Aqueduct fall meet handle up dramatically; additional turf racing boosts field size

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Benefiting from good weather which led to additional turf racing, all-sources handle during Aqueduct’s 2019 fall meet was up 49.6 percent over the fall of 2018.

All-sources handle on 233 races over 25 race days was $205,249,710 compared to $137,213,915 wagered on 198 races over 22 programs in 2018. Average daily all-sources handle was $8,209,988, a 31.6 perent increase over the 2018 average daily handle of $6,236,996.

Ontrack handle on Aqueduct’s races was $20,712,645, a 28.1 percent increase over last year’s $16,168,219.

Aqueduct ran 86 turf races and took only 22 off the grass in 2019 compared to running 31 races on turf and taking 51 off during the 2018 meet.

Average field size for the meet was 8.43 horses per race compared to 7.21 a year ago.

All-sources handle on Saturday’s Cigar Mile card was $18,818,056, a 45.4 percent increase over last year’s Cigar Mile handle figure of $12,739,735. Saturday’s figure included $3,658,933 wagered on the Empire 6 whose entire pool had to be distributed on that day.