SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a rough opening week, business at Saratoga has bounced back in a significant way to narrow the deficit through the first four weeks of the eight-week meet.
Through Sunday, which marked day 19 of the scheduled 40-day meet, all-sources handle was $367,825,396, a 3.25 percent decrease from the $380,202,615 handled during the 19 days of the 2024 meet. Ontrack handle is $59,178,522, down 3.6 percent from the $61,411,059 handled during the opening four weeks of last year’s meet.
The numbers look better than they did after opening week, when $68,418,195 was handled, a 30 percent drop from the figure handled through opening week in 2024. Mother Nature played a role with 3.4 inches of rain during opening week, forcing 13 of the 21 scheduled turf races to the dirt. Additionally, there was a week of racing from July 3-6 before the official opening of the meet on July 10.
Through the first 19 days here this meet, there have been 196 races run. Seventy-five have been on turf, and 22 scheduled turf races have been moved to dirt. At this time last year, 194 races were run, with 73 on turf and 21 moved to dirt. On Whitney Day in 2024, NYRA canceled two turf stakes and moved them to the following Saturday due to weather concerns.
The concerning figure is the average field size is 7.30 horses per race, down from 7.94 at this point last year. There have been a plethora of veterinarian-related scratches on race-day.
NYRA’s handle bounced back in large part due to Saturday’s handle of $49,651,341, a record for a Whitney Day card that eclipsed the $40,461,888 wagered in 2022. In 2024, handle on Whitney Day was $26,991,174.
Last year, despite canceling one card due to the remnants of a tropical storm, Saratoga finished with a handle of $803,807,011, the third highest in track history.
Beginning Wednesday, there are 21 dates remaining, including the Aug. 23 Travers Day card, a program that is expected to include Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Sovereignty.
Irad Ortiz Jr., in search of his sixth Travers riding title, has a meet-best 32 victories, three more than his brother Jose. Ricardo Santana Jr. is next with 19 wins, equaling the number of wins he had through all of last year’s meet. Flavien Prat (17) and Joel Rosairo (15) round out the top five.
Chad Brown, who won the Whitney with Sierra Leone as part of a four-win Saturday, is the leading trainer with 15 wins, one more than Todd Pletcher, whose 14 wins include eight with his 2-year-old crop. Linda Rice (12), Miguel Clement (9), and Mark Casse (8) are next.
Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and Mike Repole are tied atop the owner standings with five wins apiece.
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