Average handle per race up 5.8% during Monmouth’s 2024 meet

Average handle per race at Monmouth Park in New Jersey during its recently completed meet was up 5.8 percent, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form, though the average purse at the track dropped 10.8 percent.

Average handle per race for the 50-day meet was $435,845, according to the analysis, compared to an average of $411,897 during a 51-day meet last year. The average field size was 7.52 horses per race, down slightly from a 7.71 average field size in 2023.

The jump in average handle continues a decent run for Monmouth over the past several years. Last year, average daily handle at the track was up 11.4 percent, and Monmouth’s total handle has increased in each of the past four years.

Ontrack handle was up slightly for the 50 days, to $17.65 million from $17.35 million during the 51-day meet. The average per race day jumped 3.7 percent.
Monmouth set a handle record on its Haskell Stakes card, at $21.75 million. Attendance that day was 38,976, the highest since 2015.

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The average purse per race, however, dropped from $53,038 last year to $47,303 this year, according to the DRF analysis. Total purses dropped from $26.7 million to $23.1 million.

Jockey Paco Lopez won the riding title at the track for the 11th time in the past 12 years, recording 76 winners, 11 better than runner-up Jairo Rendon.

Claudio Gonzalez repeated as the leading trainer with 34 winners, two better than Mario Serey Jr.

The owner’s title went to Robert Reidy, who won 14 races from 66 starts.

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