Heat wave causes $20 million drop in handle

Handle on Thoroughbred races last weekend was down $20.1 million, or 14.9 percent, compared to similar dates last year and down $30.5 million, or 21 percent, compared to the weekend of July 28-29 last year, illustrating the massive impact of the heat wave that hit the Midwest and East Coast.

Handle on all Thoroughbred races was $114.58 million on Saturday and Sunday, July 20-21, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form, on a weekend in which many tracks cancelled all or a portion of their Saturday cards due to the heat. Last year, on the weekend of July 21-22, handle was $134.67 million. Handle on the next weekend last year was $145.11 million, according to the analysis.

Daily Racing Form compared this weekend to the two weekends last year due to changes in scheduling for some major races. The Haskell, for example, was held this year on Saturday, July 20, while last year, it was held on Sunday, July 29. Last year, Saratoga Race Course’s opening weekend this year was July 13-14, whereas last year it was July 21-22.

Among the tracks cancelling their Saturday cards this year were Saratoga, Laurel Park in Maryland, Delaware Park in Delaware, and a smattering of small tracks throughout the Midwest. Monmouth Park cancelled six of its 14 races on Saturday after running two races, and then delayed the running of the remaining races for five hours, with the Haskell, the track’s marquee race, being run 2 ½ hours after its scheduled post. Monmouth then cancelled its Sunday card altogether, whereas other tracks returned to racing that day.

Handle on the Haskell card was down nearly $5 million this year, compared to last year’s Haskell lineup.

A typical Saturday card at Saratoga Race Course accounts for at least $20 million in handle, which was the amount of handle decline last weekend when measured to a comparable spot on the calendar last year. Although some handle appeared to migrate to other tracks that did not cancel on Saturday, such as Arlington Park, horseplayers across the country clearly pulled back from the sport in the face of the heat wave.

For this weekend, a total of 490 races were held, down 13 percent compared to the number of races held on July 20-21 last year, 563. Total races held on the July 28-29 weekend last year was 560, a difference of 12.5 percent. Average field size last weekend for all races was 7.09, compared to 7.32 on the weekend of July 21-22 last year and 7.47 on the weekend of July 28-29 last year.

Average handle per race this weekend was down 2.2 percent when compared to the July 20-21 weekend last year, according to the analysis, from $239,182 per race to $233,829 per race. Average handle per race was down 9.8 percent when compared to average handle of $259,133 per race on the July 28-29 weekend last year.

Del Mar had an especially poor weekend this year compared to last year, despite weather not having an impact on the track. This year, total handle on 18 races was $23.02 million, compared with total handle on 19 races last year of $27.66 million, a decline in wagering of 16.8 percent. The total number of betting interests this year was 128, for an average field size of 7.11 horses, whereas last year the average field size was 9.11 horses per race.