OZONE PARK, N.Y. – All-sources handle in 2021 on races run at the New York Racing Association’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga – was $2,373,772,916, a 12.6 percent increase over 2019 and the highest one-year handle figure since 2008, the company reported Thursday.
The NYRA conducted 1,887 races over 201 race cards in 2021, making average daily handle $11,809,816, a 21.5 percent increase over the 2019 average of $9,714,868 when there were 2,000 races run over 217 dates.
Lisa Lazarus, a former top official for the international governing body for equestrian sports, has been hired by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority as its first chief executive, the authority announced on Tuesday.
A hearing on Tuesday held by the New York Gaming Commission to discuss a rule that requires married jockeys in New York to be coupled for wagering purposes evolved into advocacy for eliminating all coupling requirements in the state.
Although a string of speakers specifically advocated for the married-rider rule to be eliminated, representatives of trainers, owners, breeders, and racetracks took the discussion a step farther by contending that New York should drop all of its requirements for coupled entries, in the interest of increasing handle.
The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation has issued a request for proposals to research the development of a vaccine against equine herpesvirus, the highly contagious disease that annually disrupts shipping and training schedules across the U.S.
NBC Sports, the network that currently holds the television rights to the Triple Crown races and the two-day Breeders’ Cup event, won its 24th and 25th Eclipse Awards as the winner in both television categories for 2021, it was announced Thursday.
New York residents will be able to place sports bets on their mobile devices beginning Saturday after the state gambling commission announced Thursday that four licensed platforms have “satisfied all statutory and regulatory requirements” to begin operations.
The four platforms include BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, and FanDuel, which is the parent company of TVG, the horse racing television network and account-wagering company. Another five platforms are awaiting the go-ahead from the New York Gaming Commission.
Kristian Rhein, an equine veterinarian based in New York who was indicted in March of 2020 with more than two dozen other people connected to horse racing, was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $700,000 in penalties and forfeit an additional $1 million in criminal proceeds, according to court documents.
Wagering on Thoroughbred races held at U.S. tracks topped $12 billion for the first time in more than a decade in 2021, according to year-end handle figures distributed by Equibase on Wednesday.
Total wagering during the year was $12.22 billion, according to the figures, a jump of 10.7 percent compared to handle of $11.03 billion two years ago, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic causing massive disruptions to the U.S. and worldwide economy. It was the largest annual handle number since 2009, when wagering was $12.32 billion.
Fox Sports, the television network that has dramatically expanded live coverage of horse racing over the past five years through a partnership with the New York Racing Association, has secured the rights to broadcast NYRA’s Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, beginning next year, according to NYRA and the network.
The timely implementation of new national rules governing the racing industry’s medication and drug policies suffered a significant blow on Thursday when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority announced that it had been unable to reach a contractual agreement with a private, non-profit company to enforce the policies.
