Give NBC and producer Rob Hyland a lot of credit for adjusting on the fly Saturday. It isn’t easy to tear apart an entire telecast at the last minute.

NBC still benefited from the hoopla around I’ll Have Another prior to the horse’s withdrawal. From the release:

Overnight ratings for the Belmont Stakes on NBC soared, despite the scratch of Triple Crown-hopeful I’ll Have Another, topping last year’s overnight by 13%, and the 2010 overnight by 74%. Yesterday’s overnight rating is the highest for a non-Triple Crown Belmont since 2005 on NBC.

NBC’s broadcast of the Belmont Stakes, which was won by Union Rags, registered a 5.4 overnight rating and a 13 share for the race portion, up 13 percent from last year’s race (4.8/11 on NBC), and up 74% from the 2010 race (3.1/7 on ABC). Yesterday’s Belmont had the highest overnight for the race in a non-Triple Crown year since 2005 on NBC (6.0/13), according to overnight ratings data provided today by The Nielsen Company.