Lone Star sees small increase in average daily handle

Lone Star Park closed its 50-date meet Sunday with a small increase in average daily handle on its live races, according to figures provided by the Grand Prairie, Texas, track. The gain came courtesy of offtrack bettors.

Lone Star handled an average $832,433 a program from all sources, an increase of 1.8 percent over the corresponding meet in 2015. Of that total, offtrack patrons bet an average $608,066 a day on Lone Star, up 6 percent from 2015. Handle on Lone Star’s live races ontrack averaged $224,367 a program, a drop of more than 7 percent.

Attendance averaged 7,249 a program, off just 1 percent from the 2015 average of 7,325.

Purses at the meet averaged $147,801 a program, an increase of 5.5 percent over last season, according to figures from Lone Star. The track averaged 7.9 starters a race this meet, while favorites won at a track-high rate of 45 percent.

C.J. McMahon won his second consecutive Lone Star riding title, with 99 wins from 290 starts. His mounts earned $1,366,529.

Karl Broberg was the leading trainer for the third straight Thoroughbred meet at Lone Star, winning 61 races from 187 starts. His starters earned $673,912.

The leading owner was Steve Asmussen, with 22 wins from 52 starters, for earnings of $220,361. It was the first Lone Star owner title for Asmussen, who has 11 training titles at the track, according to Lone Star spokeswoman Diantha Brazzell.

Lone Star opens its meet for Quarter Horses on Sept. 16.