Monmouth's daily average figures jump from '09 in first half of meet

Business is up substantially midway through Monmouth Park’s 50 day, $50 million meet.

The leading indicators – AVERAGE attendance, ontrack handle, and total handle from all sources – show big increases through the first 24 days.

Monmouth cut back to a three-day schedule this year, running Friday through Sunday plus holiday cards on Memorial Day and Independence Day. The figures are matched against last year, excluding the Wednesday and Thursday cards that were eliminated from this year’s schedule.

Average attendance this year is 10,572 compared with 9,354, a 13 percent improvement.

On track handle is averaging $752,718 vs. $527,415, a 43 percent increase.

The biggest impact of the shortened meet is seen in the average handle from all sources: $7,672,255, up 118 percent from the $3,521,434 last year

“Everyone at the Sports Authority had high hopes for this bold experiment,” said Dennis Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates Monmouth. “To say at the midway point that this meet has been a success is an understatement. We’re cautiously optimistic that the second half of the ‘Elite Summer Meet’ will continue to exceed all expectations.”