All-sources handle up at Keeneland spring meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – All-sources handle was up 7.2 percent at the 16-day spring meet that ran April 6-27 at Keeneland, according to figures released Friday evening by track publicity.

Gross handle was $157,172,604, for a per-day average of $9,823,288. The average daily handle here last spring during a 15-day meet was $9,159,970, which was up less than 1 percent over the 2016 spring meet.

A Keeneland release said “a rollback from the takeout increase in the fall of 2017 was favorably received by horseplayers.”

The gross handle was just shy of the track record of $158.6 million for a spring meet, set in 2013.

“This was an exceptionally successful spring meet in so many ways,” track president Bill Thomason said in the release.

Daily ontrack handle averaged $1,091,109, down 7 percent from last year, while daily ontrack attendance of 15,655 also was down 7 percent. Keeneland officials largely attributed the drops to unseasonably cold weather that hovered in this region through much of the meet.

Total ontrack wagering was $17,457,750, and total attendance was 250,475.

On the racetrack, Florent Geroux earned his first-ever riding title here by winning 19 races, one more than Jose Ortiz. Among trainers, Brad Cox and Wesley Ward tied for top honors with 13 wins each, one more than Chad Brown. There was a three-way tie for leading owner (four wins each) among Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Marc Detampel, and G. Watts Humphrey and partners.

Per-day purses averaged a track-record $714,601, up over the $709,861 paid out last spring. Field size averaged 8.8 horses per race, and betting favorites won at a 33-percent clip (50 for 150).

Racing returns here October 5 for a 17-day fall meet.