Total handle on U.S. Thoroughbred races during the coronavirus-ravaged year of 2020 was down 1.0 percent compared to 2019, according to figures released by Equibase on Tuesday, while average handle per race soared 29.4 percent. The total handle figure, $10.93 billion, was the continuation of the slight decline posted last year, following four years of positive, though meager, growth. However, the number of races held in 2020, 27,200, dropped to its lowest level in the modern era of racing due to racetrack closures across the U.S. during the pandemic, and bettors appeared to have spread around their existing bankrolls to the remaining contests. The average handle figure per race in 2020 was $394,413, easily a record, compared to average handle of $304,743 last year, when 36,207 Thoroughbred races were held at U.S. tracks. Comparisons between 2020 and 2019 are complicated by an enormous number of factors, both within and outside the industry, and the 2020 result of record average handle defies easy explanation. Handle on the three Triple Crown events, held far from their traditional dates, declined precipitously, but the Breeders’ Cup held its own when comparing the event to others held in the Eastern time zone in previous years. Meanwhile, many small and mid-sized tracks across the U.S. posted record average handle on their signals, in part by scheduling their races in less competitive slots on the simulcast calendar. The handle figures demonstrate that the racing business was surprisingly resilient during a year in which television ratings for all major sports, with the exception of the NFL, declined significantly. Most major sports did not return to live events until late summer or early fall, and racing had the sports-betting market largely to itself for the first six months of the pandemic. But casino closures across the country, along with reductions in races and racing dates, had a significant impact on purses, with total purses distributed during the year declining 25.5 percent. The average purse, however, declined only 2.7 percent, from a record $32,257 last year to $31,400 this year. Purses at many U.S. racetracks are heavily subsidized by casinos. The final figures for 2020 were aided by a 6.2 percent jump in total handle on U.S. races in December, despite a 7.4 percent drop in the number of races held. In the last quarter of 2020, according to the Equibase figures, total handle on U.S. races was up 5.6 percent, despite an 11.1 percent drop in races held. Average field size for the year was 7.94 horses per race, the highest figure since 2011 and an uptick that reversed a slow but steady erosion in the number over the last nine years. Last year, field size was 7.50 horses per race, the lowest number in the modern era. Horsemen had fewer opportunities to race their horses this year, accounting for the 5.9 percent jump in the figure.