically one of the highest-rated sports broadcasts of the year. Although NBC also has contracts to televised college football at that time of the year, the network has been able to work around conflicts in the past by negotiating broadcast windows that do not conflict with its Derby coverage.
The Derby has been held on the first Saturday of May since 1946, but one year earlier, the race had been held on June 9. Racing was banned at the start of 1945 because of World War II, but the ban was lifted after Nazi Germany surrendered on May 5. Prior to the ban, the race was also traditionally held on the first Saturday of May, going back to 1879. The Derby history goes back to 1875.
Prior to the announcement of the rescheduling, The Stronach Group, which operates Pimlico, released a statement saying that it, too, was considering a different date for the race this year.
“We are working with state and local governments, our industry participants, media and other affiliates to determine the most appropriate time to conduct the Preakness Stakes,” the statement read.
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