Churchill Downs shifted the Kentucky Oaks (G1) into primetime this year, moving the marquee race to an 8:40 p.m. ET post on NBC—roughly 2 1/2 hours later than its 2025 running—in an effort to boost wagering and expand its television audience.
While viewership figures are not immediately available, other metrics point to favorable returns. Wagering from all sources on the full Kentucky Oaks race day card set a record of $89 million, up 18% from the prior record set in 2024. All-sources wagering on the Kentucky Oaks race was an all-time high of more than $29 million, up 29% from last year.
TwinSpires, the Churchill Downs Inc.-owned advance-deposit wagering platform, set a new record of $24 million, up 24% from the prior record set last year in wagering on Churchill Downs races for the Kentucky Oaks day program.
Attendance rose to a smaller degree, climbing to 103,290, up 2.4% from 100,910 a year ago, when one of the smallest Oaks day crowds this century was at Churchill Downs. The total remained well below the event's record of 124,589, established in 2016. Ticket prices have risen in the years since.
Weather played a more cooperative role than it had 12 months earlier. Under a mix of sun and clouds, temperatures hovered in the upper 50s to low 60s, with a fast main track and firm turf course. In contrast, rain ahead of last year's Oaks left the surface labeled wet fast.
The card lasted more than eight hours, as it did in 2025. The first race went off at 12:31 p.m. EST, and the Oaks was the finale of the 13-race program. That contrasted with 2025, when two races followed the Friday feature. When the racing concluded May 1, the crowd flooded out of the facility, producing traffic congestion.
Ahead of Friday's racing, Louisville, Ky., restaurant owners were critical of the post-time shift, believing it would affect postrace dining.
Jose Ortiz, asked about his views of Kentucky Oaks day after riding Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm's Always a Runner to victory in the Kentucky Oaks, quipped, "For me, just a very long day."
He pivoted to offer a fans-first perspective. "If they have fun, it's good to me," he said.
"We proudly celebrate and congratulate the connections of Always A Runner on her impressive victory," Churchill Downs president Mike Anderson said in a release. "We are so grateful to our fans, sponsors, horsemen, and horsewomen who made the 152nd Kentucky Oaks a truly memorable event."
