But First, the Derby

How the stars aligned to bring downtown Saratoga one of the busiest Kentucky Derby days to date, and what the photo finish results mean for Belmont at Saratoga.

This year’s Kentucky Derby on NBC drew 16.7 million viewers, the biggest audience for the race since 1989. Viewership peaked after the race, implying that viewers tuned in to find out the winner of the three-horse photo finish between Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young.

Prior to last weekend, I felt like there had been so much focus put on the Belmont coming to Saratoga that the regularly scheduled 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs would come and go without much local fanfare. It turns out, even our recent obsession with the impending Belmont couldn’t detract Saratogians from the first major televised racing event of the calendar year. In fact, our hosting the third leg of the Triple Crown might’ve made us all the more interested in the outcome of the first leg.

What do locals have to say about last Saturday night? And what does the race’s outcome mean for Saratogians—and our fast-approaching Belmont?