Prairie handle sees decline of 5.6 percent

Prairie Meadows concluded its 48-day mixed meeting Saturday with total handle dropping 5.6 percent from the corresponding 47-day meeting in 2004, according to preliminary figures.

The average total daily handle on Prairie Meadows races at the meet was $447,582, down from $474,015 in 2004. Ontrack handle was $59,034 per day, up nearly 2 percent from last year, but offtrack handle was down more than 7 percent from 2004's $416,039 average daily total.

On the track, Glenn Corbett captured his sixth mixed-meeting riding title in the past seven years, with 54 wins for the meet, well in front of second-place Cindy Noll, who had 40. The all-time leading trainer at Prairie Meadows, Dick Clark, easily captured his fifth straight mixed-meeting title by a 36-24 margin over Tim Gleason, with Kelly Von Hemel third, just one winner behind.