http://www.drf.com/news/keeneland-ha...lines-leveling
Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales, said Monday that the handle figures do not yet clearly demonstrate that the boycott and lower payouts are having a dramatic impact on handle, noting that of the eight days of the meet so far, four have posted lower handle numbers than the corresponding date last year, three have posted higher handle numbers, and the other was “essentially a wash,” in reference to an insignificant decline on the opening Friday, Oct. 6. On one of the days in which handle was up, Keeneland ran 10 races, rather than nine.
“How do you make any single-value causal relationship with that data?” Elliston said. “There are a lot of variables out there, although I will say that there is some number, some part of that 8.6 [decline] that can be attributed” to the takeout increase.
