Handle on Spiral Stakes card falls 3 percent
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Business was down marginally last Saturday on the 12-race Spiral Stakes card at Turfway in northern Kentucky. All-sources handle was $5,694,796, down 3 percent from the corresponding 2016 date, according to figures released by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Ontrack handle of $657,841 was down 8.4 percent.
At its height, the Spiral drew considerably more attention in the simulcast market. The card that included the 2007 Spiral – when the race was known as the Lane’s End Stakes and was won by Hard Spun, the eventual Kentucky Derby runner-up – drew an all-sources handle of nearly $9.5 million.
Turfway will end four months of racing Saturday night with a nine-race program. The Kentucky circuit then will go dark for a rare five-day span before Keeneland starts.