Meadowlands: Current numbers say the tide has turned for the better

The Meadowlands sent out a release on April 22 to announce to the racing community and beyond that handle is up during spring and that field size is one of the main reasons. Not one to take anyone’s word for things, I pulled some numbers to see how they stack up.

For the first three weeks of April in 2018, The Meadowlands carded 62 races with 537 horses and handled $13,794,164. During that exact period this year, the numbers read 78 races, 714 horses and $16,720,173.

There is no doubt plenty of positive news here. There were 16 more races and the average number of starters per race went from 8.66 to 9.15. While a half-point doesn’t seem like much, it is huge when you consider a) how close 9.15 is to a full field of 10 and b) that they were able to increase field size while adding 2.7 additional races per card.

“We have momentum that we haven't had in a while and I want it to continue. We appreciate the support at the entry box by those trainers racing with us this spring, that's a big part of it," stated Meadowlands GM Jason Settlemoir in the track’s press release.

Owners and trainers are clearly supporting the new purse structure at The Meadowlands, and rightfully so. Compared to the nearest Pennsylvania tracks – Harrah’s Philadelphia & Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – the purses at The Meadowlands are equal or better throughout much of the condition sheet. Interestingly, the two PA tracks have held their own consistently carding 13-14 races each day/night since early April.

Strangely, the big loser in the early going has been the track with the largest purses. Over the first three weeks of April, Yonkers Raceway has programed just 163 races compared to 179 in 2018. Disconcerting is that the loss of just over one race per racing card occurred while the track was hosting the Levy and Matchmaker series. With those rich races for older pacers in the books, the track has gone from 12 races on Friday and Saturday the previous week to just 10 on April 27/28.

Getting back to The Meadowlands, while more races and bigger fields are great, those increases only matter if handle comes with it. As expected with the increased number of races, handle is up on average per night from $2.29 million to $2.78 million, meaning at extra $500,000 is being wagered at the track each night. That’s significant, especially considering the track was operating without Tim Tetrick and Scott Zeron every weekend, and sans Corey Callahan and Andrew McCarthy on some occasions.

The picture isn’t perfect at The Meadowlands. Average per race handle was down during the first three weeks of April from $222K to $214K, but that has to be expected when you are adding nearly three races each night. If a customer shows up with $200 for 10 races he will likely budget his money differently than for a 13-race card. Losing $8K per race is irrelevant when it creates over $200K per race times three in handle.

Stepping away from the numbers, the release from The Meadowlands brought up that the driving colony was making a concerted effort to keep the ‘holes’ closed (meaning not allowing horses who leave from the outside to easily settle in along the pylons) and also touted that the track was less speed favoring. The first issue is somewhat subjective and after watching the entire Saturday (4/20) card, I didn’t notice much of a difference. Some horses had to drive on to the lead while others got holes after pushing away from the gate.

Moving on to whether the track was speed favoring, the numbers seem to suggest it was playing fairly, at least on that Saturday card. Five horses won on the lead and three closed from sixth or further back at three-quarters to win, so that is a fair and even playing field.

Meadowlands Chairman and CEO Jeff Gural explained that the goal is to reduce the speed bias and return racing to the “old days” when it was more common to see fields spread out wide into the stretch with multiple horses in contention.

“Basically the track conditioning depends on the weather so if the forecast is good they can give it a decent cushion but if it rains then they need to make it hard,” said Gural. “He (Meadowlands Director of Racing Properties & Track Ryan Napierala) just plays by ear based on the weather but in general tries to give it a cushion.”

One area where The Meadowlands is currently shining involves offering value to the bettors. Through 421 races, favorites are winning at just a 38% clip, which outpaces most of the major harness tracks in the U.S. by 5-7% and rates very favorably against even top Thoroughbred signals like Aqueduct (39%), Santa Anita (37%) and Gulfstream (37%).

The end result for The Meadowlands, at least thus far in April, has been a strong racing product all-around. Handle has been solid and the fields have been competitive. With the track’s Championship Meet kicking off on May 3, there is no reason to believe the trend won’t continue.

[Column Aside: DRF Bets will have a special wagering offer for The Meadowlands starting on May 3, so be sure to visit the promos page before ‘sending it in’.]