LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 13, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Churchill Downs Racetrack and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) today announced a five-year extension of their 2006 agreement that made the world's largest restaurant company the first named presenting sponsor of the $2 million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby, 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, Ky.-based companies, the race will again be run as the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands when it is renewed for the 137^th consecutive year on Saturday, May 7, at Churchill Downs. It will be the sixth consecutive Kentucky Derby in which Yum! Brands has served as the Kentucky Derby'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 Feb. 1, 2006, and the agreement announced today 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 Incorporated (Nasdaq:CHDN). 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, 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 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands is coming off a very successful renewal on May 1, 2010, when, a crowd of 155,804 braved a daylong rain to witness a 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 Kentucky Derby was $112.7 million, an increase of 7.8 percent from the previous year. Total wagering from all sources on the 13-race Kentucky 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 10^th 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.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 37,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. The company is ranked #216 on the Fortune 500 List, with revenues of nearly $11 billion in 2009. Four of the company's restaurant brands – KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's – are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza, Mexican–style food categories and quick–service seafood categories. A&W Restaurants is the longest running quick–service franchise chain in America. Outside the United States, the Yum! Brands system opened more than four new restaurants each day of the year, making it a leader in international retail development. The Company has consistently been recognized for its reward and recognition culture, diversity leadership, community giving, and consistent shareholder returns. In 2007, the Company launched World Hunger Relief, the world's largest private sector hunger relief effort to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds to benefit the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies. To date, this effort has raised nearly $85 million for WFP and other hunger relief agencies and is helping to provide approximately 350 million meals, saving the lives of millions of people in remote corners of the world where hunger is most prevalent.

Churchill Downs, the world's most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America's greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (Nasdaq:CHDN) also operates Trackside at Churchill Downs, which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 7, 2011. The track's 2011 Spring Meet is scheduled for April 30-July 4. Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders' Cup World Championships a record seven times and the event will return to the track for its next renewal on Nov. 4-5. Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at www.churchilldowns.com.

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