Turfway Park enjoys strong business at recently completed meet

Average handle per race day was up 32.9 percent during the 38-day Turfway Park meet, which concluded on Saturday, according to Churchill Downs Inc., the owner of the track.

Turfway had average handle per race day this year of $2.15 million, compared to $1.57 million per day during last year’s 38-day meet, according to figures released by Churchill. Last year, most of the Turfway Park meet was run prior to the coronavirus pandemic leading to closures of racetracks across the U.S., although the track held its last two weeks of racing last year without spectators and canceled its three remaining cards after Gov. Steve Beshear ordered all non-essential businesses to close on March 25.

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Total all-sources handle on the track’s races was up $21.9 million, from $59.8 million last year to $81.7 million this year.

Field size crept up from 9.7 horses per race last year to 9.8 horses this year, according to Churchill. Winter weather forced the cancelation of six live race days, but five of those were made up in the latter half of the meet by adding an additional race day to the week.

Turfway Park is in the midst of a major renovation. Churchill tore down the track’s grandstand last year in order to begin building a casino at the track, a project that was suspended midway through last year after a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling put the legality of the state’s casinos in legal limbo. The state legislature passed a bill clearing up the issue earlier this year, and the project was restarted two weeks ago with an official ground-breaking.

On the track, Gerardo Corrales took the riders’ title with 40 wins from 177 mounts. Wesley Ward won the trainers’ title with 21 victories, including Like the King in Turfway’s Kentucky Derby prep, the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks.