The 2026 Kentucky Oaks goes primetime on NBC tonight at 8pm ET. Nicole Scherzinger performs the national anthem. What to watch for…
For the first time in its history, the Kentucky Oaks runs under the lights in primetime — broadcast live on NBC and Peacock starting at 8:00 p.m. ET, post time 8:40 p.m. ET.
The race for three-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs has existed since 1875, one day before the Kentucky Derby on the same storied track, and for most of that time it has lived in the Derby’s considerable shadow. Not tonight.
Nicole Scherzinger — Tony Award winner, Pussycat Dolls founding member, Louisville native — takes the stage at 8:14 p.m. ET to perform the national anthem before a race that has spent nearly two decades building one of American sports’ most substantive women’s health platforms. The primetime broadcast did not create that platform. It just gave it the audience it already deserved.
Why Scherzinger at This Moment Is Not an Accident
[ANCHOR] Scherzinger won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd. — a run that earned her the kind of critical recognition that reframed a career already built on global pop success with the Pussycat Dolls. Coming back to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks is personal in a way that most national anthem assignments are not.
“The Kentucky Oaks is such a meaningful celebration of tradition, community, the spirit that brings people together and the important role women play in the event’s legacy,” Scherzinger said. “As someone who was raised in Louisville, coming home to be part of it is incredibly meaningful to me and my family who will be joining me. I’m truly honored to represent my hometown.”
There is a version of this story where a global pop star performs the national anthem at a horse race and it is a booking. This is not that version. Scherzinger is from here, her family will be in the stands, and the race she is singing for has been doing serious work around women’s health since before her Broadway career existed.
Also present: Camille Kostek, model, entrepreneur, and nine-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit participant, serving as this year’s Riders Up announcer and hosting Club SI, Sports Illustrated’s premium hospitality experience at Churchill Downs.
Country artist Lana Scott — who delivered the national anthem at the 2024 Kentucky Oaks — returns for a special performance during the 18th annual Survivors Parade.
The Platform Behind the Pink
The Kentucky Oaks “Pink Out” is not a color scheme. It is an 18-year-old women’s health advocacy program embedded into the structure of Oaks Day itself — breast and ovarian cancer awareness woven into the race’s identity through the Survivors Parade, point-of-sale charitable giving, and this year, a new national partner.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation — founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder and the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world — has been named Churchill Downs’ National Philanthropy Partner for 2026, expanding the Oaks’ charitable reach from regional to national scale.
This year’s Survivors Parade, in its 18th year, will honor those affected by breast and ovarian cancer and feature Derby Divas through the Norton Cancer Institute Breast Health Program and Horses and Hope through the Kentucky Cancer Program — two organizations providing essential care to underserved women across the region. The parade has a performance component, a walking component, and an audience of 60,000 people inside Churchill Downs plus whatever NBC delivers tonight.
“We’re raising the bar for an unforgettable Oaks experience by bringing the energy of this historic race under the lights,”
Bill Carstanjen
CEO of Churchill Downs Incorporated
“A performance from multi-platinum-selling artist Nicole Scherzinger, along with a strengthened commitment to women’s health initiatives across the track.”
Churchill Downs seats approximately 60,000 guests on 175 acres with a one-mile dirt track. Tonight it is also a television studio, a fashion show venue, a cancer awareness platform, and a concert hall. The horses are still the point. But the production around them has grown into something the Derby itself does not attempt.
What Else Is Happening on the Grounds
For the first time, Oaks Day features both lunch and dinner menus — a recognition that primetime post time means guests are on property from 11:00 a.m. gates through an 8:40 p.m. race.
The culinary expansion is practical but also signals something about how Churchill Downs is repositioning Oaks Day as a full-day destination rather than a Derby warm-up act.
The stadium-wide fashion show “Style Under the Spires presented by L’Oréal Paris” runs throughout the day — guests scan a QR code on the big board to enter their looks digitally, competing for 2027 Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby tickets. Given that Oaks Day’s Pink Out dress code produces some of the more visually committed crowds in American sports, the competition will not be low-stakes.
Full schedule, ticketing, and broadcast details at kentuckyderby.com.
Mini FAQ
What time is the 2026 Kentucky Oaks on NBC? Coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with post time at 8:40 p.m. ET on Friday, May 1, 2026. This is the first time the Kentucky Oaks has been broadcast in primetime nationally.
Who is performing at the 2026 Kentucky Oaks? Nicole Scherzinger — Tony Award winner and founding member of the Pussycat Dolls — will perform the national anthem at 8:14 p.m. ET. Country artist Lana Scott will also perform during the 18th annual Survivors Parade earlier in the day.
What is the Kentucky Oaks Pink Out? The Pink Out is the Kentucky Oaks’ signature women’s health awareness theme, honoring breast and ovarian cancer awareness. It includes the annual Survivors Parade, charitable giving opportunities throughout the day, and this year, a national partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world.
The race goes at 8:40 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
If you are watching tonight, the race goes at 8:40 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. If you have never paid attention to the Kentucky Oaks before, this is the year to start — not because of the primetime slot, but because what Churchill Downs has built around it over 18 years is worth understanding before it becomes the thing everyone talks about. Scherzinger singing the anthem in front of her hometown crowd, under the lights, the night before the 152nd Kentucky Derby, is the kind of moment that gets remembered. Watch for it at 8:14.
