Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem for May 5, 2025

Jason discusses the success of this year's Kentucky Derby and the communal event that it is. 

A good Monday morning to you all! Hope everyone’s Kentucky Derby (G1) weekend was a blast, and you managed to get out of the weekend with more in your account than you went in with. 

Sovereignty felt like an honest winner in a truly run edition of America’s greatest horse race, and there’s obviously so much to pick apart and discuss about the race itself. I did all that on my podcast for Monday, so I don’t want to recite all of that here in this column. What I did want to talk about was my experience watching and sharing the race with some friends and just my observations of how the Kentucky Derby continues to grow. 

First of all, I normally watch the race alone or in a very small group. I think out at the track or at the OTB, it’s just so loud, and also you’re not right up next to the TV or your phone like you might be if you’re watching alone. But I had some friends who came out to Tampa Bay Downs for the day, and I wanted to stick around and watch the race with them. On one of my shows last week, I was discussing how I can remember where I was for most of the last 20 Kentucky Derby races and where I watched them from. The last several years I’ve just watched them at home since we usually finish up at Tampa over an hour before the Derby is run. 

This year, however, I decided to watch the race down on the apron with thousands of other people. We all hung out and just milled around for the hour before the race. The crowd had actually thinned out quite a bit since the final live race finished about 80 minutes before the running of the Derby. But as they finally came onto the track and went towards the starting gate, everyone started to gather closer to the rail in view of our big screen atop the infield toteboard. And the electricity and buzz instantly turned up. As Baeza took his spot in the outside stall, the crowd on television erupted, but so did our crowd here at Tampa Bay Downs. 

Sure it was a little tougher to analyze the race as it went on, but being out there amongst friends and fellow racegoers, it really made for a great communal experience. And that’s one thing I think we do miss a little bit in the simulcast and ADW world we live in. The races are such a great communal event and can be such a wonderful social gathering for us and friends. My friends who came out all seemed to have a great time, and I hope we get them to come out again next year for live racing when it returns in November. 

I’m sure many of you saw how much the overall handle for the race and the day were up, and that’s awesome for our business. To me the challenge now (and as it has been for a long time) is to try and convert all the eyeballs that watched that thrilling race to venture out to their nearest track and get involved as fans and more importantly as bettors. 

Everyone loves a party, but we need to attract people who want more than that – who want to be regular consumers of our product (which is betting on the races) and get involved in this amazing sport. The Derby is the top of our game, and it’s special for a reason. But a Tuesday at Horseshoe Indianapolis can also be special as a horseplayer. 

This was a really fun Kentucky Derby for me, and like most of the last many runnings, I’ll remember where I was when Sovereignty poked his head in front of Journalism and gradually drew off to win. The Derby is our history and our memories. Something to celebrate. 

Have a great week everyone!