Record Travers Day boosts meet business
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – American Pharoah may have lost the Travers on Saturday, but the Triple Crown winner helped keep the Saratoga meet on a summer-long winning streak as all-sources handle is up 14.6 percent through the first 34 days of the 40-day meet compared to last year.
All-sources handle through Monday was $545,633,351, up nearly $70 million from last year’s figure of $475,783,490. All-sources handle on Travers Day alone was up $9.76 million, to a record $49.7 million. The presence of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah combined with a card that featured six Grade 1 stakes helped the New York Racing Association set a record for Travers Day handle.
Ontrack handle through the first 34 days was $136,327,419, a 6.4 percent increase over last year’s figure of $128,052,284.
Mother Nature also has helped Saratoga shine this summer. There have been 349 races run at this meet, 174 of them on the turf, including eight steeplechase races. Only eight scheduled turf races have been transferred from the dirt to the main track. In 2014, to this point, Saratoga had run 348 races, 158 on turf, including 10 steeplechase races. There were 27 scheduled turf races that had been moved to the main track.
The tremendous weather has enabled average field size to stay a robust 8.32 starters per race, compared with 7.88 to this point last year.
The only day over the final week of racing for which rain is forecast is Thursday, and that day has only a 40 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms.
Paid admissions at Saratoga this summer is 924,698, a 12 percent increase last year’s figure of 825,094.
Chad Brown entered the final week of racing with a 30-26 lead over Todd Pletcher in the trainer standings. Pletcher has won the title the last five years, with Brown finishing second to him the last four.
Irad Ortiz Jr. looks positioned to win his first Saratoga riding title, as he entered the final week of racing with a 54-44 lead over Javier Castellano, who has won the last two titles.
Michael Dubb holds an 11-9 lead over Klaravich Stables for leading owner. Patricia Generazio is next with eight wins.