Belmont Stakes 2019 handle sets record for non-Triple Crown year

Total handle on the Belmont Stakes on Saturday was far short of the wagering totals for the race last year, when a Triple Crown was on the line, but the figure compared more than favorably to the last time the race was run without the additional attention from a Triple Crown try in 2017, according to charts of the races.

The total handle on the Belmont Stakes this year was $53.24 million, a 33.2 percent drop from wagering on the race last year, when Justify won the race at a short price and became the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner. However, this year’s handle total was also 12.2 percent higher than the total for the Belmont Stakes in 2017, when betting was $47.46 million. The races this year and last year had 10-horse fields, while the 2017 running had an 11-horse field.

For the 13-race card at Belmont on Saturday, total handle was $102.2 million, according to charts, a decline of 25.7 percent compared to full-card handle last year but a jump of 9.0 percent compared with handle on the 2017 card. The full-card handle figure bested the record for a non-Triple Crown year, set in 2016.

The total number of runners in the 13 races this year was 102, compared with 120 last year and 121 in 2017. The total number of runners on the 2016 card was 125.

Figures for both handle and attendance for the Belmont Stakes are supercharged any time a Triple Crown is on the line, so the favorable comparison of the handle number to the 2017 running of the race was welcome news to an industry that has been cast in an unfavorable light from some quarters due to criticism over a spate of deaths earlier this year in Southern California. The handle for this year’s Belmont was a record for a non-Triple Crown year.

This year’s Belmont’s field did not include the horse that finished first under the wire in the Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security, but it did include the Preakness winner, War of Will, who went off as the second choice. The field also did not include Country House, who was elevated to first when Maximum Security was disqualified in the Derby. The Belmont Stakes was won by Sir Winston, War of Will's Mark Casse-trained stablemate.

The handle total this year was boosted by a new pick six that linked races on the Friday card at Belmont Park with races on the Saturday card. The new pick six attracted $656,139 in bets, at a 20-cent minimum, according to the chart. A similar wager was implemented for the first time this year for the Friday and Saturday cards at Churchill Downs on Derby weekend.

The New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont Park, announced attendance of 56,217 this year, down slightly from announced attendance of 57,729 in 2017. In 2018, attendance was capped at 90,000.

Weather on Saturday was sunny and mild, and the track was labeled fast for the entire card.

The commingled handle totals for the Belmont do not include $4.36 million in separate-pool wagering in Japan, where wagering on the Belmont was allowed this year due to the presence of Master Fencer, a Japanese-bred horse, in the field. Master Fencer finished fifth.

Japan’s racing authority relaxed rules on allowing for betting on foreign races in 2016, provided a Japan-based horse starts in the foreign race. Shortly thereafter, NYRA implemented a $1 million bonus for any Japan-based horse that wins the Belmont.

Saturday’s Belmont figures, at least when compared to 2017, continued a strong run for the Triple Crown races this year despite the ongoing criticism of the sport from some quarters. All-sources handle on the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, the Preakness Stakes, and all of the undercards for those races set records. The Triple Crown tracks have been consolidating many of their best races on those cards over the past five years, continuing a trend of so-called “big event” days.

Saturday’s Belmont card included eight Grade 1 stakes, but several suffered from short fields. NYRA’s racing office placed the short-field races early in the card in order to maximize handle on later multi-leg bets.

Handle on the Met Mile, a much-anticipated race this year, was down 6.5 percent compared to last year’s race but up 16.3 percent compared with 2017, according to charts. Handle on the Manhattan Stakes, which directly preceded the Belmont, was down 13.3 percent compared to last year, but up 9.3 percent compared with the 2017 running.

Like the host tracks of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, NYRA has attempted to make the Belmont Stakes the centerpiece of a two- or three-day racing “festival,” carding stakes races on the Thursday and Friday cards prior to its Triple Crown race that might otherwise be placed on weekend cards. Handle for the association’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, running Thursday through Saturday, was $131.9 million, according to NYRA, with $9.74 million in betting on Thursday and $19.96 million on Friday.