The Bottom Line: Saratoga Meet on Record Pace

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Stretches of hot, humid weather and a cool economy haven't hurt business at Saratoga Race Course. At the middle of the 2002 season, the New York Racing Association is on course to break the Saratoga records set last year.

"The numbers are unusually good," said New York Racing Association senior vice president Bill Nader. "At the midway point, this is the strongest first half in Saratoga history. We're up in every category: attendance, track handle and overall handle."

After 18 days of the 36-day meeting, on-track attendance is up 1%, on track handle is 1.6% ahead of 2001 and the overall handle is up 8.4%.

On-track attendance and handle were down during the first week compared to last year, in large part, NYRA officials said, because of a change in the stakes schedule. The Whitney Handicap, one of the more popular graded stakes of the season, was run on the second Saturday, Aug. 3. To accommodate a televised racing series it was run on the first Saturday last year.

The statistics leveled out during the second week of this year's meet. Business was strong in the third week, which ended Monday.

Total attendance for the 18 days is 514,157, a daily average of 28,564. A total of $281,079,370 has been bet into the pools on Saratoga's races, a daily average of $15,615,520. Including separate wagering pools, the daily average handle exceeds $16 million

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