The last leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown is set for Saturday afternoon, and Fox will aim to have the Belmont Stakes cross the 4 million-viewer threshold for the first time since it began airing the race in 2023. Nielsen’s Big Data should help the network achieve that mark this year.
Last year, Fox drew its best figure for the race, 3.8 million viewers, as Kentucky Derby-winner Sovereignty won. That was up 5% from 2025. This year’s Derby winner, Golden Tempo, is running at Saratoga on Saturday (that track is hosting the Belmont Stakes one last time before a renovated Belmont Park opens in 2027).
The high mark for the Belmont Stakes over the last decade is 12.7 million viewers on NBC in 2018, when Justify became horse racing’s last Triple Crown winner. That shows the promise of what the audience can be for the race, but that hasn’t come to pass many times since 2018, as Kentucky Derby winners have been skipping the Preakness at a much higher clip. Should the Preakness move back a week, as is expected, that would also raise questions as to whether Belmont, track/event operator NYRA and Fox Sports would do the same with the last leg of the Triple Crown.
Belmont on Saturday will lead into MLB regionalized action on Fox, and that window includes a popular Yankees-Red Sox game. Fox also will have an hour of coverage of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on Friday night from 5-6pm ET.
