Total handle on U.S. races in 2016 was nominally equal to the figure from 2015, according to figures released by Equibase on Thursday, with wagering growing 0.6 percent to $10.74 billion.
Arrogate and California Chrome battled it out in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and are the leading contenders for Horse of the Year after they were named as two of the three finalists for the year’s top honor – along with the 3-year-old filly Songbird.
Parx Racing averaged $1.46 million a day in handle during 2016, an increase of 5 percent over the average of $1.39 million in 2015, according to Sam Elliott, the track’s director of racing.
Trainer Mary Eppler and jockey Jevian Toledo topped the standings at the Laurel Park fall meet, which began Sept. 9 and concluded Saturday. The title was the first of Eppler’s career and the third for Toledo, who won the title at last summer’s Laurel meet and at the fall meet a year ago.
Veteran trainer Frank Kirby was handed a one-year suspension after one of his runners tested positive for methamphetamine, but Kirby claims the contamination was environmental and has appealed the ruling.
Average daily all-sources handle at Hawthorne Race Course's 2016 fall-winter meet fell 7 percent compared with last year, but that drop came mainly because fewer races were run this season.
A horse at Fair Grounds returned a positive test Tuesday for the so-called “wild” strain of the equine herpesvirus, or EHV-1. That marks the fifth EHV-1 positive at Fair Grounds since a horse housed in barn 14 who had been euthanized after becoming neurologic tested positive for the virus Dec. 26. Another horse in barn 14 tested positive Dec. 31 after getting sick. Both of the horses in barn 14 were positive for the neuropathogenic strain of EHV-1, which far more often results in neurologic symptoms, severe illness, and fatalities than the milder wild-type strain.
ESPN, the sports television network, has been named the winner of the Media Eclipse Award for Television, Feature Programming, for a story that aired on its E:60 news magazine program.
NBC Sports has been named the winner of the Media Eclipse Award for Television, Live Racing Programming, for a broadcast featuring this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The New York Racing Association will offer a $1 million bonus to the connections of any Japan-based horse who wins the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 10, NYRA announced Tuesday.
