Belmont Stakes handle down 10.5 percent

All-sources handle on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which featured the first Triple Crown triumph in 37 years, was down 10.5 percent from the record-setting handle on the Belmont last year, when California Chrome failed in his own attempt to win the Triple Crown, according to charts of the race.

Total handle on the Belmont was $82.4 million, according to the chart, including all horizontal wagers that paid off on the race. The handle last year on the Belmont was $92.2 million, which had beat the previous record, set in 2004, by more than $24 million.

American Pharoah, the 3-5 winner, was part of an eight-horse field in the Belmont this year, compared with 11 horses in last year’s race, a significant contributor to the decline in betting. Wagering was down most sharply in the win pool, falling 13.8 percent, and in the exacta pool, where betting was down 15.3 percent, according to the chart. The pick three ending with the Belmont had handle of $1.08 million, down 40 percent.

The decline in betting on the Belmont was nearly matched by an overall decline in all-sources betting on the entire 13-race card, with total betting dropping 9.7 percent. According to charts, betting this year on the card was $135.8 million, compared with the record of $150.4 million last year.

Neither total includes some separate-pool handle from international jurisdictions, which can typically drive up handle by several million dollars. The total was the second-highest ever for a Belmont Stakes card.

As with the Belmont Stakes itself, field sizes on the card, which featured six Grade 1 races, played a large role in the drops, with 112 betting interests on the card compared with 132 betting interests last year. The short fields were concentrated on the first half of the card, and betting was down substantially through the first five races, with handle off 27 percent after the six-horse Ogden Phipps was run. Miserably for horseplayers, the first race, the Easy Goer, had a three-horse field, and only win betting was offered.

Attendance on Saturday was capped by the New York Racing Association at 90,000, in reaction to widespread operational problems during last year’s running of the race. NYRA said on Friday night that all of the tickets were sold. Last year, attendance was reported by NYRA at 102,199, though NYRA’s chief executive, Chris Kay, said this week that he believed the attendance last year may have breached the 115,000 mark, an acknowledgment that attendance at Triple Crown events with walk-up sales is probably based on guesswork.

Although handle was down by approximately $14.5 million on Saturday, NYRA did make up some of that total on Friday, when handle was up approximately $5.7 million. Like Churchill Downs, which has focused some of its energy on marketing its Kentucky Oaks Day card prior to the Derby, NYRA has attempted over the past two years to draw attention to the pre-Belmont card with a Friday loaded with stakes.