Looking up? · 20.08.09
As the North American economy continues to stumble and bumble along, it is inevitable that horse racing also feel the effects of the recession. Until recently, the news has been uniformly bad regarding handle (double-digit declines compared to last year) and purses (cuts everywhere).
However, in recent days there have been reports that all is not doom’n‘gloom:
- Del Mar reported double-digit increases in on-track attendance and wagering half-way through its 2009 season — despite cutting back its schedule from six to five days a week, the San Diego “boutique” racetrack reported that on-track attendance was running 11.8% ahead of 2008, while on-track handle numbers were up 12.8%;
- records were set for on-track handle on Longacres Mile Day at Emerald Downs — another record was set for the amount bet on one race in the Mile itself;
- meanwhile, half-way through its 2009 meet, at Saratoga, attendance is up 8.4%, on-track handle is up 12.3%, and all-sources handle is up 4.8% compared to 2008.
Not everything is rosy, of course, as the recent announcement of purse cuts at Hastings demonstrates. Earlier this month, purses were cut by 8%. The most significant cut is for the BC Derby, with its purse being reduced from $300,000 to $250,000. The cuts are blamed on a decline in total live handle by 12%. However, according the General Manager Raj Mutti, that decline was more due to the virus that struck the backstretch earlier in the meet, which resulted in reduced field size and handle.
Maybe things are looking up, after all?
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What do you think?
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Bandaids covering what is a festering sore eroding the entire game. I would really like to think otherwise but in the next 5 or 6 years we are going to see wholesale losses of both racing days and race tracks all across North America.
Read the good book Headless Horsemen to understand why.
— Dr. Timothy Yatcak · Aug 20, 03:31 PM · #