Total handle, average handle rise at this year's longer meet

Average daily handle at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., during the track’s recently completed 60-day meet was up 14.8 percent compared to last year’s 55-day meet, according to figures generated by Daily Racing Form.

Total pari-mutuel handle for the meet was $218.5 million, a $44 million gain on the total handle last year, when $174.4 million was bet. Monmouth ran 606 races this year over a 60-day meet, compared to 555 races last year during a 55-day meet, and average handle per race was up 14.7 percent.

Field size during the meet declined slightly, from 7.41 horses per race last year to 7.25 horses this year, according to Daily Racing Form figures.

The average purse per race during the meet was $50,512, up 8.1 percent compared to an average purse of $46,747 last year. Total purse distribution was $30.61 million.

During the meet, Monmouth became the first track in the modern era of U.S. Thoroughbred racing to offer fixed-odds wagering to ontrack customers, and, later in the meet, through a website restricted to New Jersey residents. The fixed-odds operation is managed by BetMakers U.S., an Australian company that has a 10-year contract to run the business.

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Dennis Drazin, the chief executive of the horsemen-owned company that manages the track, said that fixed-odds betting was approximately 10-12 percent of the total win, place, and show bets made during the meet (the fixed-odds numbers are not included in the handle numbers). He said that he was pleased with how the system worked during the meet, but he said that more jurisdictions need to come on board in order to analyze the market demand for the bet types.

“All in all, fixed odds is a good thing, but it’s going to end up nationwide at some point, and we’ll see a lot more then,” Drazin said.

Not including fixed odds betting, ontrack handle jumped from $15.22 million last year to $17.75 million this year, an increase of 16.6 percent. Average attendance was 6,135.

Starting on Friday, Monmouth will manage a seven-day all-turf meet at The Meadowlands, running Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 22 (with Oct. 15 as a dark day). First post for each six-race card will be 7 p.m. Eastern.