Total handle on Belmont Stakes declines 16.5 perecent
Total handle on the Belmont Stakes on Saturday was down 16.5 percent compared to betting on the race last year, according to charts of the races.
Including multi-leg bets ending in the Belmont Stakes, total handle was $50.25 million, compared to $60.15 million last year. Both races had eight horses in the field.
Handle was down by double digits in every pool with the exception of the pick four and pick six ending in the race, which were down 4.6 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, according to the charts. The only pool that showed an increase was a double linking the Belmont Gold Cup, which was run Friday, with Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
Belmont’s operator, the New York Racing Association, added several multi-leg wagers to the betting menu this year, including another double linking a race on the Friday card to the Belmont and a pick four spread over the two days.
Betting in the straight pools was down 18.2 percent, to $18.05 million. Betting in the exacta pool was down 12.3 percent, to $8.98 million. The trifecta pool declined 19.8 percent to $8.88 million, and the superfecta pool dropped 29.1 percent to $4.91 million.
This year, the Triple Crown featured a rotating cast of characters that cycled in and out of the three races. The Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, skipped the Preakness but ran in the Belmont; he finished sixth. The Belmont winner, Mo Donegal, finished fifth in the Derby but skipped the Preakness. The Belmont second-place finisher, the filly Nest, last ran in the Kentucky Oaks, the day prior to the Derby. The second choice in the betting was We the People, who did not run in either the Derby or the Preakness.
Last year, the Triple Crown was surrounded by immense publicity due to the positive test of the Derby winner, Medina Spirit, after the first leg of the Triple Crown. Medina Spirit skipped the Belmont after finishing third in the Preakness. NYRA issued a ban of Medina Spirit’s trainer, Bob Baffert, the Monday after the Preakness was run.
Last year, Belmont placed a cap on attendance due to ongoing pandemic protocols and reported attendance of 11,238. This year, the announced attendance was 46,301, just shy of the new 50,000 cap for the racetrack after the recent construction and opening of an NHL hockey arena on the grounds.
Total handle on the 13-race card at Belmont on Saturday was $98.77 million, an 11.7 percent decline compared to total handle of $111.19 million last year. There were 100 runners on the card this year, compared to 107 runners last year, and the first stakes races of the day, the Grade 1 Acorn, was reduced to a field of four when the favorite, Echo Zulu, was scratched at the gate.