Television bosses have declared themselves pleased after more viewers tuned in for BBC coverage of the Vodafone Derby at Epsom. A peak audience of 3.2m watched Motivator's thrilling triumph in Saturday's big race.
It was 100,000 up on 2004, and an improvement of 700,000 on five years ago, when Channel 4 last broadcast the famous Flat race.
The figures were the highest since the BBC regained Derby rights in 2001.
Although trailing the 9.5m who watched the BBC's transmission of the Grand National, the Derby is annually the second most-watched race of the year.
BBC racing editor Carl Hicks said: "The Grand National is something different and always will be, but year on year we would still like to keep the Derby audience growing.
 | Betting: Only 33% of viewers had money riding on race - compared to 66% for Grand National Derby: 28% said Epsom has become less important in recent years; 13% felt it was more important TV highlights: Derby Day review at 0010 BST on Sunday drew average audience of 1m, peaking at 2.6m |
"In an era when television audience figures are falling due to the multiplicity of channels, it is an achievement to keep the audience rising each year." He added: "The Derby presents one of the greatest sights in sport and our job is to convey that sight."
Epsom managing director Stephen Wallis was also pleased by the audience share for Derby Day Grandstand, which reached 32%.
"As far as we are concerned, audience share is just as important as actual numbers and, given that there are increasingly many more channels, to increase audience share is fantastic," he said.
MMIX
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