Belmont boosts purses for rest of meet

ELMONT, N.Y. – After having to cut purses across the board to make it through the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday a purse increase for a number of conditions beginning Sunday for the remaining nine days of the Belmont Park fall meet.

Among the more significant purse increases is for open maiden special weight races, which see an increase from $63,000 to $80,000. New York-bred maiden special weight races will go from $52,000 to $70,000.

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An open $25,000 claiming race will see a $4,000 increase to $50,000, while a $40,000 maiden-claiming race will go up $3,000 to $43,000. A $12,500 claiming race goes from $29,000 to $35,000.

Additionally, NYRA is making retroactive purse payments for the first 16 days of the meet based on 50 percent of the purse increase. For example, the winning owner of an open maiden special weight race earlier in the meet will get an additional $4,675 of the $17,000 increase for that condition.

From mid-March through the end of May, the NYRA lost 43 racing days due to the shutdown of racing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning June 3, NYRA, racing without ontrack fans, conducted a 25-day Belmont spring/summer meet and a 40-day Saratoga meet, also without fans. Money wagered ontrack or by a New York state resident through NYRA Bets is worth more to NYRA and horsemen than a wager made offtrack.

In addition to losing handle, NYRA lost revenue from the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct, which was closed from mid-March until Sept. 9 when it reopened at 25 percent capacity. Money NYRA receives from the casino funds up to 38 percent of purses.

The shutdown of racing and the casino “forced NYRA to make significant adjustments to the purse structure to ensure operational continuity throughout the spring, summer and early part of the fall,” Martin Panza, NYRA senior vice president of racing operations, said in a release.

“NYRA made those strategic decisions early in the crisis so that we could restore our purses to near pre-pandemic levels as soon as possible to support New York’s horsemen and the 19,000 jobs connected to Thoroughbred racing in New York. Thanks to the incredibly strong wagering seen at Saratoga and in the Belmont fall, coupled with the resumption of VLT revenue in early September, we are that point even faster than expected.”

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Wagering on NYRA’s races since it returned in June has been strong. Average daily handle at the spring/summer meet was $15,466,198, for an all-sources total of $386,654,955.

At Saratoga, all-sources handle was $702,535,468, down slightly from $705,343,949 wagered the previous summer, which did have one fewer full card.

Through the first 16 days of the Belmont fall meet, all-sources handle is $164,993,286, including $19,543,831 wagered on Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup card. That was the highest figure for a Belmont Park fall card since 2014. Through the first 16 days of the 2019 Belmont fall meet, all-sources handle was $119,743,779, though that figure does not reflect Jockey Club Gold Cup or Joe Hirsch Day, programs that combined for $29.2 million in handle.

Racing continues at Belmont through Nov. 1. The Aqueduct fall meet begins Nov. 6. An announcement of Aqueduct’s 2020-21 winter schedule is expected in the near future.