Saratoga handle, attendance figures up after two weeks of meet

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 2012 Saratoga meeting is only 10 days old, but New York Racing Association officials are already smiling, with both the business and attendance figures up from the corresponding dates of a year ago.

Attendance during the first two weeks of the meet averaged 20,378 daily, a 1.2 percent increase from 2011. Ontrack handle averaged nearly $2.9 million a day, up 4.4 percent from the last summer. All sources handle, which includes wagers both ontrack and from simulcast outlets nationwide on Saratoga races, averaged more than $14.2 million per card, up 5.2 percent from the corresponding period a year ago.

Average betting interests are also up, from 8.5 to 8.8 starters per race, even with seven of the 54 carded turf races having been taken off the grass.