the slide continues

[Afleet]

Can't blame the economy. You would think with the issues @SA, Belmont handle would have increased.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/ne..._June_2019_123


Overall, handle for the first six months of 2019 measured $5.6 billion, a drop of 3.2% against prior year.

While Belmont ranked first among all tracks with $280 million in handle, that also represented a $53 million plunge compared to 2018, down 16%. With Belmont Stakes down approximately $35.7 million, that accounts for 10.7% of the decline, meaning the rest of Belmont’s racing in June was down more than $17 million, or 5%. Field size shrunk from 7.7 last year to 6.8 this year, perhaps contributing to those numbers.

Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park posted notable gains in June 2019.

[GMB@BP]

Originally Posted by Afleet

Can't blame the economy. You would think with the issues @SA, Belmont handle would have increased.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/ne..._June_2019_123


Overall, handle for the first six months of 2019 measured $5.6 billion, a drop of 3.2% against prior year.

While Belmont ranked first among all tracks with $280 million in handle, that also represented a $53 million plunge compared to 2018, down 16%. With Belmont Stakes down approximately $35.7 million, that accounts for 10.7% of the decline, meaning the rest of Belmont’s racing in June was down more than $17 million, or 5%. Field size shrunk from 7.7 last year to 6.8 this year, perhaps contributing to those numbers.

Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park posted notable gains in June 2019.

Just really hard to bet at 6.8 horses per event, especially when you consider turf races had bigger fields so the dirt races were int eh 5._ range. Just hard to continue to put time into the sport.

[The_Turf_Monster]

I'm curious as to what handle is per race vs last year. Anecdotally, it seems to me like cards are getting shorter everywhere

[Tom]

Too many crappy races - quality of racing is very low overall. Small field, short prices, not worth the bother to buy a form most days. Public not buying the miserable excuse for racing most tracks out on. The lilly has been gilded and plucked. Super trainers using who know what on their horses and then CRW team betting them down to nothing, The game sucks 90%of the time. The other 10% is spread out a race here, a race there......

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Just really hard to bet at 6.8 horses per event, especially when you consider turf races had bigger fields so the dirt races were int eh 5._ range. Just hard to continue to put time into the sport.

hard to argue w/that point. I was going through HANA racetrack ratings-think 2017 takeout numbers-it seemed 90% of the tracks had a 24% trifecta takeout-I'm a tri player and I couldn't find a track I wanted to play. Was going to play a little Del Mar this year, a track I never play except BC, but those takeouts rates made me think twice. WOX tri take is crazy high.

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by The_Turf_Monster

I'm curious as to what handle is per race vs last year. Anecdotally, it seems to me like cards are getting shorter everywhere

Delaware has canceled a few cards so far this year. I can't see anything changing as long as the foal count continues to go down every year

[GMB@BP]

Originally Posted by The_Turf_Monster

I'm curious as to what handle is per race vs last year. Anecdotally, it seems to me like cards are getting shorter everywhere

Yea, this isnt a NYRA thing, its everywhere. Never seen it this bad.

[JustRalph]

I remember the days of watching Andy Serling pre race shows and wondering "how does he keep track of so many horses?"

not anymore

[The_Turf_Monster]

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Yea, this isnt a NYRA thing, its everywhere. Never seen it this bad.

What's crazy to me is that the secretaries at every track are causing races to not fill. In their desperate attempt to write conditions that imo are crazy where you get multiple classes of horse in the same race, they're causing trainers and owners to spend more time in condition books looking for spot than necessary. This problem is fixed by writing open claimers and non-conditioned allowance races

[Parkview_Pirate]

Lot of cards at SA and BEL this spring not playable. I've never seen NYRA so bad. Hopefully SAR will still be decent.

Noticed a quite a few horses from California coming into Ellis Park. The card there today is pretty solid, the camel and ostrich races not withstanding.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate

Lot of cards at SA and BEL this spring not playable. I've never seen NYRA so bad. Hopefully SAR will still be decent.

Noticed a quite a few horses from California coming into Ellis Park. The card there today is pretty solid, the camel and ostrich races not withstanding.

Give me a race with 14 ostriches and a dime super and I will play it!

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate

Lot of cards at SA and BEL this spring not playable. I've never seen NYRA so bad. Hopefully SAR will still be decent.

Noticed a quite a few horses from California coming into Ellis Park. The card there today is pretty solid, the camel and ostrich races not withstanding.

think average daily purses are supposed to be $300K-which is very good for that track. Wish them well. I handicapped the card today not doing very well-glad I'm not playing I have never been to ELP but will try to go this year for the Groupie Doll or the 2 Y/O stakes card

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate

Lot of cards at SA and BEL this spring not playable. I've never seen NYRA so bad. Hopefully SAR will still be decent.

Noticed a quite a few horses from California coming into Ellis Park. The card there today is pretty solid, the camel and ostrich races not withstanding.

there are 7 or 8 horses in the last leg of the pick 5@ELP paying 4/5; today was the day to take down the pool. Think I had 2 out of 4 so far if I played today

[Hambletonian]

Shorter fields: very good for breeders, owners, trainers, and jockeys.

Bad, as we all know, for bettors.

So who should racing be run for?

We could shrink the number of tracks running and have full 10 race cards and also eligibles in each race. This would probably help handle, by concentrating the betting dollars across fewer venues, and small pools would be a thing of the past. It would also lessen the impacts of those guys dumping thousands of bets in at the last minute, since pool inefficiencies should be less common as the per race handle increases dramatically.

This would, of course, reduce the number of jockeys and trainers needed, which all things. considered would probably be a good thing.

[alhattab]

Originally Posted by Afleet

Can't blame the economy. You would think with the issues @SA, Belmont handle would have increased.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/ne..._June_2019_123


Overall, handle for the first six months of 2019 measured $5.6 billion, a drop of 3.2% against prior year.

While Belmont ranked first among all tracks with $280 million in handle, that also represented a $53 million plunge compared to 2018, down 16%. With Belmont Stakes down approximately $35.7 million, that accounts for 10.7% of the decline, meaning the rest of Belmont’s racing in June was down more than $17 million, or 5%. Field size shrunk from 7.7 last year to 6.8 this year, perhaps contributing to those numbers.

Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park posted notable gains in June 2019.

Lest anyone think Monmouth Park is doing well, they ran 34 more races in June 2019 v June 2018 (143 v 109). With roughly 7 starters per race in 2019 and $ per betting interest around $43k, there's your $10M. Keeping 2018 per race handle constant, Monmouth should be up $11.5M. The shortfall is due to about $9k lower per race handle, undoubtedly due to the >10% relative decline in field size.

Anyone else noticing the age of horses running? I've seen a few races at Monmouth with some really old fields- one a few weeks ago had three nine year olds! Anecdotal and I haven't studied in detail. Anyone know if there's data out there with the average age of horses entered or something like that?