Handle, attendance down marginally at Keeneland spring meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – All-sources handle and ontrack attendance at Keeneland this spring were down marginally while the track gave away a record amount in purses, according to figures released by the track following the final card of a 16-day meet that ran April 4 through Friday.

Total handle was $153,116,119, down 2.6 percent in comparison to the 2018 spring meet, when 16 dates also were run. The per-day average was $9,569,757.

Per-day purse payouts were a track-record $770,618, up nearly 8 percent from last spring. That number is among the highest ever posted for a meet in North America.

Ontrack attendance was down nearly 3 percent, with a per-card average of 15,159 derived from a total of 242,547.

On the racetrack, jockey Florent Geroux and trainer Wesley Ward won titles in their respective categories by virtue of one winner apiece on the final day. Geroux rode 15 winners, one more than the trio of Javier Castellano, Tyler Gaffalione, and Luis Saez, while Ward edged Brad Cox by an 11-10 margin. There was a four-way tie for leading owner (three wins each).

Field size averaged 8.60 starters per race, down from 8.81 from last year, while favorites won 64 of 149 races (43 percent).

Live racing will return to Keeneland on Oct. 4, when the 17-day fall meet begins.