Monmouth Park: Average daily handle up 11.4 percent in 2023

Average daily handle at Monmouth Park for the track’s 51-day meet this year rose 11.4 percent, according to the track, bucking trends for the industry overall and at major summer racetracks.

The average daily handle this year was $4.03 million, compared to $3.62 million last year. Ontrack handle rose 15 percent, from $295,896 last year to $340,257 this year, the track said.

The figures were boosted by record handle on July 22, when the track ran the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, which drew Kentucky Derby winner Mage. The 14-race program drew $21.36 million in bets.

This year’s two premier meets, at Saratoga Racecourse in upstate New York and at Del Mar in Southern California, both experienced sizeable declines in handle. At Saratoga, where rain forced a large number of races off the turf, handle was down 9 percent, while Del Mar, which closed Sunday, also saw total betting decline by 9 percent.

Average field size at Monmouth during the meet was 7.71 horses per race, the highest number since 2015, according to the track.

Handle at Monmouth has now risen for the past three years. Monmouth chopped nine days from its live race meet this year, allowing the track to fatten average purses. The purse account was subsidized this year with $10 million from the legislature.

“To see our across-the-board numbers, year after year, continue to show large increases is a direct result of the purse supplement, the hard work of our employees, and of course, the racing fans,” Dennis Drazin, chief executive of the company that operates the track, said in a press release.

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