Handle figures for the spring meet at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., dropped significantly compared to last year as the havoc caused by torrential rain on the track’s scheduled opening weekend took its toll.
Total handle for the 15-day spring meet dropped 11.9 percent compared to total handle during last year’s 16-day spring meet, while handle per race dropped 7.0 percent, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form of the meet’s charts. Total handle for the meet was $192.72 million for 142 races, compared to total handle of $218.94 million for 150 races during the spring of last year.
Keeneland does not race when Easter falls during its spring meet. This year, Easter fell on April 20, while last year, Easter occurred in March, prior to the spring meet beginning.
Declines in handle for the meet were expected given the chaos caused by extreme weather on the first weekend of the meet. Because of the rain, Keeneland moved its opening-day Friday card to the following Monday and its blockbuster Blue Grass Stakes Day card from Saturday to the following Tuesday, leading to steep drops in handle for both days.
Handle for Blue Grass day was $20.38 million, down 30.4 percent compared to record handle of $29.27 million on the card last year. All-sources wagering for the Friday card moved to Monday was $11.47 million, compared to handle of $18.17 million for the Friday card last year.
The differences for the two cards, a total of $15.57 million, plus the loss of a race day due to the Easter holiday dark day, made up entirely for the $26.21 million difference in total handle for the two spring meets.
On-track handle dropped 16.1 percent, from $15.83 million to $13.29 million. Crowds for the rescheduled opening-weekend dates were noticeably thinner.
The average purse during the meet climbed 13.5 percent, according to the analysis, reaching a record $147,831 for the meet. Purses at Keeneland and other Kentucky tracks are heavily subsidized by casinos owed and operated by tracks in the state. The track raised the purses for nine stakes held during the meet.
The average field climbed up slightly, with 8.83 horses per race during the spring meet this year compared to 8.71 horses per race last year. One-third of favorites won their races, compared to 38.7 percent last year.
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