Mike Mulvihill is making a bold bet on an old sport that has been left for dead many times.

Mr. Mulvihill, a Fox Sports executive, knew that the old racetrack in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., had for decades drawn tens of thousands of New Yorkers and New Englanders, but was underappreciated nationally. And he believed that Fox Sports could widen its appeal.

“It is glamorous like Augusta but far more democratic and boisterous,” said Mr. Mulvihill, who is president of insights and analytics at Fox Sports. “I thought the more horseplayers as well as casual sports fans learned about it, it would become destination viewing for them.”

This summer, Fox’s flagship channel broadcast 24 hours of Saratoga racing, while Fox Sports broadcast more than 900 hours of New York horse racing nationally across its channels.

Viewers have responded. Fox’s Saturday broadcasts of Saratoga races have averaged 501,000 viewers — more than the National Hockey League’s regular season on TNT (281,000) or college basketball’s on Fox/FS1 (358,000).

The broadcasts are a result of a deepening relationship among Fox Sports, Saratoga and the broader New York horse racing industry.