Prairie's all-sources handle up

Prairie Meadows ended its 36-day 2006 mixed meeting Saturday with mixed results. There were solid gains in all-sources average daily handle but declines in average daily ontrack handle from the comparable 48-day mixed meeting last year.

The average daily all-sources handle for 35 full programs of Prairie Meadows races this year was $503,386, up 12.5 percent from last year's $447,255 per day. (Racing was canceled after the first race of this year's opening day because of adverse track conditions.) Ontrack handle averaged $56,289 per day, a 4.7 percent decline from last year's $59,034.

The riding title was not settled until closing night, when Alex Birzer won his first Prairie Meadows title by a 30-28 margin over Glenn Corbett, who had captured the mixed meeting title in six of the past seven seasons.

Dick Clark, the all-time leading trainer at Prairie Meadows, captured his sixth straight mixed meet title by a 25-18 advantage over Ray Tracy Jr.