Handle up 8 percent at Turfway Park meet

Turfway Park in northern Kentucky closed its winter-spring meet March 29 with an increase of 8 percent in average daily all-sources handle, according to figures released by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Gross handle for 37 dates at a meet that began Jan. 1 was almost $63.5 million, up 34 percent over corresponding dates at the 2014 winter-spring meet, when only 30 dates were run. The numbers would have been bigger except for a sharp drop for Spiral Stakes Day, March 21, when handle was $4.7 million, down from the nearly $6.1 million handled on Spiral Stakes Day in 2014.

Purse payouts for the meet were just more than $5 million, up 27 percent from last year, with the per-day average up 6 percent. Purses were raised on two occasions during the meet.