Smarty Jones is proving to be a big ratings success for NBC in his run for the Triple Crown.

Jones' smart 11½-length victory over Rock Hard Ten in the Preakness on Saturday delivered a 7.2 overnight rating, a 29 percent increase from last year's ratings and the event's highest rating since 1990, according to Nielsen Media Research. Each overnight rating point is equivalent to 740,000 households.

The market of Philadelphia was the second-highest rated individual market, slightly behind Baltimore, the city where the race took place. Jones resides at Someday Farm in nearby Chester County, Pa.

The smash Preakness ratings came two weeks after the Kentucky Derby ratings tied for that race's highest since 1992.

Although Jones is the sixth horse in the last eight years to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown, the sport is currently in its longest Triple Crown drought. Affirmed won it last, in 1978.

The final leg of the Triple Crown will take place at Belmont on June 5. Should Jones win the race, he will collect the $5 million Visa Triple Crown Challenge Bonus and become the highest-earning U.S. horse of all time, passing Cigar ($9.99 million).

Thanks to wins by Funny Cide, a New York-bred gelding, in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness last year, 24 million people tuned into the Belmont last year, the highest-rated broadcast since 1981. The horse finished in third place in front of a crowd of 101,864, the second-largest crowd in the race's history.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com.