As expected, handle down after first 16 days of Belmont at the Big A meet
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Business has not been booming at the Belmont at the Big A fall meeting.
All-sources handle through the first 16 days of the 28-day meet was $145,937,132, a 15.2 percent decrease from the $172,126,651 handled over the same period at last fall’s Belmont Park season. Ontrack handle through 16 days is $13,272,707, down 19 percent from last year’s figure of $16,391,668.
Racing was moved to Aqueduct for this year’s seven-week meet due to construction of pedestrian and vehicular tunnels at Belmont Park. The construction, which renders about three-sixteenths of a mile of the two turf courses and main track unusable for now, is scheduled to be completed in time for racing to return to Belmont for its regular spring meet, which typically begins in late April.
As far as the decline in business, NYRA president and COO Dave O’Rourke said a 10 percent to 15 percent decline was what was budgeted for this fall. The tunnel project is the first phase of a renovation of Belmont Park that will ultimately set that facility up for year-round racing.
“Nobody likes to be down but it’s to projections,” O’Rourke said. “It’s all for a better cause. Once we get to Belmont full time, it’ll be great. The tunnel project is on schedule. Everything looks good for the spring.”
Through the first 16 days of the meet, NYRA had run 60 turf races with 18 more having been rained off to the main track. At this point last fall, Belmont had conducted 80 turf races with only six having to be transferred to the dirt due to inclement weather.
That has translated into a decline in field size as turf races typically draw more horses than dirt races. Average field size for this meet’s 156 races is 7.67, compared to 8.12 through 155 races run last fall.
The Belmont at the Big A meeting continues for three more weeks before the actual Aqueduct fall meet begins Nov. 4 and runs through Dec. 31.
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