Handle at 2021 Saratoga meet on record pace
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As the meet reaches the halfway point with Wednesday’s card, figures already show that Saratoga is on its way to a record-setting meet handle-wise.
Through Sunday, all-sources handle on the first 19 Saratoga programs is $385,973,816, a 6.4 percent increase from last year ($362,577,263) and a 24.8 percent increase from 2019 ($309,125,934), according to figures provided by the New York Racing Association. In 2019, Saratoga set a record for all-sources handle with $705,343,949 in what became a 39-day meet. The second Saturday of the 2019 meet was canceled due to heat and the last part of a Thursday card early in the meet was lost due to heavy rains.
Last year, all-sources handle for the 40-day meet, which did not include spectators, was $702,533,472.
Ontrack handle this year is $65,221,626, a 4.19 percent increase over $61,027,900 handled in 2019.
This year, with an average daily handle of $20,314,411 so far, it is likely all-sources handle could exceed $800 million.
Paid attendance at this meet is 477.097, a 6.5 percent increase over the 447,814 that attended through the same period in 2019.
At this meet, there have been 194 races run with an average field size of 7.87 starters per race. At this stage last year, there were 194 races run with an average field size of 7.56. This year, there have been 81 races run on turf and 21 washed off to the main track. Last year, at this point, there were 95 races run on turf with only five rained off. At this stage in 2019, there were 183 races run with an average field size of 8.03, 80 races run on turf and 20 rained off.
Saturday’s Whitney Day handle was record $36,880,239. Moreover, that figure was more than Del Mar ($16,614,839), Gulfstream Park ($7,880,379,) Monmouth Park ($4,867,998), and The Meadowlands Hambletonian card ($6,487,695) combined.
Three of the first four Sunday cards were impacted by rain.
While Whitney Day was huge, the meet’s signature day of racing, the Aug. 28 Travers program, is on the horizon.
Luis Saez leads the jockey standings through the first 19 cards with 35 wins, seven more than Jose Ortiz and nine ahead of Irad Ortiz Jr.
Mike Maker’s 16 wins have him atop the trainer standings, two more than Chad Brown and five more than both Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher.