Impact of coronavirus brings down numbers in first quarter

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic was clearly spelled out in Thoroughbred racing’s economic indicators for the first quarter of 2020, released on Friday by Equibase, as a reduction in race days and a corresponding drop in wagering led to dramatic declines in March.

Racetracks around the country began to run without spectators just before the weekend of March 14 as the response to the pandemic picked up steam, thereby eliminating ontrack handle, although off-site wagering via digital platforms still continued. Tracks began to announce closures in response to more strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus later in the month, with some of the highest-profile meets for this time of the season being curtailed. For example, Aqueduct announced that its meet was suspended on March 19, and Fair Grounds closed its meet early, after the March 21 card. Santa Anita was ordered to cease racing by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on March 27.

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The number of U.S. race days in March dropped 31 percent, to 214 from 310 in March 2019. March last year included several canceled race days at Santa Anita as the track sought answers to a spate of equine fatalities. The number of races this past March dropped 33 percent, to 1,787 from 2,678 last March. With the closure of casinos that subsidize purse structures at various tracks, total U.S. purses also dropped 30 percent, to $55,774,436 from $79,653,572.

But average purses per race day did tick upward 1 percent, to $260,628 from $256,947, and field size was up 2 percent, to about 7.8 horses from 7.6. The average wagering per race day in March was $3,419,170, up 12 percent from $3,048,669 last March. With fewer race days, total wagering in the month dropped 23 percent, to $731,702,397 from $945,087,433.

The grim realities in March dragged down figures from January and February to lead to some moderate declines in the quarter, all things considered. There were 793 race days in the quarter, a decline of 6 percent from 844 in the first quarter of 2019. That resulted in 6,616 races, a drop of 9 percent compared to 7,290 during the first quarter last year. Total U.S. purses were $205,227,651, dropping 10 percent from $227,119,640. Two races alone in the quarter accounted for $12 million of that decline, as the Pegasus World Cup in January at Gulfstream was run for $3 million, compared to $9 million in 2019, and the corresponding Pegasus World Cup Turf was contested for $1 million, compared to $7 million last year. Average purses per race day were $258,799, dropping 4 percent from $269,099 in the first quarter of 2019.

Per race, average handle in March of this year was $409,459, a 16 percent increase over per-race handle in March of last year.

Total wagering on U.S. races in the quarter was $2,509,170,169, a drop of 1 percent from $2,534,968,772 last year’s first quarter. The average wagering per race day was $3,164,149, up 5 percent from last year’s $3,003,518. For the quarter, per-race handle in 2020 was $379,258, a 9.1 percent increase over the per-race handle for the first quarter of 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to have an even more dramatic impact on the economic indicators for the second quarter, with the spring meeting at Keeneland and the remainder of the spring meet at Aqueduct having been canceled. Santa Anita has yet to resume racing, and its stakes-loaded program scheduled for April 4 has been postponed.

- additional reporting by Matt Hegarty