“Road To The Kentucky Derby” Series Continues This Saturday From Los Angeles And New York

“ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY” SERIES CONTINUES THIS SATURDAY FROM LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK

Santa Anita Derby and Wood Memorial to Air Live on NBC Sports

New Televised Kentucky Derby Prep Race Series Continues Over the Next Two Saturdays on NBC Sports

Play CNBC’s “Call the Close” for a Chance to Win a Trip for Two to the 2010 Kentucky Derby and a $100,000 Derby DreamBet

NEW YORK – April 1, 2010 – NBC Sports’ “Road to the Kentucky Derby” continues this Saturday with two graded stakes races featuring Thoroughbred horses vying for a spot in the Kentucky Derby (Saturday, May 1, 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports).  Live action from the Santa Anita Derby in Arcadia, Calif., and the Wood Memorial in Jamaica, NY, begins Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports.

The hour-long broadcast will originate from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and is hosted by Tom Hammond alongside three-time Derby winner Gary Stevens, who won the Santa Anita Derby a record nine times.  The NBC Sports broadcast team also includes handicapper Mike Battaglia, reporters Kenny Rice and Donna Brothers from Santa Anita. NBC Sports handicapper Bob Neumeier and horse racing analyst Jessica Pacheco provide additional coverage and analysis live from the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack in Jamaica, NY.

STEVENS ON SANTA ANITA DERBY: “Looking at Lucky is the obvious pick, but it was interesting listening to Bob Baffert this week saying that he just wants to get through this race and that the horse (Looking at Lucky) is much better on dirt than synthetic.  It almost sounds like if he gets beat that he is not worried about it.  He’s looking forward to the Kentucky Derby.  Having said that, Sydney’s Candy is a speed horse who can actually take it wire-to-wire.  I also like the gelding Caracortado.  He’s only lost one race.”

STEVENS ON HIS RECORD NINE WINS AT SANTA ANITA: “It’s huge for me to have won nine times at Santa Anita.  I never would have thought that possible.  When I was tied with the great Bill Shoemaker with eight wins apiece I was pretty happy with that.  But to be able to break his record is something that I am very proud of.”

STEVENS ON WOOD MEMORIAL: “Eskendereya is an absolute standout.  If there is going to be an upset Schoolyard Dreams could possibly do it but it’s going to be tough to beat Eskendereya.”

ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY
The newly launched “Road to the Kentucky Derby” television series, produced in partnership by NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Incorporated, began last Saturday with the Louisiana Derby and Lane’s End Stakes and continues the next two consecutive Saturdays with live coverage of four more Derby prep races, key competitions to earn a coveted spot in the Kentucky Derby’s 20-horse starting gate.

The series will also give viewers at home a sense of the spectacle surrounding a day at the races, including snapshots of the fashion, food, famous faces and racing’s real “characters” – the fans – to draw viewers into the social scene that makes racetracks the ultimate source for entertainment.  The shared vision of Churchill Downs and NBC Sports’ successful ‘Big Event Strategy’ led to the 2009 Kentucky Derby being the most viewed Derby in two decades with a 26 percent increase in viewers since this strategy was launched in 2007.

The remaining broadcast schedule for the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series is as follows:

THIS SATURDAY (NBC Sports, Santa Anita, 5-6 p.m. ET):

• Santa Anita Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Santa Anita

• Wood Memorial, 1 1/8 miles, Aqueduct

SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (NBC Sports, Keeneland, 5-6 p.m. ET):

• Arkansas Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park

• Blue Grass Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Keeneland

KENTUCKY DERBY DREAM BET

“CALL THE CLOSE” AND YOU MIGHT BE OFF TO THE RACES: Each day, CNBC viewers compete and test their stock market expertise by playing “Call the Close,” a popular interactive game on CNBC.com and on CNBC Mobile in which participants guess where the Dow Jones Industrial Average will close. Starting today, “Call the Close” participants will have the chance to enter for a chance to win a trip for two to the 2010 Kentucky Derby and a $100,000 Derby DreamBet.

To play the daily “Call the Close” Game and be entered into the “Call the Close” $100,000 Derby DreamBet Sweepstakes, participants must register online or on a mobile device and submit their “call” from 4:30 pm ET until 1:00 pm ET the following Trading Day. Contestants can enter once daily through Wednesday, April 21, 2010. Each day, a Game winner will be selected and at the end of the promotion period one Sweepstakes winner will be selected at random.

The Sweepstakes winner will receive a trip for two to the 136th Kentucky Derby. The Sweepstakes winner will also have the opportunity to direct the placement of a $100,000 win wager on the horse they think will win the Derby and keep any resulting winnings. The DreamBet is sponsored by Churchill Downs Incorporated. NBC Sports may even feature the Sweepstakes winner and their DreamBet in NBC Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 136th Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 1 starting at 4 p.m. ET.

To play the daily “Call the Close” Game participants can utilize CNBC.com’s vast financial resources such as extended after-hour quotes, charts and news for all 30 stocks in the Dow to help make the best prediction and see what’s moving the markets. Throughout each Game, the leader board is recalculated every five minutes as Dow pricing changes. The daily Game winner is the one who makes the ‘call’ closest to the .00 decimal. In the event of a tie, Game winners are determined by whoever comes closest to guessing the S&P 500. Each daily Game winner will have his/her name published online and/or on-air.  Participants have the ability to track their daily history and gauge their performance against the index.

Registration in both the “Call the Close” Game and the $100,000 Derby DreamBet Sweepstakes is free and can be accessed at http://calltheclose.cnbc.com. For official sweepstakes rules, and alternate method of entry for the Sweepstakes visit  http://calltheclose.cnbc.com/rules.html.

“ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY” DREAM BET: While viewers take in the action at home, on-track fans will have the chance to enjoy the “DreamBet” of a lifetime. Churchill Downs Incorporated will sponsor a special promotion at each of the broadcast host tracks for the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series, allowing on-track patrons to enter a drawing for the opportunity for a free $10,000 wager on the broadcast host track’s race. A winning fan will be drawn at random during the course of the racing program at each broadcast host track.  Churchill Downs will then place a $10,000 “win” wager on the horse the winning contestant at each host site selects in the following races:

• Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park this Saturday.

• Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course on April 10.

Viewers at home can watch to see if the contestant wins big as the race unfolds.  For more information and to review official rules for each “DreamBet,” Sweepstakes visit www.KentuckyDerby.com/dreambet