Handle up during Turfway’s winter/spring meet
Turfway Park ended its 2011 winter/spring meet with wagering increases both
on-track and from all-sources, bucking national trends. The meet opened January
1 and closed Sunday.
On-track handle on Turfway races rose 6.3 percent to $5,647,604. All-sources
wagering on Turfway races rose 3.3 percent to $95,013,790.
On-track handle on all races — i.e., Turfway races and races simulcast from
other tracks — rose 13.5 percent to $15,689,677 through the end of the live
meet, driven by an 18 percent increase in play on simulcast races. This number
does not yet include Wednesday and Thursday of this week when Turfway remains
the Kentucky host track before Keeneland opens on Friday.
“I am tremendously excited by these numbers,” Turfway Park President and CEO
Robert N. Elliston said. “From patrons at our facility, we produced 13.5 percent
more wagering this year than last year, and we still have two days to go.
“This is particularly strong in comparison to newly released national numbers
that show wagering down nearly 8.5 percent over virtually the same period” (as
reported by Equibase).
As part of the effort to drive handle and in keeping with its tradition of
innovation, Turfway changed its Saturday post time from 1:10 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
(ET), introducing Saturday Night Lights as a “date night” complement to its
highly successful Dollar Friday promotion.
“We recognized that many families are busy on Saturday afternoons with
children’s activities and errands that have to be done on weekends
because parents are working,” Elliston said. “We tried Saturday night racing to
see if we could draw them back by fitting better into that lifestyle. We saw
definite increases in our food and beverage business and in on-track simulcast
handle on Saturday evenings, but we are still evaluating the overall impact of
the change.”
Field size held nearly steady at 8.5 starters per race, down 1.2 percent from
last year.
Despite severe winter weather through most of the meet, Turfway canceled only
one full card and one partial card, the former due to a snowstorm and the latter
due to extreme cold.
Jockey Ben Creed, trainer Mike Maker, and the Hays family repeated as meet
leaders in their respective categories.
Creed captured his second Turfway riding title with 62 wins from 318 mounts.
John McKee was second with 40 wins from 239 mounts, riding four winners on
closing day to pass Rodney Prescott, who finished third with 38 wins from 295
mounts.
Among Creed’s wins were the Holiday Cheer Stakes aboard Western Prospector,
the Cincinnati Trophy Stakes with Angelica Zapata, and the Wintergreen Stakes
with Spring Party. Creed earned his first title, at the 2009 holiday meet, when
he was still an apprentice.
Maker earned his seventh Turfway training title by saddling 35 winners from
100 starters. Eric Reed was second with 20 winners from 84 starters, and Bill
Connelly was third with 16 winners from 74 starters.
Maker won four of the meet’s 18 stakes: the WEBN with Twinspired, the Likely
Exchange with La Gran Bailadora, the Tejano Run with Baryshnikov, and the Hansel
with Ghost Is Clear.
The meet’s leading owner was again the family partnership of Billy, Donna,
and Justin Hays, who had 18 winners from 59 starters. Ken and Sarah Ramsey were
second with 11 winners from 37 starters, and Mr. and Mrs. R. David Randal were
third with seven winners from 24 starters.
Live racing returns to Turfway September 8. The track remains open
Wednesday through Sunday each week for simulcast racing.