Business through the first week of the 2008 meet at Saratoga Race Course,
while trending down from the record on-track handle posted in 2007, is improving
after unrelenting and torrential rain on opening day Wednesday and Thursday,
according to the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA).
Attendance is off 25.7 percent, on-track handle down 12.6 percent, and total
all-sources handle declined 13.7 percent compared to 2007 opening week figures.
Through Thursday, however, attendance was off 54.5 percent (compromised by
inclement weather and lack of bobblehead spinners), on-track handle down 30.4
percent, and total all-sources handle declined 24.7 percent compared to the
first two days in 2007, signifying a dramatic improvement for Week One’s final
four days, capped by Saturday’s Whitney Day all-sources handle of $25,017,333,
the third-largest non-Travers Day all-sources handle in Saratoga history.
Attendance for the first six days of the 2008 meet was 125,617, down from
169,134 in 2007, for a daily average of 20,936 compared to 28,189 in 2007.
(Attendance figures for Giveaway Days include patrons who pay multiple
admissions to obtain more than one giveaway item, either at the track entrance
or at the multiple admissions area inside the track.)
On-track handle at Saratoga was $18,429,950, down from $21,080,631 in 2007,
for a daily average of $3,071,658 compared to $3,513,439 in 2007.
Total all-sources handle was $86,510,328, down from $100,293,710 in 2007, for
a daily average of $14,418,388 compared to $16,715,618 in 2007.
All-sources handle of $25,017,333 for Saturday’s Whitney Day fared well
against last year’s record-breaking non-Travers Day all-sources handle of
$27,708,217, a modest 9.7 decrease. Saturday’s Whitney H. (G1) date (July 26)
was the earliest in Saratoga history, and non-Travers Day all-sources handle was
topped only by last year and by the $25,533,940 bet in 2002 when the Whitney was
run on August 3.
Total betting interests and turf races also decreased. Week One races totaled
60, with 479 betting interests and nine races on the turf, compared to 58 races,
533 betting interests, and 21 turf races (including one steeplechase) during
opening week 2007. No races were taken off the turf during the first week of
2007, compared to 13 off the turf races so far this meet.
NYRA’s new purse incentive program for distance races kicked off with
Saturday’s 4TH and Sunday’s 9TH. The program provides incremental purse
increases to maiden, allowance and overnight stakes races for every betting
interest over six that start on the dirt at 1 1/8 miles and longer, and every
betting interest over eight that start on the turf at longer than 1 1/8 miles.
Saturday’s 4TH race was a non-winners-of-one allowance at 1 1/8 miles with an
original purse of $68,000. With eight betting interests, the purse increased by
$16,000 ($8,000 each for two additional starters) to $84,000. The purse for
Sunday’s 9TH, the Henry Walton S., an overnight event at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt
carded with a purse of $80,000, jumped $10,000 to $90,000.
“We came into the 2008 Saratoga meet knowing that the economy, gas prices,
and a particularly early opening in July would result in business declines
compared to a record 2007,” NYRA President and CEO Charles Hayward said. “But,
ultimately, we’re more dependent on the weather than anything, and after a rough
start early, we rebounded over the weekend. We’ll look for the weather to
cooperate as the meet progresses. Further, business in the thoroughbred industry
has been soft since the Belmont Stakes (G1) and we anticipate outperforming the
industry during the Saratoga meeting.”