Average daily all-sources handle for this year’s Belmont Park spring/summer meet was $10,917,735, down 8.8 percent compared to the 2018 figure of $11,967,486, according to numbers provided by the New York Racing Association.
Overall, all-sources handle was $524,051,257, down 17.4 percent compared to the $634,276,775 handled during the 2018 meeting. This year, ontrack handle was $62,499,109, down 21.4 percent from the 2018 figure of $79,507,415.
Churchill Downs and Keeneland have submitted proposed rule changes to a Kentucky regulatory body seeking a limited phase-out of the raceday use of the anti-bleeding medication Lasix and restrictions on the use of other therapeutic medications, according to officials for the tracks.
Trainer Marcus Vitali has been suspended a year by the stewards at Delaware Park after track security and witnesses alleged that they observed the trainer removing a substance from a dorm that was being searched, according to Delaware racing officials.
The suspension, which was issued Monday, is the latest misstep for Vitali, who has had several run-ins with racing commissions and track officials over the last five years. The penalty, approved by the stewards, also included a $2,500 fine.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is a private company that has the right to exclude individuals from its premises, the track’s attorney has argued in asking a court to reject a temporary restraining order sought by the banned trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
Handle on Thoroughbred races last weekend was down $20.1 million, or 14.9 percent, compared to similar dates last year and down $30.5 million, or 21 percent, compared to the weekend of July 28-29 last year, illustrating the massive impact of the heat wave that hit the Midwest and East Coast.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A decline in Thoroughbred racing days led to a significant drop in all-sources handle at all California tracks in the first six months of 2019, according to figures released at the California Horse Racing Board meeting on July 18.
Handle at Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, and Standardbred meetings reached $1.38 billion on 282 programs compared to $1.58 billion on 311 programs in 2018, a decline of 12.1 percent. The average daily handle was down 3.1 percent to $4,924,072. The figures include ontrack, simulcast, and account-wagering sources.
The mid-day decision by Monmouth Park on Saturday to cancel six races and delay the remainder of its card for five hours resulted in huge declines in handle on a day when high heat and humidity had already taken its toll on the gate.
Handle for the eight races run Saturday was $8.56 million, according to the track, down 36 percent from last year’s handle total of $13.4 million for the Haskell card, which was run on Sunday, July 29. The announced attendance was 25,173, down 32 percent from last year’s Haskell.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Assael Espinoza took off his mounts Friday at Del Mar, a day after he was involved in a collision during training hours that resulted in the death of two horses.
Espinoza was diagnosed with bruising and a lower back strain and was released from a local hospital late Thursday morning.
“He’s real stiff and sore this morning,” his agent, Brian Beach, said late Friday morning. “He thought it was better that he didn’t ride today.
Breeders’ Cup and FanDuel, the gambling conglomerate that owns the account-wagering and horse racing broadcasting network TVG, have reached a sponsorship agreement that will give FanDuel and TVG broad promotional and broadcast abilities surrounding the two-day event, the companies announced Wednesday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed in a release, and Breeders’ Cup declined to comment on the terms other than to characterize the agreement as “multi-year.”
