Strong business reported at Churchill Downs spring meet

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources handle at the Churchill Downs spring meet that ended Saturday was up about 6.6 percent, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Gross handle for the 38-day meet, which began April 28, was reported at more than $448.7 million, with the stipulation from a commission spokesman that the total might be slightly higher when full figures were accounted for.

The gross handle at the 2017 spring meet, which also ran 38 days, was almost $419.2 million.

Preliminary per-day average handle was $11,808,740, versus $11,030,680 for 2017.

According to figures released Monday by the track, purses totaled $22.2 million for an average of $584,829 per day, both for increases of 4.5 percent over last spring.

Field size averaged nearly 7.8 horses per race, down from nearly 8.1 for the 2017 spring meet, and favorites won at a 34 percent clip (127 for 372).

On the racetrack, Brian Hernandez Jr. earned his first Churchill riding title with 43 winners, five more than runner-up Florent Geroux. Steve Asmussen extended his own record with his 19th Churchill training title by sending out 30 winners, while Ken and Sarah Ramsey also extended their own Churchill record to 31 as the leading owners with nine wins.