Kentucky Downs Finds Interest in its Racing Simulcast

With FanDuel TV moving away from horse racing coverage, Kentucky Downs has found a path forward that includes streaming on Youtube, full-race coverage on prominent streaming service Peacock, and select coverage of some of its biggest races from traditional national platforms NBC and NBC Sports Network. One reason this approach is being embraced by these channels is that Kentucky Downs is handing them a fully produced show, as opposed to 10 or 11 individual races. That effort took shape in 2025. Using some Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund money to pay for the effort, the track upgraded its simulcast production last year and has continued that investment this season. When the track reached a deal with NBC Sports to show top races from its two Saturday cards, the track and broadcast partner also reached an agreement to place all of its race cards on Peacock—NBCUniversal's streaming service. Insiders familiar with the deal noted that part of the attraction is that Kentucky Downs could present a compelling, entire day, program thanks to its investment in the simulcast program. NBC's planned 3-5 p.m. CT coverage of the Sept. 5, card will include a pair of Breeders' Cup Challenge races: the $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes (G2T) (a qualifier to the Breeders' Cup Turf, G1T) and the $1.75 million Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G2T) (Turf Sprint, G1T). Also to be shown on NBC that day is the $3 million Nashville Derby (G2), which is the second-richest race for 3-year-olds in the nation, trailing only the Kentucky Derby (G1). Kentucky Downs, which formerly had a close relationship with FanDuel TV, is one of the first racetracks to be impacted by that channel's changes. FanDuel TV continues to show races but it has cut its on-track presence for meets such as Kentucky Downs. While Kentucky Downs is a short meet, it is highly important with massive purses for owners, key races toward the Breeders' Cup, and massive per-day handle offering large pools for bettors. As tracks think about life after FanDuel TV, Kentucky Downs is serving up one possible approach: focused storytelling to provide owners, fans, and horseplayers a compelling day at the races as opposed to presenting the races with little context. The approach proved attractive to NBC and Peacock. The Saturday cards will provide access to a more general sports audience, and perhaps introduce many to the big-money races conducted at the Franklin, Ky., track. The track's investment in presenting an actual program, rather than a disjointed series of races, could help bring in more interest while providing a first-rate program for participants, horseplayers, and current fans. It's a similar approach to the New York Racing Association, which sees its live racing covered from every angle on Fox Sports channels—including big race days on the FOX flagship channel, as well as a dedicated YouTube channel. In the interest of providing ready access, all seven days of the Kentucky Downs meet will be livestreamed on the Kentucky Downs YouTube channel, starting 30 minutes prior to each first post. DRF En Español will also provide live coverage every day of the meet. I think it's an encouraging approach that could serve as a model for the industry and other tracks as FanDuel TV is phased out. As for that platform, FanDuel TV is providing coverage of the current Del Mar meet, will cover the Keeneland fall meet and Breeders' Cup to fulfill contracts, but by December it plans to end in-studio racing coverage. The FanDuel Racing and TVG.com advance-deposit wagering platforms continue but have struggled in the first half of 2026. Based on publicly reported numbers by the Oregon Racing Commission, wagering is down on those ADW platforms (reported as ODS Technologies). For the first six months of the year, handle is down more than 9% to just under $1.09 billion when compared to the first half of 2025. It's difficult to say how much these numbers are tied to FanDuel TV's plans to move away from racing. After all, the channel's biggest changes in terms of television coverage will begin in the third and fourth quarters of the year. While handle is down at TVG/FanDuel for the first half of the year, other ADW platforms have picked up the slack as the numbers reported by the ORC for the first half of 2026 are up slightly from 2025 (about $3.63 billion compared with $3.599 billion last year). (Note that some of that pari-mutuel handle is non-Thoroughbred racing.) After close battles with TVG/FanDuel over the years for supremacy, the Churchill Downs Inc. advance-deposit wagering platform TwinSpires.com has taken command of the United States ADW market. For numbers reported by the ORC, for the first six months of 2026, TwinSpires has seen more than $1.5 billion in handle.