Belmont average daily handle up at spring-summer meet

Average daily handle at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet was $14,746,421, an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2022 meet average of $13,437,509, according to figures released Friday by the New York Racing Association.

All-sources handle for the meet was $560,363,986, down 5.2 percent from last year’s figure of $591,250,409.

The 2023 Belmont spring/summer meet was scheduled for 40 days, but only 38 cards were run as two programs were canceled due to unsafe air quality. The 2022 meet consisted of 44 cards of racing.

There were 368 races run during the 2023 meet and average field size was 7.68, a 3.8 percent increase over the 2022 meet average of 7.40 for 419 races. There were 181 races run on turf in 2023 with only 14 rained off to the dirt. In 2022, there were 186 turf races run on turf with 26 rained off.

The June 10 Belmont Stakes Day program handled $118,283,455, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year, and a 19.7 percent increase over last year’s figure of $98,766,906.

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