Churchill, Yum! Brands extend sponsorship of Derby

Churchill Downs Racetrack and Yum! Brands on Thursday announced a five-year

extension of their 2006 agreement that made the restaurant company the first

named presenting sponsor of the $2 million Kentucky Derby (G1), the historic

track's signature race and one of the country's major sports and entertainment

events.

Under the agreement negotiated by the two Louisville, Kentucky,-based

companies, the race will again be run as the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum!

Brands when it is renewed for the 137th consecutive year on May 7 at Churchill

Downs. It will be the sixth consecutive Kentucky Derby in which Yum! Brands has

served as the race's presenting sponsor.

Terms of the extended agreement were not released.

The first major Kentucky Derby sponsorship contract between Churchill Downs

and Yum! Brands was announced on February 1, 2006, and the agreement announced

Thursday will continue the partnership through 2015. Churchill Downs, which

opened with the running of the first Kentucky Derby on May 17, 1875, is the

flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Inc. Yum! Brands, a Fortune 500 company

that operates more than 37,000 restaurants in 110 countries, is the parent

company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's.

"Churchill Downs is very pleased to have reached this agreement with Yum!

Brands, a great corporate citizen in our hometown, that extends its presenting

sponsorship of the Kentucky Derby for five more years," said Kevin Flanery,

president of Churchill Downs Racetrack. "Our partnership with Yum! Brands has

been positive for both companies and good for the Kentucky Derby, an event that

is a great American tradition and a springtime sports party known and loved

around the world."

"Yum! Brands is pleased to renew our presenting sponsorship of the Kentucky

Derby, the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports," said Jonathan Blum, senior vice

president of Yum! Brands Inc. "While millions of people know and love our

leading restaurant brands, they may not know Yum! Brands. The sponsorship of the

Kentucky Derby allows us to build awareness of Yum!, the world's largest

restaurant company."

The Derby is coming off a very successful renewal on May 1, when, a crowd of

155,804 braved a daylong rain to witness victory by WinStar Farm's homebred

Super Saver. The Derby 136 winner provided Kentucky-based WinStar Farm and

trainer Todd Pletcher with their first victories in the "Run for the Roses,"

while jockey Calvin Borel won the race for the third time in four years.

Total wagering on the 2010 Derby was $112.7 million, an increase of 7.8

percent from the previous year. Total wagering from all sources on the 13-race

Derby Day card at Churchill Downs was $162.7 million, an increase of 4.3 percent

from the $156.0 million wagered a year earlier.

The Kentucky Derby is the only race in North America to attract wagering of

more than $100 million. The Derby's attendance figure for 2010 marked the 10th

time -- and the sixth consecutive year -- that America's greatest race had

attracted a crowd in excess of 150,000.

The presenting sponsorship agreement will not impact the purse of the

Kentucky Derby, which stands at $2 million guaranteed. But, like Churchill

Downs' previous agreement with Yum! Brands, owners and trainers who race their

horses at Churchill Downs' spring and fall meets will benefit as a portion of

the sponsorship's revenues will go to race purses through a formula agreed upon

in the most recent agreement between the track and horsemen.