It’ll be interesting to see what the total handle numbers come back. Some wet washouts early hurt and I have to believe any race with a Chad Brown entry just didnt get bet hard. Why would it? Even money just doesn’t compel me to push the send button. I’m really wondering if his dominance isn’t getting a bit annoying to NYRA. We’ll see what the numbers say.
Records by a mile for Travers and Woodward days. Big fields will do it.
From DRF:
>>Still, it was a very successful summer for the New York Racing Association as all-sources handle for the 40-day Saratoga meet that concluded Monday was $659,083,459, the second-highest in track history. It was 2.6 percent lower than last year’s figure of $676,709,490.
>>Ontrack handle was $148,826,388, down 5.2 percent from last year’s figure of $157,014,965. Paid admissions was 1,124,149, slightly up from last year’s figure of 1,117,838.
>>Saratoga set record handle for Travers Day ($52,086,597) and Woodward Day ($31,030,032).
So with a whole lot of people complaining that horse racing is a dying sport and that NYRA does everything wrong and is ruining NY racing....how do we analyze these numbers? Second highest handle EVER? Sounds impressive to me.
I don\'t think too much can be extrapolated from the Saratoga meet to the state of the game, overall. We all know its unique appeal. Its success in terms of attendance and overall handle do not obviate other management issues. The concerns that it might dilute the overall charm and unique historical cachet of the track are legitimate, but it will take a concerted effort of ineptitude on their part, so it probably won\'t happen. For sustained success over the long haul, they really need to keep their eye on the ball of the first and second-time customers whose entree to the game would only be at a place like Saratoga. This is where their continued emphasis on luxury amenities feels a bit shortsighted, though it needn\'t be mutually exclusive. It\'s just hard to feel confident about an entity knowing that there are so many political interests stirring the pot.
As for the overall big picture of the sport, that\'s above my pay grade, but I think the discussion needs to start with breeding, sales, etc., because you need warm bodies to create those big fields. There will probably be continued attrition of smaller tracks who can\'t be put on life support with slots or sports betting. It\'s getting increasingly more difficult to compete with Living Room Downs.
The on track handle was down because the weather in the 1st half of the meet was horrible. Lots of lost turf races & off tracks.
Fair point. NYRA probably doesn\'t get enough credit for the things it is doing right.
Saratoga Live and the NYRA Now app are great. They make it easier to watch racing and get replays, while places like Del Mar (via calracing.com) and Churchill have gone in the opposite direction. Maggie Wolfendale is without peer at what she does, both in the paddock and in interviews. Giving owners plenty of air time also strikes me as smart. Owning horses is not generally a profitable endeavor, and giving owners some credit for what they bring to the sport is both merited and good business. Andy Serling can be abrasive, but he is obviously knowledgeable and hard-working and shares insights about past track biases and race flows that would otherwise be inaccessible to many of us. On the flip side, Chris Kay gets more air time than I would like and Maggie\'s on-the-track comments are often delayed until it is too late to do anything with them, particularly for those of us dealing with NYRA Now buffering.
The partnership of NYRA Bets with TG is a good idea.
I\'m a Living Room Downs guy and haven\'t been the Spa in decades, so it\'s hard to have a good opinion about the on-track experience, but NYRA seems to be in step with the general industry trend toward supplementing horseplaying with other amenities and focusing on the group with the most disposable income. I live in Del Mar\'s market area, and their promotions seem almost completely dedicated to concerts, food, and drink. A horseplaying friend who went to Saratoga for the first time last week was impressed both the the atmosphere and the number of people present on a weekday.